Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave R
Not many boats on the lake are going to achieve 2gph at 8 knots (though pontoons might be able to, I don't know much about them). That's 50' single (small) diesel trawler territory. A typical lake boat that can actually burn 30 GPH (that's around 400 propshaft HP for gas) is going to maybe see 4 knots at 2GPH.
A few years ago, when gas was around 4 bucks a gallon on the street, we often saw people cruising around at 7 to 12 knots in <30' v-hull boats. That's literally the worst possible speed range for MPG in boats like that. Either run at idle or cleanly on plane at around 50-60% power (or faster). My last boat, a 25' deep V with a Bravo 3 I/O got 2 MPG at 50 MPH (43 knots and WOT). It got 1.4 MPG at 10 MPH (8.6 knots). At around 30MPH, it got around 2.6 MPG on average.
|
I'm not sure how this equates to MPG, but I get around 5 GPH at 30 MPH in my 24 foot Four Winns bowrider with the 5.3 liter Volvo Penta. That seems to be the sweet spot.