Cost of Boat Ownership

oscar1

Today on my trip back home

randy56

@LaRea Sorry man, I disagree If you look at your chart or J3ff.s chart  and you are plowing along at 2500. As in J3ff case. Your sucking almost twice as much fuel. As up on plane at 3500. Each boat has a sweet spot. Everyone is $itchen about rising cost to operate there vessel. It would smart to learn your best speed for fuel economy.  Unless you are just putzen at 800 rpm. Drinking a refreshing adult beverage and eating Dorito's
You and YYZRC are correct in, weight cost more fuel to push.  Every batterie weighs around 80 lbs. Hauling water is a heavy addition. 

YYZRC

I dare someone on here to recommend that their admiral goes on a diet to save fuel. Post results. 

LaRea

randy56 said:

@LaRea Sorry man, I disagree If you look at your chart or J3ff.s chart  and you are plowing along at 2500. ... 

On my boat, best cruise is 0.8 mpg at 32 mph.  However, I can double my mpg by going 8 mph.  That's why I said go slow when it makes sense. 

raybo3

But at 8 mph it would take 3 times longer to get to where your going. The average would be about the same.

LaRea

Suppose I visit my sister's marina, 16 miles away.
At 32 mph and 0.8 mpg, it takes 30 minutes and 20 gallons.
At 8 mph and 1.6 mpg, it takes 2 hours and 10 gallons.  

So I save $40 on gas, and it costs me 90 minutes of time.  

YYZRC

Can't buy time.  Go fast!

LaRea

With autopilot, I love cruising at 8 mph.  It's comfortable and relaxing, and quiet enough for normal conversation with the Admiral.  But I rarely go that slow for longer than an hour.  

Willhound

YYZRC said:

I dare someone on here to recommend that their admiral goes on a diet to save fuel. Post results. 

You mean once they can see again?😄

Handymans342

LaRea said:

Suppose I visit my sister's marina, 16 miles away.
At 32 mph and 0.8 mpg, it takes 30 minutes and 20 gallons.
At 8 mph and 1.6 mpg, it takes 2 hours and 10 gallons.  

So I save $40 on gas, and it costs me 90 minutes of time.  

That was yesterdays gas price. It has now doubled!

MarkB

LaRea said:

Suppose I visit my sister's marina, 16 miles away.
At 32 mph and 0.8 mpg, it takes 30 minutes and 20 gallons.
At 8 mph and 1.6 mpg, it takes 2 hours and 10 gallons.  

So I save $40 on gas, and it costs me 90 minutes of time.  

You're holding plane at 8 mph?

LaRea

That's no-wake speed.  Actually it's more like 7 mph to get 1.6 mpg.  

MarkB

But I thought being on plane would produce the best mileage as you are not displacing as much water??

LaRea

For any express cruiser hull, going slow and making no wake is more efficient than running on plane.  

Here's the 342 fuel data that that I've shared here here many times.  Best efficiency is at idle speed going 5 MPH.  As speed increases, efficiency gets steadily worse.  As she planes out, MPG goes back up, but not close to the efficiency at no-wake speed. 

Think about the wake your boat throws when on plane.  You waste a lot of energy creating that huge wake.  

mattie

@LaRea .................looks like 5mph is the #.

Glad I only got 130gal tank.

randy56

Gas price jumped .40 today in SWF. The 342 chart is strange, compared to others. has same fuel consumption between 22 and 36. I'm guessing 22 is minimum speed to be on plane, ...

LaRea

The 342 has a fantastic hull design.  You can go any speed between 22 and 35, and your MPG doesn't change.  Even if you jump up to 40 MPH, you only pay 10% more.  Just go the speed you feel like going.   

@MarkB you were probably thinking of go-fast bass boats.  Some of those guys get better MPG on plane than at no-wake speed.  

halifax212

We are at $7.00 per gallon CDN today.  Not going to worry about until July which is when my boating season kicks in. Plus I have a full belly of fuel sitting in storage. We can be thankful this is our only concern at the moment. 

Grahamu

My 342 with twin 5.7 L engines consume below 1 GPM until you reach approx 2100RPM when fuel consumption increases to above 1GPM until you reach 3300 RPM and on plane when it drops  again to approx 1.2 miles per gallon. I do not run above 3600 RPM so no idea what the fuel consumption is at that speed. I've just pulled my log book for last season to summarize hors, miles and fuel. I'll report those numbers.

Aqua_Aura

I "fueled" my car for free today at the hotel plug-in 😀........and now here comes all the electric car comments 🤦‍♂️

Grahamu

Log Book summary for last season, June though October,
Engine Hours, PORT 92.0 STBD 92.5.
Total Miles, 868.
Fuel Consumed, 783 Gallons.
Averages, 8.5 Gallons/HR,  9.4 Miles/HR,  1.1 Miles/Gallon.
Approximate fuel cost US$3,600.

raybo3

@Grahamu same here with my 342. If I did what @LaRea said at 8mph I would burn a heII of a more that 10 gallons traveling 16 miles. I take a cruise through the Bastawn Harbah at no wake (or very slightly faster but not much) and burn a ton of gas.... Just say'n

LaRea

@Grahamu you should run some numbers with your boat at higher RPMs.  In terms of cost per mile, engine wear per hour, name your metric ... it really doesn't make much difference until you really put the hammer down. 

In 2003 when I bought my 342, I discussed this topic with Randy Rinker.  He said the engines and outdrives couldn't care less, and that my speed should be dictated by passenger comfort and convenience.  At time, I thought, "Of course a builder would say that."  But it has proven to be true. 

Grahamu

@LaRea, I'm very comfortable with 25 MPH cruise. If I had autopilot I might push it up a bit. I've never run boats at their max for any length of time except short bursts to blow out the carbon. I don't know if I agree engines and drives couldn't care less, I've never had a major issue with them and I put that down to not stressing them. I've probably jinked myself now 🙄

LaRea

Everybody has their comfort zone!

My assumption has always been that MPG is a good measure of stress on the engine.  When the engine is in that plateau of the MPG curve, a.k.a. the happy zone, I'm guessing there's not much change in prop slip, so the number of crank revolutions per mile stays relatively constant.  

Within reason, I've always gone as fast as sea conditions would allow.  I ran the 342 like that for 800 hours, and she ran great when I sold her.  I've put 600 hours on the 370 in similar fashion, and she purrs like a champ.  

But sometimes I do love going slow.  It's a lot like sitting on the boat in the slip, except better in every way!  

Aqua_Aura

LaRea

@raybo3 your boat can't be much different from mine.  My helm displays MPG in real time, so maybe I have a better feel for how much I burn at different speeds.  

At 6 MPH, I make zero wake and get 1.6 MPG.  I can creep up to 7 MPH, maybe 8 before the MPG starts to fall off.  

At 10 MPH, I'm throwing a 1-foot wake and burning 30% more fuel (1.1 MPG).  For anything faster than 10 MPH, I might as well be on plane getting 0.8 MPG.  

davidbrooks

You guys are getting too scientific and ignoring the pleasure coefficient. At 6mph it is almost .5 at 30 mph it is 14. That more than cancels out loss in efficiency or savings from only carrying half a tank.

Aqua_Aura

Push throttle forward big smile.

That's the only rule we need to follow. 

Michael T

Depending on temperature, humidity and wind 3500 RPM was best on my 2016 EC 360 with 2 X Mercruiser 502s with B III X drives normal travel load full fuel and H2O. Compare this: on my 2014 EC 310 3500 RPM was best cruise too (if I remember correctly) with 2 X 350 Mags and B III normal travel load, full fuel and H2O......this would tend to support the Rinker factory (probably Al and his co-workers) perfectly dialing-in our Rinkers with propulsion packages. That said my friends Rinker 350 with twin 350 Mags was not good.