How can I get better gas mileage with my boat.

[rpasquarello]

Hitch a ride on a buddy's boat!

 

[LawyerMan]

This is depressing. I think this thread should be deleted before the wife sees it!

:smt038

 

[Lucky's]

Heck, he's getting 1mpg at WOT! That's still pretty impressive.

If it's actually true, it's VERY impressive!!

 

[hack4alivin]

as you can tell from the various 'helpful' replies you have received the words 'boating' and 'fuel economy' do not go together....you can minimize the amount of money spent on fuel by altering the way you use the boat to involve a lot of time 'on the hook' and/or slow speed cruising....we normally cruise for around 30 mins to an hour when we go out then find a nice secluded cove somewhere and drop anchor...then we swim or float behind the boat for the remainder of the day and cruise back to the dock if we are not going to camp that night....this way the fuel usage and cost is minimized while we still enjoy being out on the boat....

cliff

Good point here, boating and gas mileage really don’t go together. It is what it is, and as someone else said “you have to pay to play”.

But with that being said, I will also do things to minimize the damage. For instance, if I am making a long cruise on the Bay to an overnight destination I will drain my fresh water holding tank down to a minimum level. No need to be carrying water weight to a destination that has what I need. Keep the bottom of the boat clean as well. That is not difficult for me as I use the boat often enough I don’t get the funk build up.

 

[johnjm1234]

Thanks for the help, what I have seen from your replys is:

1 Clean the bottom of your boat.
2 Check the pitch of the prop.
3 Check to see if your fuel pump is puting out to much pressure.
Keep your idea coming thank you johnjm1234

 

[johnjm1234]

Here is more information on my boat, the prop I have on now is 15x15 prop. My object is to be able to get up on plane and then ideal it back to where I am running on just two barrels of the carberator so that I will be burn less fuel and get better mileage. 15 in dia. prop is the largest I can get on the boat so all I can do is change the pitch and change number of blades on the boat. what would you recommend. thank you John

 

[northern]

it takes so much fuel to get a pound of material to the space station. Only way to get there on less fuel is to bring less stuff.
Try removing every thing you do not need and see what happens.

 

[dpmulvey]

Let's get to the basics. What is the WOT RPM?

 

[susanandlance]

I have a Mercuriser 5.7L (350 ci) with a 4 BBL carburetor and I get 2.1 MPG at 3800 RPM. I use a Garmin GFS-10 connected to a Garmin 740S to measure that.

That's what I got with my 97 250DA w/5.7 bravo3

 

[SCORPIO]

Do you have trim tabs on this boat? They can help you stay on plane at lower throttle opening.

 

[northern]

On my jet boat that has a 350 (30HP) I also have a 9.9 for fishing. It will push the boat a 6 knots and burn .6GPH. Get the long shaft and the electric stearing option. The remote is hand held and works very well. It has no throttle control so we normally run it at 1/2 throttle that is about 4 knots for speed.
Only other option is a sail.

 

[Brite Idea]

What rpms are you running and what is the boats WOT specified at? You'd be better off running at the high end as it will give you better fuel economy. The age of your boat is against you since carbs are not fuel efficient.
Rob