One more reason to own a sailboat. . . . . .

[CaptainScott]

Today I spent the day working on a 38' power boat. We hauled her, pressure washed her and had her inspected for a prospective buyer.

With the day cold and sunny, Diane came down to the marina so we could fill Destiny with diesel. We'll be heading out on her in a couple of weeks for a long weekend and I like to be prepared.

We had to check the logs, but we did indeed fill her LAST JULY! Yeah! JULY! Well, that is not due to lack of use!


We managed to spew 20 gallons into her! LOL! Yeah, tell me any power boat that can do that! The boat I was on today held 260 gallons! Destiny holds 40 and that is a lot! Well, for Destiny anyway!

An interesting thought came to mind today for me.

"If the boat can hold more fuel than fresh water, I'm likely not interested!"

Scott

[Chrysler20%26]

Yes Better To Sail, I had a 34' that sure licked gas. Had it six years, first one in an last one out. I lost it in 1986, X-wife got it. No regret All is better now

[FranS]

We used spent a grand total of $24 on gas last year, used her almost every weekend. . We are lucky and can sail on and off the mooring.

[thepartydog]

We must be gas hogs then. We motored up the ICW summer before last. We used about 7 gallons a day.

Darin

[CaptainScott]

We must be gas hogs then. We motored up the ICW summer before last. We used about 7 gallons a day.
Darin

Hmmm,
at 1 gallon an hour were you motoring 7 hours a day? How much fuel per hour do you burn? Do you push your boat at or near hull speed? I know my outboards are very innefficient at high rpms but when not running them hard, they seem reasonable.

Scott

[thepartydog]

Closer to 9 or 10 hours per day, running at probably 3/4 throttle, unless we were racing to meet a scheduled bridge opening.


Darin

[CaptainScott]

Thats roughly 3/4 a gallon an hour. That is more reasonable. Especially if it is a two stroke. I understand 4 strokes are more efficient but I've never owned one so I can't say from first hand knowledge.

Our dinghy has a 15hp two stroke and just drinks the fuel. My daughter runs it wide open all the time! She can suck up a 5 gallon tank of gas in 3-4 hours if I let her. The older 8hp merc on Lady Jo is pretty reasonable. I however never push it. The boat just gets a bit wallowy when pushing to hull speed. That feeling is uncomfortable for rookie sailors and is a waste of fuel.

I'm hoping the 6hp Johnson on Lady Di will sip the fuel.

Scott

[lecker68]

I have people all the time that tell me sailboats go too slow. Last summer beffore I got my C-26 I took a power boater friend of mine on a afternoon trip 60 miles round trip going with the tide both ways. Tacked south till the tide changed and then 8 knot breeze off the stern came back home. Newport is a 19.5 foot day sailor and only used the outboard 5 min to get it warmed up and get out of launch ramp. When we got back and my outboard is a 2005 4hp Johnson which has a 1.5L tank in it which will run about 1.5 or 2 hours we could not put fuel in the tank. Since then he has had his power boat for sale and bought a Hunter. By the way he no longer complains about slow but we did spend many hours sailing together to teach him how to sail as when he went with me the first time he was afraid of touching the jib sheets until the way back and said he was surprised when I was single handing at how relaxing I was and he enjoyed the trip.