large engine used at low speed-economy?

[crofty1984]

Long story short, I'm looking at buying a Sealine 22 with a 225bhp volvo penta V8.
It'll be great fun when I'm near the coast or breydon water, where there's no speed limit, but I'll be on the broads a lot as well, where the speed limit's about 5-6 knots.
At these speeds, what kind of fuel consumption can I expect?

I'm trying to balance the usefulness of having the power if I want it, with the realistic day-to day running costs. I know it'll drink fuel like it's going out of fashion when I open the taps, but if the 80% of the time it's at tickover it's pretty economical then it might be worth a punt.

Thanks, Dan

 

[Chris_d]

If you keep it to less than 1500rpm shouldn't use more than 1gph, I used to run a similar 220hp petrol on the river and thats all it used.

 

[dabsolute470]

hiya crofty

fuel consumption will be fine at tickover speeds

i think the problem you will find is the steering at low speed, its a pain to make it track straight with that hull design and a single engine.

 

[miket]

Agree.

.

 

[darren_v8]

It always amazes me the difference in fuel consumption and power needed between road and sea. On the road I'll be doing about 30mph at 1500rpm, and if I were cruising at about 3000rpm (about 60mph) I'd be using around 3.3 gph (about 18mpg). Of course, flooring it would soon change those statistics. Fortunately my boat only has a Johnson 70, other wise I'd never have any fuel money

 

[rafiki_]

We used to run a 25 foot Sunbird 5.7V8 on the Broads. She used max 1 gph, and was happy to do so. Steering you get used to. The only stress is the hire craft, which have binary sppeds, 0 and max, even when parking!

Great place to enjoy a boat though, we had 3 happy seasons there, based at Acle.

 

[Sulley]

Agree my V8 at 1200 rpm uses approx 1 gallon per hour, it's a 5.7L V8 on a 285 Bayliner.

 

[Bbroomlea]

I have a 205 V6 in an S24 and so far trundling around Windermere this season I recon we have averaged about 1.4gph. There has been a variation of speed but mostly between 5-8kts with some faster runs but not for any length of time (max 10kts of course )

I did try and get to Ambleside from Bowness at 3-4kts but was a nightmare trying to keep the boat in a straight line - its much happier even with a bit of bow out of the water.