Logged cruising miles vs. Engine hours - what is average?

[Andy Wood]

I have recently totted up the number of miles I have sailed in my Comfortina 42 over 11 seasons since new and compared this with the number of hours the engine has been running. I have covered 13k nautical miles while the engine has 1,450 hours on the clock. This gives an average of around 9 miles logged per engine hour, with little variation season to season, but I’ve no idea if this ratio is high or low. I have done quite a few long trips in light winds - most notably to Scotland in 2014 - when I have used the engine to keep boat speed up to 6 kts, so I suspect my ratio is relatively low. Does anyone have any comparative figures? Do brokers have a typical rule of thumb? Am I a serious sailor or a closet diesel head?!:

 

[Kwik Decision]

We kept a reasonably accurate record when we went round Britain in 2015. 1850 NM logged, and 227 engine hours, so 8.15 NM/engine hr, which is not far off your number, but a bit lower. We were in a Sadler 29, so we'll go a bit slower than you. We were a bit disappointed that the engine was on for half the time we were at sea.

 

[doug748]

Over a lot of years I have done c 800 - 1100 miles each season and logged 80 - 150 engine hours each year. Pretty similar ratio I think.

 

[[3889]]

IIRC, a survey of Britain circumnavigators revealed an average of 50/50 motoring and sailing, which pretty much accords with your figures.

 

[RupertW]

Ours over the last decade have probably been 70-30 engine to sailing, perhaps a bit better which I think is fairly typical for the Med for people who don’t want to wait for wind for a day or two to get to their planned destination.

 

[Saguday]

We went live aboard in the US, covering about 3500 miles from the Chesapeake to Maine and back, and I kept pretty detailed logs. The sailing to engine ratio was about 60:40. Bearing in mind a) a lot of this was in a fairly windless Chesapeake in the summer and b) a proportion of these hours was for battery charging and hot water then the actual time spent motoring was probably 20% max.

Interestingly, I also noted that the time spent beating was under 10% of all the time under sail, so for a typical long term cruiser I’d say the importance of pointing ability is not quite as high as many weekend racers would have you think.

 

[johnalison]

I don't have detailed logs but my figures have changed over the years. Back in the '70s and 80s I would scarcely use the engine, the 2-stroke petrol motor didn't encourage it. We still managed to cruise Normandy and the Netherlands in a kind of comfort. With our current 34 we have set ourselves more ambitious plans and that means longer legs and the need to keep speed up, so we have used the engine a lot, and decided not to worry about it. During our longer cruises, mostly to the Baltic, we would log about 2,500 miles and use 2-250 hrs of motor. Our return trips always ended up going through the Netherlands, which might involve several days of motoring, which didn't help our average. We still had a lot of great sailing though.

 

[geem]

Last season we did 9000nm cruising anticlockwise around the Caribbean. For us it was a high engine hours trip as we had to cover 1500 nm to windward. With wind and current against us and short weather windows, plenty of it was motor sailing. Our total engine hours were 505. This is by far the most we have ever done! Fortunately my oil changes are 500 hours or 12 months, which ever comes first!

 

[Neeves]

Last season we did 9000nm cruising anticlockwise around the Caribbean. For us it was a high engine hours trip as we had to cover 1500 nm to windward. With wind and current against us and short weather windows, plenty of it was motor sailing. Our total engine hours were 505. This is by far the most we have ever done! Fortunately my oil changes are 500 hours or 12 months, which ever comes first!

Oil changes at 500 hours? You are obviously not following Volvo's recommendations

9,000nm is a long way in a season - at an average of 6 knots? thats 1,500 hours 'at sea' which is 62 days at sea, or 180 x 8 hour passages - you need to spend more time at anchor - and smell the seaweed (better find rum and catch crayfish).

I'm worn out thinking about it - you are obviously young!

Jonathan

 

[geem]

Oil changes at 500 hours? You are obviously not following Volvo's recommendations

9,000nm is a long way in a season - at an average of 6 knots? thats 1,500 hours 'at sea' which is 62 days at sea, or 180 x 8 hour passages - you need to spend more time at anchor - and smell the seaweed (better find rum and catch crayfish).

I'm worn out thinking about it - you are obviously young!

Jonathan

Haha, Perkins M92b. 86hp. Modern engine with high spec oil, double air filtration. Its a commercial engine for fishing boats, etc.
Route was Curacao, Bonaire, Haiti, South coast of Cuba (twice), Bahamas, Florida, Bahamas again, Bocas del Torro in Panama then cruise along Panama coast to Colombia. Cruise the coast then Curacao, Venezuelan islands, Dominica then up the Windward and Leewards a couple of times then back to Curacao to haul out for the summer. I feel tired now just thinking about it. Longest leg was Bahamas to Panama, 1000nm.

 

[Channel Sailor]

I have very approximate records of sorts over the past few years of miles and engine hours. If I assumed an average speed of 4.6kts then per annum:

900 miles = 196 hrs total, 84 hours engine. 43% engine
1160 miles = 252hrs total, 113 hours engine. 45% on engine
834m = 181hrs total, 67hrs engine. 37% on engine (Perhaps longer trips and less day sails this year)
525m = 114 hrs, 66hrs engine. 58% on engine.
257m = 56 hrs total, 30hrs engine (a very short season this particular year). 53% on engine.


Coastal cruising mostly day sailing and inshore racing around the Ditch (Solent) plus an occasional trip to France. Includes engine time for battery charging, winter maintenance deliveries and local refueling etc. For example today I might visit the yacht and might run the engine for a while to charge the batteries.

I was surprised by these stat's so began to wonder if they are somewhat skewed because of my approximate recording of trips or the average speed idea is flawed. So read into these figures with a large pinch of salt. When racing we are on a mission to get to the start line often with engine, then after the finish sometimes drop the sails and blast home directly. Also the yacht is based a long way up Chichester harbour. But it feels like I do much more sailing than motoring. Anyway, it is clearly not 20% (or less) of time on engine over a full year, and not 70%.

 

[Finbar]

If looking at a boat, engine hours can be estimated as 10% of logged miles as a rule of thumb. Lines up pretty well with experience provided the log has been working!

 

[doug748]

.....Includes engine time for battery charging, winter maintenance deliveries and local refueling etc. For example today I might visit the yacht and might run the engine for a while to charge the batteries.

I was surprised by these stat's so began to wonder if they are somewhat skewed because of my approximate recording of trips or the average speed idea is flawed. So read into these figures with a large pinch of salt..... /QUOTE]


I know what you mean. I think your average speed under engine may well be a lot less than 5kts, taking into consideration biffing around marinas, warming up and charging batteries.

I guestimate mine at about 2kts, as I only use engine when mooring up or doing a sulky 4 kts if I have to be somewhere. I am also normally quite happy moving at 3kts, or less, under sail.
So I would guess 70 - 80% sailing miles 30 - 20% engine miles.

 

[Kukri]

I am of the same school as Doug748. I turn into a Captain Bligh figure and object to using the engine.

I started with engineless boats and progressed via a Stuart Turner to an MD2. I finally have a modern Yanmar 4JH5E but old habits die hard...

My weakness, which I suspect is a common one, is putting the engine on to get past a tidal gate.

 

[westhinder]

Averages over 9 seasons with this boat: 1700 nautical miles and 180 engine hours per season.
Seems to bear out Finbars 10% rule of thumb.
I reckon a daysail involves about an hour engine time leaving and entering harbour, which leads me to an estimated 1000 miles sailed and 700 miles motored per season. In my book that is reasonable: if you want to cover some distance during a limited period of cruising, you will inevitably have to accept using the engine more than when you’re out for an easy day’s sailing.
This year has been the first time I’ve had a broad reach both on the outward and return legs of the cruise.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Over the last 8 years messing about in the Med my engine hours are also approx 10% of distance travelled.

 

[RupertW]

If looking at a boat, engine hours can be estimated as 10% of logged miles as a rule of thumb. Lines up pretty well with experience provided the log has been working!

I really am an outlier then with 70 percent of hours under engine and probably at least 10 percent more of miles. Some seasons very different but not many.

 

[johnalison]

I really am an outlier then with 70 percent of hours under engine and probably at least 10 percent more of miles. Some seasons very different but not many.

We are pretty shameless too, but may not have reached your depth of depravity. Our trouble, after I retired, was that we had a couple of major sea crossings each year but no longer had the stamina to stick it out at three knots, so six knots was our open-sea requirement. Sailing at night often meant light or no wind, but it helped to get us on our way. This all contributed to our roughly 50% figure, about the same for hours and distance.

 

[Elessar]

My weakness, which I suspect is a common one, is putting the engine on to get past a tidal gate.

Fascinating thread and I’m surprised at the consistency.
This quote perplexed me though.
I don’t understand why you think using all the tools available to you to make an efficient passage is a weakness.
I’d call it good navigation skills.

 

[vyv_cox]

I really am an outlier then with 70 percent of hours under engine and probably at least 10 percent more of miles. Some seasons very different but not many.

Very similar to us. We use the engine a lot more in the Mediterranean than we did around UK and down to the Gironde.