Put the pencil away, forget the formula, and put a decimal point one position to the left of the last number in the horsepower rating. 40 HP = 4.0 gallons per hour at wide open throttle.
Put the pencil away, forget the formula, and put a decimal point one position to the left of the last number in the horsepower rating. 40 HP = 4.0 gallons per hour at wide open throttle.
Isn't that what dividing by 10 means????
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The world takes on a whole new perspective when viewed from 100' below...
1972 Bertram 'Bahia Mar' 20
2006 Mercruiser 4.3MPI (OW617679) w/Alpha 1 Gen II (OW829301)
Achris -- in case the decimal point thing slid past you, it was "tongue in cheek". There are people that go faint when they see a formula regardless how simple it is.
so a 115HP will get 11.5GPH? I assume this is for 2-stroke, 4's are different.
So with a 6gal tank, I can run for 1/2 hour. ...
At WOT (Wide Open Throttle), yes.... Now if you know how far you travel in 30 minutes at WOT, then you have a mile per gallon figure to start working with for speeds other than WOT...
Chris.............
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The world takes on a whole new perspective when viewed from 100' below...
1972 Bertram 'Bahia Mar' 20
2006 Mercruiser 4.3MPI (OW617679) w/Alpha 1 Gen II (OW829301)
My 35 HP Merc burns about 1 gallon per hour at 3/4 throttle.
My 25 HP Merc burns 3 gallons in 1 hour 40 minutes WOT.
But neither is pushing a displacement hull,
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Nothing is so broken that Government can't make it worse.
Actually, the old HP/10 formula was thought up in the days when 2-stroke outboards were rated at the crankshaft.
So, if you use this on a later-model outboard rated at the prop, the value you come up with is gonna be a bit on the low side.
But, HP/10 is sure a lot easier to figure out in your head than HP/8.21 or whatever correction factor you jack into the equation!!!
Here's a good example of this:
Old Merc 1150 rated at crankshaft, approx 11.5 GPH WOT;
Old Merc 1400 rated at crankshaft, approx 14 GPH WOT;
Later-model Merc 115 (which was for all intents and purposes a 140 rated at the prop as 115HP), approx 14 GPH WOT.
And so on, and so on.
Still lots easier for my Pea-Brain to divide HP by 10 and then just jack in a bit more GPH to come up with a S.W.A.G.!!!
And of course the original formula works great on all the Antique Fossil (er I mean "Classic") Mercs we're still playing with!
BTW it shouldn't matter what type of hull you're pushing, if the motor is truly running at WOT, in its rated operating rpm, it's gonna consume the max amount of fuel.
Of course, the type of hull you're pushing will greatly change the Speed and MPG values, as will cruising at the most efficient speed for the hull/motor configuration; but we're not talking about those, only specific consumption at WOT.