How long can I run at WOT

Hello,

I recently bought a 2006 Sun Tracker Party Barge 18 with a 2006 Mercury 50, 2 stroke. I see that the WOT range for this motor is 5000-5500 RPM. My question is how long can I run it in this range? For instance, yesterday we were returning from a sand bar after some swimming and had about 3 miles to go. Can I run it at say, 5400 RPMS for 3 miles, my BIL thought he would keep it closer to 5000 and less. If I open the throttle up I can easly get it up to 6000 (which I don't routinely do and realize that means I probably need a higher pitch prop but that is another discussion). If I ran it at 4000 it would take forever to get anywhere. What do think about running an engine at the WOT for an extended period of time?

Thanks,

Mark in MN

Re: How long can I run at WOT

Motor will handle it much better than the fuel supply.

Re: How long can I run at WOT

You are definately not lugging your motor if it will spin up to 6000 rpm. You can run it at the recomended rpms as long as you want, they are designed for that.

Re: How long can I run at WOT

foodfisher said:

Motor will handle it much better than the fuel supply.

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Amen on that one!...my 90HP 2 stroke will rip through a tank of gas real fast at 5500RPM!

Re: How long can I run at WOT

The faster, the guzzler...gas is expensive, wot to plane faster if heavily loaded, throttle down to 3/4 and drink some beers while reaching your destination point.. a 2 strokes engines consumes 12% of their HP in fuel gallons per hour at wot, 4 strokes and efi's much less.

Happy Boating

Re: How long can I run at WOT

Thanks everyone for the replies. The engined seemed to run great at 5200-5400, I never even thought of the fuel it would guzzle. I think I'll run her generaly around 4800 or so.

Thanks again!

Re: How long can I run at WOT

Sea Rider said:

The faster, the guzzler...gas is expensive, wot to plane faster if heavily loaded, throttle down to 3/4 and drink some beers while reaching your destination point.. a 2 strokes engines consumes 12% of their HP in fuel gallons per hour at wot, 4 strokes and efi's much less.

Happy Boating

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Wow, I never knew that info on 2 strokes. Makes absolute sense and is very good to know.

Re: How long can I run at WOT

Sea Rider said:

The faster, the guzzler...gas is expensive, wot to plane faster if heavily loaded, throttle down to 3/4 and drink some beers while reaching your destination point.. a 2 strokes engines consumes 12% of their HP in fuel gallons per hour at wot, 4 strokes and efi's much less.

Happy Boating

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that makes no sense to me. I have a 90hp engine and run it around at WOT all the time. I'm either idling or WOT. 90x12%=10.8 gallons. my boat has a 10 gallon gas tank on it which by your calculations means I have enough gas for 1 hr of travel....I've been out running around for 4hrs constant several times as I travel up the cooper river from charleston into lake marion...

Re: How long can I run at WOT

Sea Rider said:

The faster, the guzzler...gas is expensive, wot to plane faster if heavily loaded, throttle down to 3/4 and drink some beers while reaching your destination point..

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Um.....if you do that, your "destination point" will probably be the local JAIL!!

Re: How long can I run at WOT

This is not exact rocket science for bigger engines, those are 2 stroke, 2 cylinder single carbed engine parameters, don't know if this could be applied to multicarbed 2 T engines wich guzzles more, 4 strokes, EFI'S, TLD much less. Use sometimes a 3 carbed Yam 60 HP at 3/4 throttle and sucks a 6 gal tank very fast. Ooops, strict laws, driver must not drink, but switching to auto pilot can become a passenger. LOL!!

Happy Boating