best way to plane?

[keninaz]

Re: best way to plane?

You are using lots more fuel getting it up gradually than you would giving it lots of throttle.
That is not to say that you have to give it full throttle, but give it plenty.
My thoughts have always been the longer it takes to get up on a plane and at a good operating RPM for fuel economy the more fuel I am wasting.
At at 6-8 GPH in some of my bigger boats I had at the price of gas today I want the best I can get.

 

[QC]

Re: best way to plane?

You guys mentioning fuel (even you Bond-o) are cracking me up. Let's say we're at 20 gallons an hour (he's actually at less than 10) but bear with me, and let's say it takes him 30 seconds longer to plane. Forget the increased rate when he hammers it (I support that, but just doing some math here). So 20 gallons/hour dived by 60 minutes, divided by 2 (30 secs longer to plane with this method) = .166 gallons of extra fuel. Say $4.00 a gallon x .166 = 65 cents!!! Jeez Oh . . . wait . . . that is the cost of a beer if you get a good deal on a 30 pack. Never mind . . . Oh, wait it's less than 1/2 that. Maybe worth a stick of gum when it comes down to it

 

[keninaz]

Re: best way to plane?

I know my last boat was very heavy and took some time to get up even at pretty good throttle. And it was pretty hard to see over the large bow too.
So it was not only fuel but safety, comfort and less wake for other boaters.
At cruising RPM my boat left very little wake.

 

[QC]

Re: best way to plane?

Agree with that ^^^^^^^^

Trust me, I used to believe all of this taboo engine and fuel stuff. Until I started to sell engines based on fuel use, then I got into the habit of putting a calculator to everything and it pretty much takes 10,000 gallons of fuel use to make fuel efficiency benefits pay anything worth talking about. Funny thing is that I like to play with saving as much as I can throughout the day, but it ends up being for fun, not much else . . .

 

[Unleadedaddict]

Re: best way to plane?

I have a friend who has a 19' glasstron with a 3.0. His tank is 30 gallons, mine in the 66 tolly with a 302 is 40 gallons. He uses a tank a day when we are out together. I use maybe 15-20g. My point being his boat being a 4cyl you would expect better fuel economy. But he is slow to plane and his cruising rpm is higher than mine at the same speed. So if you are in a lower powered boat I guess it matters how quick you are to get out of the hole. The video I posted the boat never went over 3000rpm, until you hear the motor change near the end, maybe 3500rpms. I ski at 3500 and wakeboard near 2700 and we can ski al weekend on 40 gallons

 

[mickjetblue]

Re: best way to plane?

All things considered, I'd suggest to eventually check into adding some Smart Tabs to make
the planing process more efficient. They should also improve control and stability overall.

Happy boating!