what should my fuel mileage be?

[swamp creek]

i've got a 15' skeeter, 1979, 85hp seahorse V4

I took it to the lake yesterday, don't know exactly how far i went. Looking and scaling at a map to the best I could, some where between 12-16 miles round trip, 6 gallon gas tank, i ended up getting back with a burp of gas.

i'm thinking 2-3 mpg , is that right? is it normal? what can I try to do to improve mileage?

 

[82rude]

Re: what should my fuel mileage be?

that motor will use approx. 8 to 9 gallons per hr at wot.you need to know how many rpms you are getting at wot.i had a 1982 90hp that was tuned up great and matched my boat perfectly (light boat).I could go to camp which is 27 miles at easy cruise for about 3 gallons.if you max out throttle then back off a bit you will save a lot also and you really wont lose to much on speed.i might add that going to camp meant a pretty big load of gas and goodies as a total round trip with fishing was 90 miles or so for a weekend.

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

Re: what should my fuel mileage be?

what can I try to do to improve mileage?

A couple of things that help when you know fuel is gonna' be close....

Slow down. Every hull/engine combination is different, but in general you'll get the best fuel mileage running your engine between 3000 and 4000 rpm. Most boats get "good" mileage at no-wake speeds, but other than that either too slow or too fast will cost you fuel - too slow and you'll be spending a lot of power on helping keep the hull on plane, too fast and you're increasing drag.



Don't carry any extra weight that's not needed.