1987 230 weekender 5.7l 260 hp

[scott young]

hello everyone! i would enjoy comments from any present or past 230 weekender owners, but i am especially interested in fuel consumption. i purchased my weekender near the end of last summer and the few times i used it it seemed to use an extreme amount of fuel. looking back, my best estimates are about 1mpg or 15-20gph. this is running the boat as efficiently as i could. i use my boat on a lake where current and chop are not significant factors. i am running a 19 pitch ss prop which gets boat on plane well. i think full throttle rpm was 4200-4400. it is a larger boat than i have owned before and therefore will use more fuel but these numbers seem extreme. am i just plain wrong? if not i would appreciate any suggestions. other than the adjustment to our fuel budget my wife and i could not be happier with our new/older boat.
thank you

 

[Kevin Smith]

230 Weekender Fuel Consumption

Scott,

I had a 1989 230 Weekender with the 454CI and 17 Pitch Mercury Mirage SS Prop. At 3,000 rpm in calm seas it was doing somewhat better than yours-around 15-18 gph. My 1989 had a 70 gallon fuel tank a 25 gallon freshwater tank and a 5 gallon gray water tank. So it was a fairly heavy boat.

If I ran it too much over 3,000 rpms (when the 4 barrel opened) the ghp went to numbers like you have. However, I would think the 350CI would be a bit more fuel efficient than the 454CI (Another idea is that you might want to consider having someone take a real close look at the carb to see if it is set correctly or maybe needs a rebuild.)

I have also noticed that the slightest condition problems of the prop have a much greater impact on the fuel consumption on larger boats, like yours.
(With the price of fuel these days, I am thinking about adding a fuel management system to mine.)

Let us know how it turns out.

Kevin Smith, Richmond VA
1991 250/270 Weekender, 454CI, 330HP, Bravo II

 

[scott young]

kevin,
thank you for the info. just fyi i have stayed completely out of the four barrel except planing off and a couple of times to see how the boat ran at full throttle. what i am very interested in is what you said about prop damage, because i just dropped mine off at a local prop shop to have some slight damage repaired. hopefully that will improve my situation. if it doesnt i will take your advice and have a professional look at the carb
thank you,
scott

 

[walkab]

G day mate.

I just bought a clean 1977 - srv 240 weekender with 255 hp volvo ( assume that a chev ) V8 with a duo prop drive.

I assume our boats are similar -- have you learned anything new about fuel consumption -- any news to share welcome.

Cheers
Rich