97 330 EC Cruising Speed

[Tony D]

Picking up the above boat Friday (hopefully) in Connecticut and driving it to the New Jersey Shore. It's the model with the 13.5 foot beam. It has 7.4 MPI 330 horsepower engines. I don't have time to hook my floscan up before bringing it back and the tachs are way off. Can someone give me a ballpark speed that I can consider the best fuel burn given the circumstances. Just looking for the best mileage I can get based on speed alone. I'll be running with full fuel and water, three adult men and the boat will be completely empty of personal property. I'm taking the Long Island Sound through the East River and then down the coast.
Thanks

 

[hottoddie]

With 7.4 MPI engines the fuel mileage will not vary much when running on plane. Run the boat at whatever speed is comfortable up to about 3400 rpm. Assuming the boat carries 250 gallons plan on stopping for fuel every 125 miles or less and you should have no problems. Once you own the boat for awhile with flow meters you can adjust your speeds for best fuel economy. The point is get the boat home safely and don't be fixated on fuel economy on the run home. The difference isn't worth it.

 

[Tony D]

Thanks for the response. The boat holds 275 gallons. Just trying to not burn it all up. One engine was just rebuilt and has one hour on it the other one has 275. I know I will have to fluctuate my speed a bit in the beginning because of the rebuild and I figured 3200 would be a good cruising RPM but I don't have that option of knowing what RPM I'm at so I figured I would go with speed instead based on recommendations. I saw a chart for this boat somewhere on this forum with the RPMs, fuel burn and speed but I can't seem to find it. I'm making the run in one shot and I'm definitely stopping for fuel at some point but I just don't want to waste too much. Once I get back to Port I will put the flow scan in and swap out the tachs. Any idea what speed that might be roughly?

 

[Tony D]

thanks for the response. The boat holds 275 gallons. Just trying to not burn it all up. One engine was just rebuilt and has one hour on it the other one has 275. I know I will have to fluctuate my speed a bit in the beginning because of the rebuild and I figured 3200 would be a good cruising RPM but I don't have that option of knowing what RPM I'm at so I figured I would go with speed instead based on recommendations. I saw a chart for this boat somewhere on this forum with the RPMs, fuel burn and speed but I can't seem to find it. I'm making the run in one shot and I'm definitely stopping for fuel at some point but I just don't want to waste too much. Once I get back to Port I will put the flow scan in and swap out the tachs. Any idea what speed that might be roughly?

 

[Tony D]

As we all know there are many degrees of being up on plane and comfortably driving but some speeds could give you half the mileage than other speeds. I'm no Miser but I just don't want to unnecessarily burn fuel at these prices. I'll probably shoot for about 22 to 23 miles an hour. You think that's a a reasonable speed for the RPMs you suggested. Like I said the tachs are way off and can't be trusted. It's really the only trip of any distance I'll be taking until I straighten everything out.

 

[joeyleggz]

usually run my boat at 3300 I get about 23 miles an hour out of that

 

[Tony D]

That's what I've been running it at. They seem happy there and the speed is right on according to the GPS so I guess the tachs just needed a good run. The boat only had 279 original hours on it so they didn't get much use.

 

[joeyleggz]

 

[joeyleggz]

This is from Boat test.com this is ideal conditions for our boat I will say a 3500 RPM she really smooths out