markrinker
New Member
A friend of mine and his wife left this fall from Minneapolis on the 7000 mile Great Loop. They have been river boating for years and have an affinity for the simple layout of their 2003 Bayliner 265. It really is a spacious, tall cabin with full queen bed in the rear berth. They have converted the forward berth to storage, which also helps with on plane performance.
The boat is powered by a single Mercruiser 5.7L carbureated I/O (250hp rating) with Bravo III drive. Current stock props are 22p and in good shape. He reports that they run on plane most of the time from point to point, but have only averaged 1.7mpg so far on their journey which has them at Evansville, Illinois.
I sold Jim my set of 24p Bravo III props as spares, but the prop selector at http://www.mercurymarine.com/propellers/prop-selector/# keeps pointing us to 19p props? This seems counter to what I would expect. His goal is obviously MPG (economy) over top speed (performance) but would slowing the boat down, while increasing RPM result in fuel savings?
My thought is the 24p set would give him more distance per RPM, and that the boat with two people, fuel, water, and gear (8000# max) is not overloaded for a 250hp engine, regardless of how you prop it, within reason.
Thoughts, experiences, wild ass theories all welcomed!!!
The boat is powered by a single Mercruiser 5.7L carbureated I/O (250hp rating) with Bravo III drive. Current stock props are 22p and in good shape. He reports that they run on plane most of the time from point to point, but have only averaged 1.7mpg so far on their journey which has them at Evansville, Illinois.
I sold Jim my set of 24p Bravo III props as spares, but the prop selector at http://www.mercurymarine.com/propellers/prop-selector/# keeps pointing us to 19p props? This seems counter to what I would expect. His goal is obviously MPG (economy) over top speed (performance) but would slowing the boat down, while increasing RPM result in fuel savings?
My thought is the 24p set would give him more distance per RPM, and that the boat with two people, fuel, water, and gear (8000# max) is not overloaded for a 250hp engine, regardless of how you prop it, within reason.
Thoughts, experiences, wild ass theories all welcomed!!!
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