Twin 454's: saving gas?

jewelry thief

New Member
Jul 6, 2005
4
Port Huron, MI
Hello everyone, I am in the process of purchasing my first Sea Ray. It is a '79 300 SRV Express Cruiser. It has twin 454 Mercruisers. With it comes a set of trolling props and a set of cruising props. I'm curious if anyone has any suggestions on limiting gas consumption other than just parking it in the marina?
 
If you have 4 barrels on board, get rid of them!! Think of the weight saving if they are full!! :)

You could always buy a nice Honda four stroke trolling motor??

Ditto what Top Prop said. When you hear the four barrels open up, starting counting because that's about how fast the dollars are slipping away! Generally there is a sweet spot just after you achieve a good clean plane where the engines are running about 3,000 rpm's where the mileage will peak. There is another place where the mileage will peak and that is around 1,100 rpm where you are at displacement speed and NOT pushing a big wave or creating a large wake behind you that will be fairly economical too. That depends on tides, river speed and winds though too. Usually there isn't much difference in MPG at 1,100 and 3,000.

How fast will it go with both throttles wide open? I'd LOVE to be on board when that happens!!
 
454s

I have a 39 express with 454s. I bring it up on plane at 3200 RPM, then back off to 2900 RPM approx 15 Knots. This keeps me out of the quad.
I burn 25 GPH at that speed. If I open it up it's goes to 40-50 GPH real fast.

Paul
 
ditto what paulc says. i cruise at 3250, 26gph, 17-19mph depending on wind. bridge boats are much more sensitive to wind than ECs and DAs.

if you dont have floscans, i would start keeping a log of engine hours and gallons of fuel that you take on and do some math. finding your most economical speed could quite literally save you $1000 bucks over a 50 hour season.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
112,950
Messages
1,422,877
Members
60,932
Latest member
juliediane
Back
Top