Thread: Twin vs single
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Old 09-27-2019, 01:06 PM   #3
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City: Tri Cities, WA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TwoToTango View Post
But given two identical boats w a full displacement hull., one with a single Lehman 120 and the other with twin 120s , how much extra fuel do the twins use at say cruising speed of around 6 nts? Twice?

TTT, I don't have an exact answer to this question. I've run my boat on one engine when the other engine died or the transmission died. I don't really track my fuel consumption closely but I didn't notice a huge savings. Running on one engine in a boat designed for two will make that engine work harder than it would if it were a pair of engines.

Fuel is the cheapest part of boating. There's no way I would opt for a single engine boat if similar boats were available with twins.

My gues is not that much more but does anyone have some real experience to answer that for me ? Also just how often really end up using the twin in a back up situation? I’ve been told if one goes down the other is likely because it’s usually fuel issues that cause a diesel to stop .
I've had to run three times on one engine because something died and caused the other engine to die. Once it was a starter issue and once a transmission issue. The other time was a hot engine. That's in 25 years of owning twin engine boats.

Thanks for your help . Just trying to educate myself. I like the idea of a single primarily because it’s easy on fuel. Done really have desire to go fast.
Some times going fast can get you home when a storm is coming, and I believe the increased maneuverability of twins makes up for any extra fuel burn.
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