Dougcole
Guru
I am going to start right out by saying that I realize I am treading all over one of this forum's sacred cows in my horrible, greasy, semi planing boots. But, in the hopes that all understand it is the nature of good fun and interesting conversation I am going to do it anyway.
Do many trawler owners take the pursuit of as little fuel burn as possible too far?
My life. Married, wife likes spending time on the boat. Run our own rep business, I travel A LOT for work. My wife works with me, more than full time. Two sons one a HS Freshman runner (he finished 5th in the US in the 1500 meter last year as an 8th grader, sorry for the brag), one a 5th garder who lives for soccer. We are a very busy family.
Our old boat. 1973 Gulfstar Trawler, cruise speed 7.5 knots, max 8 knots. Twin perkins 4-236. Fuel burn at 7.5 to 8 was 3.2 GPH. I tracked this over the 8 years and 1,400 hours we but on the boat.
Our new boat. 2005 Mainship 400 T. Twin 240 hp yanmars. Slow cruise 8 knots. Fast Cruise 15 knots. Max speed about 20 knots. Fuel burn at 8 knots so far seems to be about 3.5 to 4 Gph. At 15 knots it seems to be about 16 gph.
We live in the Florida panhandle. We like to take a month off in the summer and go to the Bahamas. Other than that it is a weekend here, a night there as we can get them squeezed in.
I read a post the other day on a different forum by a guy who had our exact new boat. He claimed he cruised it by running on one engine at 1000 rpm where at 4 knots he burned less than 2 gph. My thought was "why bother leaving the dock? Stay there and burn nothing at all."
We looked hard at a number of 400T's before we bought ours. My biggest concern was how the boat would run/handle at higher speeds. I was comfortable with what it would do at displacement speeds. It does great BTW. Two of the four owners we spoke with couldn't answer my questions as, by their own admission, they had never run the boat faster than 7 or 8 knots as it burned too much fuel at that speed.
I often read posts on here where people allude to horrific fuel burns at faster speeds.
We run the new boat at fast cruise about 20% of the time. Mainly while crossing the stream. I'll also push it pretty hard next month when I bring it home through the waterway as that will be more of a delivery than a cruise. I can tell you, so far having that extra speed in my pocket when I need it has been wonderful. Given the stage of life we are in now, I am not sure I would even bother owning a boat if I couldn't cover some ground when I need to.
Here is the math. Old boat, over 8 years and 1,400 hours we averaged 560 gallons of fuel per year. At $4 a gallon that is $2,240.
New boat: if we can go as often (we won't unfortunately) at slow cruise (80% of 560 gallons) 490 gallons = $1,960. At fast cruise 560 gallons $2,240.
So $2,000 per year to be able to go fast when needed. I know everyone has different budgets, but that is worth it to me.
The trick for me will be disciplining myself to go slow most of the time. So far that hasn't been an issues. I like to troll, and to see the sights. But when it gets rough and rolly, or I need to get home to attend to a work of family matter I don't want to slog along anymore.
Also being able to get the bow out of the water and bang instead of roll (admittedly the Gulfsatr is a very rolly hull) sure makes trips a lot more fun.
Are you sacrificing enjoyment of your time on the water to save just a few dollars on fuel?
Do many trawler owners take the pursuit of as little fuel burn as possible too far?
My life. Married, wife likes spending time on the boat. Run our own rep business, I travel A LOT for work. My wife works with me, more than full time. Two sons one a HS Freshman runner (he finished 5th in the US in the 1500 meter last year as an 8th grader, sorry for the brag), one a 5th garder who lives for soccer. We are a very busy family.
Our old boat. 1973 Gulfstar Trawler, cruise speed 7.5 knots, max 8 knots. Twin perkins 4-236. Fuel burn at 7.5 to 8 was 3.2 GPH. I tracked this over the 8 years and 1,400 hours we but on the boat.
Our new boat. 2005 Mainship 400 T. Twin 240 hp yanmars. Slow cruise 8 knots. Fast Cruise 15 knots. Max speed about 20 knots. Fuel burn at 8 knots so far seems to be about 3.5 to 4 Gph. At 15 knots it seems to be about 16 gph.
We live in the Florida panhandle. We like to take a month off in the summer and go to the Bahamas. Other than that it is a weekend here, a night there as we can get them squeezed in.
I read a post the other day on a different forum by a guy who had our exact new boat. He claimed he cruised it by running on one engine at 1000 rpm where at 4 knots he burned less than 2 gph. My thought was "why bother leaving the dock? Stay there and burn nothing at all."
We looked hard at a number of 400T's before we bought ours. My biggest concern was how the boat would run/handle at higher speeds. I was comfortable with what it would do at displacement speeds. It does great BTW. Two of the four owners we spoke with couldn't answer my questions as, by their own admission, they had never run the boat faster than 7 or 8 knots as it burned too much fuel at that speed.
I often read posts on here where people allude to horrific fuel burns at faster speeds.
We run the new boat at fast cruise about 20% of the time. Mainly while crossing the stream. I'll also push it pretty hard next month when I bring it home through the waterway as that will be more of a delivery than a cruise. I can tell you, so far having that extra speed in my pocket when I need it has been wonderful. Given the stage of life we are in now, I am not sure I would even bother owning a boat if I couldn't cover some ground when I need to.
Here is the math. Old boat, over 8 years and 1,400 hours we averaged 560 gallons of fuel per year. At $4 a gallon that is $2,240.
New boat: if we can go as often (we won't unfortunately) at slow cruise (80% of 560 gallons) 490 gallons = $1,960. At fast cruise 560 gallons $2,240.
So $2,000 per year to be able to go fast when needed. I know everyone has different budgets, but that is worth it to me.
The trick for me will be disciplining myself to go slow most of the time. So far that hasn't been an issues. I like to troll, and to see the sights. But when it gets rough and rolly, or I need to get home to attend to a work of family matter I don't want to slog along anymore.
Also being able to get the bow out of the water and bang instead of roll (admittedly the Gulfsatr is a very rolly hull) sure makes trips a lot more fun.
Are you sacrificing enjoyment of your time on the water to save just a few dollars on fuel?