Fuel Consumption

[Polly]

Here is a question for the wise.

45 ft boat hydraulic drive.

How many miles to the litre should it do on average?

[Vaughan]

You can't look at it in those terms, as it depends what speed you are doing, and what the tide and wind are doing.

On the Broads at 5 MPH I would hope for about 2.5 litres an hour.

A Perkins driven carefully, will do as little as 1.6 per hour.

A Nanni 5 cylinder at 2800 RPM, over 7 litres.

[Polly]

Thanks Vaughan. Speed limits kept. Mostly slack water or with tide very windy though. 

[Cheesey69]

Bmc 1.5. 35foot

9 miles to the gallon 

using gps, distance charts and even a measuring stick

[kpnut]

On average, over the year including diesel heater in winter, that’s about what my bmc1.5 has done too with my horizon 35ft. I use os map and old fashioned measuring wheel to measure mileage.

[Polly]

Thanks for the help folks

[Malanka]

Prop size and angle too Poll. Malanka’s 2.8 L BMC rarely gets above Rickover oop north, zero stress on engine so she “pootles” a lot further than most on a litre….

[Polly]

It was a Connoisseur Craft and a ‘bloody big boat with a small prop’ to quote Timbo

[SwanR]

Was there less of your fuel deposit back than you expected Polly?

[Polly]

Not really. I would normally wait to see them refill but didn’t do that this time. I got a reasonable refund but just wanted to get a hold on how much I had used. It all looks fine. 

[BroadAmbition]

Another point to consider - Hydraulic drive as well as being noisy are not as efficient or economical as shaft drive

Griff

[StillCruising]

I go by engine hours which I record in my daily log. In the 12 years that I have had my Seamaster 30 with its BMC 1.8 shaft drive over the course of each year it had used 2 Lt per hour, the Ebber uses 1/2 Lt per hour.