Longer Cruise

[Firebee]

Finally Shenanigans is in our home marina, 1.2 miles away. My wife an I made the 1.1 hr cruise across the Chesapeake Bay from Hampton to Cape Charles. Life is good.

So for a longer run like that should I always be up on plane and trimmed! Sometimes my wife felt going to fast and had to come back on throttles to make her feel better. So Im sure burned mor gas than necessary.

Any thoughts?

[mmwjr]

Originally Posted by Firebee

Finally Shenanigans is in our home marina, 1.2 miles away. My wife an I made the 1.1 hr cruise across the Chesapeake Bay from Hampton to Cape Charles. Life is good.

So for a longer run like that should I always be up on plane and trimmed! Sometimes my wife felt going to fast and had to come back on throttles to make her feel better. So Im sure burned mor gas than necessary.

Any thoughts?

Congrats, post some pictures. There is no issues running slower when the wife needs a break and you will be using less fuel durning those times. However be aware of where you are during those slower running times such as in the middle of a shipping channel.

[shrew]

Originally Posted by Firebee

So for a longer run like that should I always be up on plane and trimmed! Sometimes my wife felt going to fast and had to come back on throttles to make her feel better. So Im sure burned mor gas than necessary.

Any thoughts?

What was your cruise speed when she felt uncomfortable?

What were your RPM's?

What was the sea state at the time?

I would typically cruise my 2800 at around 23 kts. If it was flat, I could run higher, but typically kept the RPM's down to 3800 (single 496 (8.1) with a Bravo III.

If it got snotty, more tab, slower rpm's. That boat would be barely on plane at around 18-19 knots with a lot of tab. However at 18-19 knots, it's like riding a wheelie and hard to hold. It tended to either pop out of the hole and run up to 23-24 kots, or drop off and go down to 13-14 kts. It required constant throttle to hold her in that sweet spot.

If it was REALLY, REALLY rough (7-8 foot seas), and we were pounding, I'd drop off to 8 kts.

That was really my goal, was to simply make sure the boat isn't pounding.

[Phillbo]

For longer cruises 45ish miles I typically cruise at about 3200-3400 rpms. No clue what the speed is, that's just where the boat feels the best.

[Firebee]

Thanks Shrew and Phillbro.

Wind 5 kts, Seas pretty calm. I was on plane at 32-3300 rpm, about 25-27 kts and just a touch of bow down trim tabs. Twin 4.3 MerCruisers

When my wife, only second time out wanted slower, so 27-2600 was good and was making 20 kts. So I trimmed more bow down to reduce wetted area, or so i thought. And keep bow from hitting waves hard.

I assumed I was burning more gas as going slower and thus taking longer. But as you pointed out; the lower RPMs actually use less gas than running faster. DOH, it makes perfect sense now. Thanks guys.

[MoonRiver]

Great to hear you guys have made it to the water. Not sure how the twin 4.3's runout but I would think that you just have to "feel the boat". When the wheel is tight you probably need to trim the outdrive's up or down. The tabs really help with side wind or heavy seas, tabs adjust and level the boat port to strbd and yes they can bring the bow down if needed.

[Firebee]

Thanks for the advise. Will try the sterndrive trim next time out- this Friday.