• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

Fuel Consumption for E-38 W/5432?

ted_reshetiloff

Contributing Partner
I read the thread on the E-35 and it seems the consensus was about 3/4 gal per hour but it sounded like most people were say "yeah that sounds about right". I'm hoping to find someone with an E-38 with the Universal 5432 that can say something like "On our trip to XX we averaged XX/hour"

I'm thinking this engine is probably around 1 gal/hr at 2k rpm but would love some empirical evidence. Once I take my cruise to New England this summer I'll be sure and post my own results.
 

u079721

Contributing Partner
Ted,

It will have to wait till I can check my logbook tonight at home, but I should be able to help some. I have about ten years of overnight deliveries when we started out with full tanks, and motored about 22 hours to Canada where we stopped and filled up while checking in with customs. My numbers will be worse case, in that we typically pushed it hard, running at 2450 rpm the whole way at 6.8 kts plus - which is hardly the most economical setting to maximize fuel. I do remember being surprised at how much we used though, and I was seeing probably at least 1.25 gal/hour usage. But I'll go look up the fuel used, elapsed time, and distance for a few of those years and see what it looks like for you.
 

ted_reshetiloff

Contributing Partner
Wow thanks. FWIW in flat water I get 6.8-6.9kts at 2200. Thats about where I normally run. Pushing it up to 2500-2600 it goes up to 7.2-7.4. I keep a very clean bottom and use a 2 blade feathering Max prop.
 

u079721

Contributing Partner
Here's what I was able to find for our deliveries in 2000 through 2004. These were pretty open water, frequently upwind in 3 to 6 foot seas at times, usually running 2450 rpm, motorsailing when we could, but with the engine on the whole time. Distance was always about 150 nm from the Bay City Yacht Club in Saginaw Bay, Michigan to Meldrum Bay on Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada. Clean bottom, with a three blade Max prop, but a very heavily loaded boat with four weeks of food and full water and fuel tanks.

2000, 22 hr, 31.4 gal fuel for 1.43 gph at 6.9 kts
2001, 23 hr, 29.9 gal fuel for 1.3 gph at 6.6 kts
2002, 22 hr, 27.1 gal fuel for 1.23 gph at 6.9 kts
2003, 23 hr, 31.2 gal fuel for 1.35 gph at 6.6 kts
2004, 22.5 hr, 27 gal fuel for 1.2 gph at 6.75 kts

Over all fuel average was 1.3 gph - not so good. But again, this was at 2450 rpm, not 2000.
 

SASSY

Member II
Fuel consumption

I was turning 2200 rpm's steaming accross the Guld of Mexico from 175 mile out into a headwind, and 6' swells with the main double reefed and the Geny out just far enough to point and we were making 7.2 knots on the datamarine. Speed over ground however was still ony 3.2 knots with a universal 25xp and an 87 E-34. At this rate we would consume all 30 gallons in the tank and only progress 96 miles. However in a calm we would do 6.5 knots at 1800 rpms and travel 190 miles based on a gallon an hour although it's proably much better that. After being out there and worrying about fuel for 30 hours it all depends on the conditions.
 

ted_reshetiloff

Contributing Partner
I'm hoping I can keep it down to 1 gal per hour. But then I'm also hoping to turn the corner at Cape May, set that big assym and have a screaming reach up the coast for 280 miles... Guessing I probably have maybe 50hrs of motoring in a full tank? I think the tank is 55 gal but never actually have confirmed that. Not planning on bring jerry cans.I figure if it looks bad we'll just have to stop in AC or Block Island for fuel.
 

u079721

Contributing Partner
I would think a gallon/hour is pretty reasonable if you hold the revs at 2000. As for the tank size, if you unscrew the wood cover under the after double you can read it on the top, but for a late model 38 it's probably 54 gallons.

In our case we were hell bent on getting the delivery done in one overnight, so maximum fuel economy was never an issue. With our 54 gallon tank we couldn't have run at those speeds for two days, so we would have cut back.
 

oceandreams89

Member II
Hey Ted,

A few years back I found out the hard way about the free surface effect on the E-38 fuel tank. I had about a third of a tank in a short sea up Long Island Sound in late November. We were motorsailing and heeled about 20 degrees to port (away from the fuel pickup). As the waves became steeper and the boat with pitching more and more, the fuel would slosh away from the pickup tube and suck in air requiring the engine be bled. I was at the engine bleeding the fuel while my brother was at the helm until we reached calmer conditions. We never had another problem ever again, so it was not a system problem.

I wont allow the fuel to get low again, especially in a rough sea after that loveley day on the water. I had the tank out a few years before that occurance, and the tank follows the slope of the hull so when heeled to port, the fuel moves away from the pickup. The immediate fix would have been to ease sail and right the boat, although the problem did not become apparent to me until later in calm water up the CT river. I think I still posted a question in this forum after the fact to see if anyone had any other ideas about it.

Just a little food for thought and planning.

Hope to see you when you come our way.

Todd
 

ted_reshetiloff

Contributing Partner
Thanks Todd. Will certainly keep that in mind. I have always been reluctant to heel the boat much more than 10 degrees when motoring as I am not sure what happens to the oil system in the engine. My guess is the pickup for oil still gets oil but the slinging of oil on rods and cylinders maybe not so much when heeled. I have also found that heeling on port tack sucks air into the raw water intake and temps start to climb. Usually if its blowing that hard I either sail under severly reefed sails or motor at 2kts....
 

oceandreams89

Member II
Hey Ted,

I've never found the water intake a problem on our boat. Our pickup is directly under the galley sink just inside the keel on the port side. If we were heeled hard enough on our boat to suck in air from our engine pickup, I would be deeply concerned and thinking about righting moments I think...:0305_alar

Hate to see you selling your boat after all the work you have put into it...but there is always some room for improvement. We have had ours 7 years now, and I'm sure it will be 7 more plus....not that I think it's the greatest boat in the world, just that I only owe about $38k on it, it will be paid for in that time, and to buy anything better would be a huge amount more....

Anyway, happy sailing.

Todd
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Crossing the doldrums of the North Pacific High I ran my 5432 for more than 100 hours in flat water at 1700 rpms yielding 5 knots for a confirmed fuel burn of 1/2 gallon an hour. Fixed 3-blade prop, fairly clean bottom. Noise reduction was the main reason for the low rpms.

I assume 3/4 gallon/hour under normal operating conditions but usually do better.
 

Navman

Member III
On my way back from Greenport Long Island to the Chesapeake my average consumption was .67 gal. per hour @ 1800 RPM's over several hundred miles. This has held true for the last 5 years. I calculate my fuel consumption at .75 per hour so I have a little "cushion".
 
Top