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1985 e38-200 fuel burn rate (gph)

rbonilla

"don't tread on me" member XVXIIIII
what would you folks guess is the gallons per hour fuel burn rate
for a 1985 e38-200 w/a 50 hp gas motor? what about speed, any
idea on the crusing speed I could use?...thanx !!....
 

u079721

Contributing Partner
Gas?

You really have a gas engine? 50 HP? I thought all the 38s had 32 HP Universal diesels, like mine?

My experience might not matter then, but we cruised at 6.8 to 6.9 kts at 2450 rpm. We had several non-stop-motoring long distance deliveries across Lake Huron during which we averaged between 5.5 to 5.8 nm/gal.
 

rbonilla

"don't tread on me" member XVXIIIII
wow...owner stated almost double that...here is his/her comment>>

"It can motor at 7- 8 knots if you want. Our normal motoring speed is 7.
I have never done an exact analysis of fuel burn, but it appears to be the
usual 1/2 gallon per hour."

50 gall tank would almost yield a 700nm range, right? seems high...

:0305_alar
 

u079721

Contributing Partner
Not likely.....

My 38 would motor at 8 kts too.....until I calibrated the knot log.

And if you were to motor at a lower rpm you could increase the fuel economy over the 1.1 to 1.2 or so gal/hr that I saw with my 32 hp at full cruising rpm. With a well tuned 50 hp I could believe 1 gal/hr, but not 0.5/gal hr.

I figured our 54 gal tank gave us about a 300 nm range under power, which is still pretty darn good for a coastal cruiser.
 

rbonilla

"don't tread on me" member XVXIIIII
yea, thanx for the data Steve....1/2 gallon per hr burn rate seems very
low....:rolleyes:
 

erobitaille

Member II
Fuel Burn rate

On our trip last year up th CA coast (San Deigo to SF) we burned .95 gls/hr avearged 5.5 knts. We ran at 2100 rpm.
 

u079721

Contributing Partner
Interesting data

erobitaille said:
On our trip last year up th CA coast (San Deigo to SF) we burned .95 gls/hr avearged 5.5 knts. We ran at 2100 rpm.

That's very interesting data. I would have thought that dropping down to 5.5 kts and 2100 rpm would have had more of an effect on the efficiency, but you obtained about the same overall mileage as we did running at 2450 rpm.

It would be great to have a curve of the mileage as a function of rpm for the engine, but that would be a lot of work to put together, especially since you would have to not include any passages when you were motor sailing (which, I have to admit, is most of my long distance hurry-up deliveries).
 

NateHanson

Sustaining Member
My conservative rule of thumb on a couple 38 foot boats has been 3/4 gallon/hour at cruising revs. It's not scientific, but it serves well for planning purposes. And I'd agree that no-one's getting 1/2 gallon per hour from a 50 hp diesel, unless it's idling.


Nate
 
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