Fuel Economy - 220 / 496HO

[LSTGR81]

Good Morning,

I have been a bit baffled by the fuel economy I have been achieving in my new (to me) boat for which we have had for about 3 months, and 20 hours. It is a 2004 with a 496HO, and at each fill up I seem to be averaging about 5 gal/hr of engine run time. I have filled up a few times, so I feel like the calculations are fairly accurate. What has me questioning this is it just seems very low compared to what I researched on these engines, so I was just curious if anyone else is as nerdy as I am when it comes to calculating economy at each fill up.

I know that driving style is a large factor in fuel consumption, so to be fair, we do have idle time through a river maybe, but I feel that gets balanced out with the few WOT runs out on the lake. Typically boating is probably a cruise at 30-40mph @ 2800-3500 RPM. I have compared my boat hour meter with actual routes I tracked on Navionics and even that seems pretty accurate.

I have been doing this for years, and for comparison, my previous boat was a 2003 190 Chaparral with a 220hp 5.0 Carb and I would average about 4 gal/hr, so I was expecting this boat to be around 8-10 gal/hr, considering the HP almost doubled and the boat weighs at least an additional 1500 lbs.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[Ytmsn]

Idle time will make a big difference. I have a 502 and last weekend only used 13 gallons in 3 days on the water. Two of those days was just idling out in the cove to anchor, but the last day I raced a buddy with his Baja so we were wot for awhile. Then we did a 15 mile cruise running 30. I expected to burn much more fuel than what we did running wide open, but was suprised at the pump!
Btw, I won.

[AsLan7]

Idle time will make a big difference. I have a 502 and last weekend only used 13 gallons in 3 days on the water. Two of those days was just idling out in the cove to anchor, but the last day I raced a buddy with his Baja so we were wot for awhile. Then we did a 15 mile cruise running 30. I expected to burn much more fuel than what we did running wide open, but was suprised at the pump!
Btw, I won.

Awesome!

[LSTGR81]

I agree that idling will make a difference, but I feel like I have managed to balance that out with my WOT and cruising speeds. Perhaps it’s just an efficient boat since it’s relatively ‘overpowered’, and the engine isn’t overworking, again not a bad problem to have!

[DCLfan]

Different engine, but the shape of the graph is probably the same...

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1758

[LSTGR81]

Nice info, this is more of what I was expecting. I think it’s why I keep putting gas in just to make sure I’m not crazy and don’t run out of gas. The economy has been good it me.

[Silverbullet555]

Big engines don't always been significantly more fuel. How hard the motor has to work plays a role.

[Patriot 8713]

This is a pretty cool site. http://www.boat-fuel-economy.com/outboa ... us-gallons

The figures will vary depending on application, but it at least gives you a general idea of fuel burn.

[Big Block Power]

Yes I've used that site often. Last time out I did 3 laps around a 1x7 mile lake. 2 of them at low speeds and low cruising speeds. The last one I ran it pretty hard and I used 25 gals of gas in a few hours of running. It was pretty fun though.

[tgrace98]

I drive mine around and when the needle hits the 1/4th I put gas in it. I couldn’t even tell you what kind of gal/hr I get. It’s a boat not a Honda Civic.

[Bfun220]

I drive mine around and when the needle hits the 1/4th I put gas in it. I couldn’t even tell you what kind of gal/hr I get. It’s a boat not a Honda Civic.

+1
Mine reads f before I hit the lake. All I know is the fast the boat goes, so does the gas.

[Ytmsn]

Ha! My wife asked me to take her to someplace expensive for her birthday, so I took her to the gas dock..

[Norris_Boating]

Ha! My wife asked me to take her to someplace expensive for her birthday, so I took her to the gas dock..

Lol, that is the best thing I have heard in a long time!!

[brianrounds]

I'll have to get back to you in the spring with my 496. I don't drive normal with this much horsepower so my results could be skewed. But i'll try?