Gas Burned

[jhoffman]

My boat, lol, I can fill my tank and run for a week easy but Im not getn there in the time most of you guys are.

 

If you have a 115 or bigger motor, can you chime in with what motor you have, what type of boat, how much fuel you burn per hour on your boat when on the big motor. I ask for hour/fuel consumption because taking distance into account wont work.

 

I guess what I am getting at here, you can buy a boat and afford the payment and not be able to afford to fish due to fuel prices.

[Fishing Rhino]

I've got a Z-8, with a 200 hp Merc.  It isn't the boat's fuel consumption that is the limiting factor as much as it is the towing of the boat here and there.

 

If I burn two to three gallons per day with the boat, that would be a lot.  Most of the ponds around here are small compared to the much larger impoundments elsewhere in the country.  On the Bass Resource Road Trip, I'll burn a lot more fuel simply because I do a lot more running.   If I fill my boat with fuel, 65 gallons, in May, I won't need fuel again until September. 

 

Most of the places I fish are 45 minutes to an hour and a quarter away.  I'll burn a hundred dollars, or more per week in my tow vehicle.  I didn't see any mention of the towing expenses in your post.

[jhoffman]

I guess that could be covered but that can swing wildly. Im trying to gage where I should aim with my next motor. Towing is relative to incline, vehicle, weight as you know.

 

You say you burn 2-3 gallons a day. How much time in that day do you have that big motor at WOT.

 

The resource trip would be a good day of what a tournament day might look like for you in my mind.

[Jig Man]

I have a 225 Optimax on a Champion 206.  WOT a gallon every two minutes is what Merc projected when I bought it.  That is close to the same as a Yammy HPDI.

[J Francho]

Modified Promax Sport 2.5L, sporty, 27P Trophy Plus prop, Bullet 21XRD.  I get around 26-27 gph @ WOT (6800-7000 rpm).  I generally do not run WOT too much, try to keep the RPMs 3500-4500.  A 25 gal. tank will last me a month, unless I have to make a really long run.

[jhoffman]

I have a 225 Optimax on a Champion 206.  WOT a gallon every two minutes is what Merc projected when I bought it.  That is close to the same as a Yammy HPDI.

 

WOW a gallon every two mins. Id be broke as much as I fish.

 

Guess if it only takes thirty seconds to get there its a wash lol.

[Sun Fish]

WOW a gallon every two mins. Id be broke as much as I fish.

 

Guess if it only takes thirty seconds to get there its a wash lol.

But it's certainly not necessary to run WOT everywhere you go with a much bigger motor.

[J Francho]

 

WOW a gallon every two mins.

 

That's 30 gph WOT, pretty standard figure.  Not too many run WOT all the time.  Just a few seconds to get on plane.

[jhoffman]

See, ive never had that kind of power under my control to know that so it helps.

[Fishing Rhino]

I guess that could be covered but that can swing wildly. Im trying to gage where I should aim with my next motor. Towing is relative to incline, vehicle, weight as you know.

 

You say you burn 2-3 gallons a day. How much time in that day do you have that big motor at WOT.

 

The resource trip would be a good day of what a tournament day might look like for you in my mind.

 

I don't run it wide open.  Most of the time I'm cruising between 35 and 45 mph.  But, I don't do any tournament fishing.  All of the road trips have been to different lakes, except for Pickwick which was the second time around for me last year.  I didn't burn as much fuel last year because I wasn't running around as much.  But I still burned considerably more than on our local fishing holes.  I'd guess about 15 gallons per day on average.  I pushed it up to 45 - 50 mph for the longer runs.  To hop across a cove or to the next point I'd run my normal cruising speed.  It would only take a minute or two, so wide open would only save me a few seconds.

[J Francho]

I tournament fish, and I don't run WOT too often.  That would mean traveling at speeds in excess of 75 mph.  It's usually too crowded or too rough for that.  Add in that many lakes have a radar enforced speed limit, and you get the picture.

[Teal]

Javelin 400T, Johnson Venom 200. I am pretty easy on it. It normally put back in it what I use after trip. Haven't ever done the math so in laymens terms, I normally have to put 6 -8 gals back in it after a 6 + he trip. And that me trying to keep it around 4000rpms. On a short trip after work I can get by with putting a couple gals back in.

I have used a lot more fuel, but at the current fuel costs, I try to keep it down by limiting how much running I do.

[Trek]

I have a 2010 Ranger Z519 with a 225 Mercury. I got it because I wanted a fast hole shot and I like the 19 foot length for moving in and out of small coves. I don't fish large bodies of water and when I do it does fine. For fishing local lakes I fill it up twice a year. That's 100 gallons. Like another poster I think I burn more in my truck then I do in the boat. In Ohio most of our lakes are small and most of the time I'm in a no wake zone idling to the spot. I find in tournament fishing most of the money spent is in hotels, food and gas in your truck.

[FD.]

2007 Triton 20X2 with a 250 Optimax.  I fish tournaments on big water and consume probably 20 gal per hour, but I don't run WOT much.  The boat tops out WOT around 78 mph (GPS) but I cruise at 60 mph at 3/4 throttle which is fast enough most of the time.  FYI I only put 60-70 hours a year on the big motor.  I probably put 250 hours on the TM.

[dustin11]

I have a Nitro 640LX with a 75 hp Mercury and I burn around 10 gallons per trip and probably run around 30 min. to an hour. 

[Jig Man]

WOW a gallon every two mins. Id be broke as much as I fish.

 

Guess if it only takes thirty seconds to get there its a wash lol.

 

I guess I didn't read you post carefully enough.  I thought you were talking about max fuel consumption.  I haven't hit wot in quite a while.  I rarely exceed 5000 rpms.  Many days I start the motor to unload the boat then start it again to load it.  I try to launch where the fishing is good for that time of year and keep the running to a minimum as it costs me $35-50 for truck fuel every trip.

[S Hovanec]

I have a Lund Mr Pike 17 with a 135 Honda. I only checked fuel consumption once. I fished a club tourney on Erie and I ran 75 miles round trip on day 1. Most of it was WOT. Filled up at day's end and it took 13 gallons. Most days I only use 5 gallons.

[Way2slow]

I never really check mine but one time when I was going to make fairly long trip so I filled it up, that's one of the few times I've ever filled the boat. I had one of my modified motors, which get very good fuel economy If you stay out of the gas, I kept the RPM at 4,500, the gps showed I was running 47 mph, and when we got back to the ramp, it show we had been 92 miles.  After the trip, I filled the boat again and it took 16.2 gallons of gas.  This was steady cruising other than, I had to get on plane at both ends of the trip and had two no wake bridges I had to go under so that was six times total I had to start off.   Just in case your wondering, I was meeting another guy and we fished out of his boat, but it was actually a whole lot closer and quicker to go by water than by land.

 

By the way, this is a 20' Javelin Renegade DC and the motor was one that puts out over 320 hp.  The boat will run 80 mph with two people and gear so having it only burning approximately eight gallons per hour or I guess you could say over five miles per gallon ain't too shabby.  Now, when I'm feeding all 326 of those horses, it's a little different story.

 

As for how much I burn in the boat fishing, that totally depends on how the fishing is and how much running and gunning I'm having to do.  I have gone, the fishing was good and I never got a mile from the ramp and not run motor 15 minutes all day.  On the average though, for a two day trip I probably burn about 20 - 30 gallons.  However my problem is the 250 miles total I drive when I go fishing and my truck only gets 13 mpg when towing the boat.