Crude Intentions

iTrader: (1)

How much burnt in a weekend is too vague and varies greatly even from weekend to weekend. Mpg and Gph are what you need for comparison numbers. I have a 27 with twin 350s. She is very reasonable on fuel at cruise. I wouldn't go back to a single.

pstorti

iTrader: (2)

find some old boat tests of a 28zx and see what the actual numbers are, the burn will vary greatly depending on load and speed. I had an Eliminator 28 Daytona with twin 496 375HP motors. Wide open they burned 30 GPH each but I was going 90 so I got 1.5 mpg. At cruise they burned 16 GPH each (3500 rpm) and the boat was going 65 so I got 2 mpg, but if had a full load of fuel it would drop to 1.6 mpg at the same speed. Also with the cat it got the same fuel economy from 40 to 70.

With my new boat I spend about $5000 per year for 150 hrs of use, but its diesel and averages 2.5mpg.

If you are just wondering which will be cheaper to run the single engine boat without question but it isn't so much better that you should stay away from twins, if it is because the fuel cost will determine which you can afford then don't buy a boat because it will cost more than you think to own it.

ICDEDPPL

iTrader: (1)

With my old ride (33OL with 509`s) its pretty consistent fillup at $200-250 a weekend.

mickeymcclgn

iTrader: (1)

My apologies I did not see the original post, only the edited one.

Go for the twins, if fuel is that much of a deal breaker maybe a blow boat? Jk jk

rumrunner29

+1....29 Outlaw, twin 454...pretty much 250 a weekend.....but on a weekend with a lot of running, or a trip to the lake, I'm gonna burn almost a tank (150 gallons). My buddy has a Baja 272 with a 502mpi. His fuel burn is less than mine for sure, but it is not half of mine...

fctyson0

Ya I guess my ??? Was to vague but I was just trying to get a feel for how ofter the guts that say don't worry about fuel cost actually use their boats and how much distance they travel. I would be on mine every weekend and most of the time my first tie up spot is 50 miles away. So I wasn't to concerned with an extra 50-100 on average to run twins. I just don't want to be dumping an extra 2-3 hundred a weekend. Thanks for all input

Dukedonzi

For the last 4 years we have been running an 01 28zx with the 350's and our friends have a baja 275 with a 502 we run the same places, the same speeds, side by side while we haven't pulled into the gas station at the same time to do a direct compare we have talked about this quite a bit. I would say that if he burns 15 gallons on a run i will burn 17-18. As i said we run side by side... there is a difference but not as much as you might think.

mittens

Best friend has a 28 donzi with 350 Mags. I had a 252 with a single 454mag. He burned BARLEY more gas then i did, but he also crused around faster as well.

Now with the 342, I burn more then him, 496mags, but I also cruse same speed as him, and have WAY more boat to stay one when we get there.

cp5899

iTrader: (1)

I'm torn on this subject. When I was looking to buy another boat this past fall I thought about going with a twin big block boat, but I run my boat every weekend and we don't pull up at the sand bar and sit all day. We will stop at 4-6 places on a regular day of boating. That being said, my last boat (Baja 235 force 468bbc) had a 62 gallon tank and I would burn at least 50 gallons on Saturday and 50 on Sunday.

My second dilemma is I always want to modify my engines and if I had two it would be double the cost on cash for builds and I'm sure fuel bill would suffer too. I knew I wanted a blower motor for my second boat. I ended up buying a 280 velocity and pulled the motor to build a 509 blower motor. From what I understand the velocity is pretty fast and efficient hull so I think the faster cruise speed will cut down on the fuel a bit. I just think if I had a twin blown bbc boat I would be hitting the gas station hard with as much as I run. My next boat will be a 35-38 lightning, so at some point I'm going to have to bite the bullet, but I figured I would stay single engine for another year or two.

My offshore fishing boat has a 150 gallon tank and we use 120 of it a day and its not fun spending almost 600 a day for fuel. If I had some buddies to split it with then it wouldn't be so bad, but I got into boats about 4 years ago and haven't had any of my friends show much interest so my wife and I do it alone so I'm stuck with the bill. 3-4 day fishing trips get expensive when you add up bait, tackle, hotel and diesel for the truck. When we got into speed boats two years ago I felt like I was saving money only having a 62 gallon tank and only being 20 minutes from the boat launch.

Saving money and speed boats in the same sentence....funny, but in my case its been true.

BLUEMAGIC

+1 If you you are looking at getting into the performance boat world, fuel expense will the least of your worries!!!