The hull is a heavy 16' hull w/ integrated floor and compartments, bare hull weight 700-800 pounds. Mid-90s vintage OMC 60hp running a 4-blade pressed aluminum Turning Point Prop, that is pitched for carrying 3-5 people plus std gear carried.
Cleared the GPS mileage tracking & left the dock towards the top of incoming tide @ 6am. Sticked (old school 'wood stick' marked w/ gallons marking on it) the tank and it had 1-1/4 gallons in it. Loaded up and ran down river & offshore at never less than 4,800 to 5,200 RPMs. FYI, WOT GIVES me a solid 6K.
Tank empty ... GPS says I ran 10.4 miles so 10.4 MPG is a pretty darn good fuel efficiency for a FAST cruise speed. Spent a few hours of the day trolling, then the run back inside, up against a fast running outgoing tide through the miles of 5MPH, headway speed only areas (blew through them on plane in the early morning .... shhhhhhhhh ....).
Average MPG for combination lots of trolling, headway speeds and limited cruise running was ~4.5 MPG. Where that use is kind of my 'worst case', I'll assume that as my overall economy, if I need to make a decision based on the amount of fuel I have on board.
Points out to me how relatively efficient an OB can be to run on plane and how headway and trolling speeds can seriously affect your fuel efficiency ... which makes sense w/ displacement speeds et al.
On another interesting/good note, I had 4 adults & 3 kids aboard later in the afternoon and although I needed 1 adult forward (with the kids) to trim her out and achieve plane quickly, against a 30-40MPH head wind, she still turned screws for 5,700 RPMs with that load, so I'm surely not lugging the motor.
Cleared the GPS mileage tracking & left the dock towards the top of incoming tide @ 6am. Sticked (old school 'wood stick' marked w/ gallons marking on it) the tank and it had 1-1/4 gallons in it. Loaded up and ran down river & offshore at never less than 4,800 to 5,200 RPMs. FYI, WOT GIVES me a solid 6K.
Tank empty ... GPS says I ran 10.4 miles so 10.4 MPG is a pretty darn good fuel efficiency for a FAST cruise speed. Spent a few hours of the day trolling, then the run back inside, up against a fast running outgoing tide through the miles of 5MPH, headway speed only areas (blew through them on plane in the early morning .... shhhhhhhhh ....).
Average MPG for combination lots of trolling, headway speeds and limited cruise running was ~4.5 MPG. Where that use is kind of my 'worst case', I'll assume that as my overall economy, if I need to make a decision based on the amount of fuel I have on board.
Points out to me how relatively efficient an OB can be to run on plane and how headway and trolling speeds can seriously affect your fuel efficiency ... which makes sense w/ displacement speeds et al.
On another interesting/good note, I had 4 adults & 3 kids aboard later in the afternoon and although I needed 1 adult forward (with the kids) to trim her out and achieve plane quickly, against a 30-40MPH head wind, she still turned screws for 5,700 RPMs with that load, so I'm surely not lugging the motor.
... so focused on the miles that I went, I never even did the math! Still I'll take 8 MPG for whilst running on plane. Sure beats the 1.5 to 2.0 MPG I used to get in the bigger boats I've had.
