Gas going up!

I have seen many posts on different forums about guys griping about gas prices with their big 200, 250, and 300hp motors and some even getting rid of their boats and going to smaller rigs to cut down on gas useage. I have been looking at boats with 90hp max ratings and 50hp max ratings. I have never owned a boat before so i cant gauge gas useage from experience and i cant comprehend the GPH ratings on the performance charts on the outboard websites. Is the gas useage between a 90 4stroke and a 50 4stroke going to be huge? With all the talk of gas prices, im kind of considering the 50hp rigs still, but on the boats i am looking at(aluminum 16' and 17.5ft bass boats) the extra 40hp of the 90 will get me an extra 10mph if not more. Any opinions on this? Also, if i went down to the 50hp motor it would be on a smaller boat with a max rating of 50hp (i wouldnt be putting the 50hp motor on a 90hp rated boat).

I'm not sure about the gas mileage on a 50hp motor.
I run a 21ft Triton with 225hpdi Yamaha that is very fuel efficient (for an outboard) if i run it at 4300rpms i get 6.5mpg but if a run it at wide open throttle that number drops down to 4.3mpg .
in a typical tournament day I will burn between 25 and 40gallons of gas
A friend of mine has a 90 horse Johnson 4 stroke and get close to 6 mpg running at wot. he will use 15 to 20 gallons per tournament.

you can save gas and money by getting a smaller motor but will cut your range down

Wayne

I was going to say, you might get 6mpg at WOT but redbug beat me to it.

Outboard engines are very rpm sensitive for gas mileage.

My 90 2 stroke gets loads better mileage at 3/4 throttle than it does at WOT.

There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of difference in fuel usage between various hp engines until you drop below 50 hp.

It also depends on how far you have to run to fish. Half of the lakes I go to are 45 minutes tops to the other side. The other half are 10-15 minutes. I suffer with a 25hp 4 stroke at WOT all the time. I usually fill up 2-3 times per year (13 gallons).

The PT175 Tracker I sold had a '05 Merc 50hp 2-stroke on it, and it sipped gas 8) .

Well, the lake i will probably fish the most is around 2000 sq acres and only has a couple of ramps that i know of. The other lake i might go to every once in a while is a 25,000 sq acre lake and it has many boat ramps up and down the lake so i could always to the ramp that was closest to the area i want to fish. I cant see myself being a tourney fisherman so i wont have to "run and gun" all the time to beat someone to a spot. Im just getting the boat as an excuse to get mind and my fiance's a** off of the couch and way from the tv on the weekends and during the summer. I didnt know that all engines above 50hp get around the same fuel useage as long as you keep it out of WOT.

I run a 50 horse 2 stroke Evinrude on my Champion and it tops 32 mph and has a 12 gallon tank and I can run all day on a tank and that's even pulling the kids on tubes and stuff.
If I just put around and put in fairly close to where I'm fishing,I can make two or three trips on one tank.
I used to regret that 50 horse but now I'm kinda glad I got it with fuel going up :mrgreen:

I would rather have a 90 and run 3/4 throttle to save gas and have the extra speed if I needed it to bail me out from some fast moving weather than a 50. Yesterday I fished 11 hours and because of only using the main motor to get there and the trolling motor when we got there I used less than 5 gallons of gas. In addition I also found out the 12V MotorGuide 46# thrust TM is plenty to push my boat around easily and the satndard battery that tracker puts in there has enough "umph" to go all day. Out of our 11 hours I would say I ran the main 1-2 hours max and trolled the rest of the time. Not continuous, but on and off is sometimes harder on electrical stuff.

CWCW, I also sent you a PM with some specs about my 90's performance.

I am with Redbug on this one. I have the same motor, 225 hpdi, and if I keep my foot out of it and run around 50-mph all day, I can use one tank for several trips. I have a 56 gallon tank and it costs a ton to fill it, but I can make it last.

BlueWaterLED said:

I have a 56 gallon tank and it costs a ton to fill it, but I can make it last.

Click to expand...

56 Gallons x $3.69 (regular) = $206.64 :LOL2: :shock: #-o

Jim said:

BlueWaterLED said:

I have a 56 gallon tank and it costs a ton to fill it, but I can make it last.

Click to expand...

56 Gallons x $3.69 (regular) = $206.64 :LOL2: :shock: #-o

Click to expand...

3.69?! that cheap! its like 3.80 here. plus since the damage with the tornadoe. theres like only one gas station open on my side of town.

$3.89/gal everyday low low price w/o tornado

Luckily for me all the lakes I fish have no wake restrictions. I can literally run all year long on two tanks of gas for $40. I guess my 25 hrs 4 stroke was a good idea!

Gas is $3.80 here, come October that will sound cheap.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say next year at this time gas will be around $2.80 a gallon.

A GALLON? or half-gallon? I would like to believe that and wish I had your faith Jim, but i think you spent too much time in the sun lately.

We have convinced the oil companies that we will pay any price for gas. What is worse, if we did not buy it, countries like China would pay a premium for it. We are a consumer nation and we need to become a producer nation. Just my opinion, but I think gas will be $5 at the end of this year.

In 2001 oil was $30 per barrel. 7 years later it is over $120. We should not be naive enough to beleive that an administration change will make the traders forget their profits.

BlueWaterLED said:

We have convinced the oil companies that we will pay any price for gas... We are a consumer nation and we need to become a producer nation. Just my opinion, but I think gas will be $5 at the end of this year.

...We should not be naive enough to believe that an administration change will make the traders forget their profits.

Click to expand...

Well stated!

Doesn't matter who is in office, the general public (us working stiffs) will always take the brunt of corporate/political greed.

Gas is $3.68 here.........well it was when I passed the gas station this morning. I'm bettin' it'll be higher when I go by later after work. In early June I'm going to my nephews Navy boot camp graduation near Chicago 8) . Thank goodness the family members going with me will split the gas costs with me.

The world economy can only take so much of high energy prices before the bubble bursts. Things may get awfully bad before then but I've seen discussion of $1 a gallon at some point in the future.

Of course, if we've all gone broke and are unemployed by then, even $1 a gallon will be comparible to what we are paying now.

there has been talk on the news here about gas being $10 a gallon by the year 2012. i didnt get to see the newscast myself so i dont know the details. anyone ever see the movie mad max with mel gibson?