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Fuelish Intentions - Lower your fuel burn, today!
By Lenny Rudow Published: March 25, 2008  Print  Email Oil may make the world go round, but these days it can make a boater’s head spin. A simple example: The last time I ran my 28 McKee Craft project boat, rigged with twin 250-hp Yamaha four-stroke outboards, I burned about 35 gallons per hour—not bad for an offshore-capable boat running over 40-mph. Still, we burned out about 140 gallons of fuel. And as you already know, prices are higher dockside than they are on land. Total cost: a hair over $500. I don’t care if you’re a wildcatter or a windshield washer, that’s pretty darn steep for a day of fishing. Even if you run a single engine boat with low horsepower, the current prices at the pump are a concern. Fortunately, there are ways you can get miserly with your fuel consumption. Whether you’re a canyon commando or a bay buccaneer, check out these tricks. They’ll all help you reduce your boat’s fuel burn, every time you leave the dock. 1. Go on a diet. Weight means increased fuel burn, no matter what size or type of boat you own. Save a few pennies at the pump by shedding the excess poundage. A few particulars to look for: full water tanks that you rarely use. That McKee Craft held ten gallons, for example, and we never use more than a couple of gallons each trip. By filling it half way, I get rid of 40-pounds. Save on more water weight by plugging the inlet of your livewell (when it’s not in use, of course), if it has a high-speed pick-up. Many wells fill as soon as you start running, and add 80- to 100-pounds to the load. Anchor rode is a place many bay boaters can save weight. Are you hauling around 200’ of anchor line, yet your depth finder rarely hits 20’? Get rid of 150’ of line, and you’ll shed 50-pounds. Next, go through your boat from stem to stern and dump everything you stowed aboard but haven’t used in the past year. The pounds will add up, and you’ll soon be burning less fuel. Oh, by the way, by dumping all that excess weight you’ll go faster, too. 2. Get steel. Is your prop aluminum? You can usually gain one to three mph by swapping it for a stainless-steel prop. Aluminum flexes more than steel and switching prop materials won’t cost you anything (performance-wise, that is) while boosting your boat’s performance and efficiency. 3. Become automated. Installing an autopilot in your boat is not “cheap”, but the benefits are greater than most imagine. Yeah, it’s a heck of a lot easier to steer. Yes, you can sit back in the helm chair while cruising, saving wear and tear on your back from hunching over. No, you won’t have to check the GPS every ten seconds, to make sure you’re still steering a proper course. But have you thought about the fuel and time savings. Much as we might hate to admit it, the computer can steer the boat a whole lot straighter than you or I. In fact, if you calculate in all the zigs and zags a captain makes as he corrects his course on a long cruise, you’ll find that it adds as much as five to ten percent to the total distance of the cruise. Yes, that means an autopilot can save you five to ten percent of your fuel costs, not to mention five to ten percent of the time it takes you to get to the hotspot. 4. Run a tab. Trim tabs are another efficiency-enhancing device. While they are less expensive than an autopilot, they still don’t fall into the category of inexpensive. But over time, they will pay for themselves. Trim tabs will allow you to find the best running attitude for your boat, which will give your top-end and cruising speeds a slight bump while taking a nick out of the fuel expenses. The savings won’t be huge—maybe you’ll pick up a mph, while burning one or two percent less fuel—but you’ll also get a big boost in overall comfort. Your boat will be able to handle seas better, smoother, and faster than before.
6. Hold The Paint. Bottom paint adds weight to your boat, while decreasing the hydrodynamic nature of the fiberglass hull. This is a price you’ll have to pay if you keep your boat in saltwater 24/7, but there are a few new bottom treatments out there that allow you to keep your boat in the water, seaweed and barnacle free, for weeks at a time. Anti-fouling bottom wax is widely available, and buys you ten days to two weeks. You have to pull your boat to apply it, and like all waxes, it’ll take a little elbow grease. And the effectiveness of different products used for this purpose seems to vary depending on the location of your boat; I’ve had good luck with some waxes in oceanic waters, while other guys who keep their boat in the bay found barnacles didn’t mind it one bit. So do some testing in your own waters, before you trust the stuff. 7. Trailering counts, too. Trailerboaters can save some of the boating budget by cutting the amount of fuel they burn on the road, as well as on the water. Make sure all Bimini tops and convertible canvass tops are folded down. This will improve the boat’s aerodynamics, and will save wear and tear on the top, too. Before pulling out of the driveway check the pressure in your trailer tires. Unequal tire pressure eats gas and also increases tire wear, and it’s incredibly common in trailer tires. Check tongue weight, too, especially if you experience any sway at all on the road. Get it correct, and the whole rig will run more 8. Gauge your progress. Installing a fuel flow monitor at the dash will give you the at-a-glance ability to know exactly how much fuel you’re burning at any given time, in any given conditions. How does this help you save at the fuel dock? First off, it will allow you to establish your boat’s most efficient cruising speed. Secondly, when sea conditions change, the most efficient speed may change, as well. Whether you’re running into a head sea, running with following seas or cruising across a placid lake, with a glance at the dash you’ll know where to set the throttles to get your highest mpg. Fuel flow monitors can be expensive, but they don’t necessarily have to be. After testing all of the models commonly found on the market, I discovered that Yamaha’s paddlewheel transducer with a digital dash gauge was the most consistently accurate. It’s not found in stores, however, and if you want one you’ll have to order it from your local Yamaha dealership. Floscan (www.floscan.com) also has high quality aftermarket fuel flow meters that can be used with any brand motor. Install one of these and take these other tactics into account, and you’ll be saving so much fuel that soon, you’ll be able to afford bait again. You can find the author’s (Lenny Rudow) how-to fishing books, including Rudow’s Guide to Fishing the Mid Atlantic, Rudow’s Guide to Fishing the Chesapeake, and Rudow’s Guide to Rockfish by clicking on www.getgup.com and visiting the Geared Up web site. View Comments (0) |
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5. Run a tab, take two. If you have a tiller-steer outboard, there’s another type of trim tab you should be concerned about: the one mounted to the underside of the anti-ventilation plate, aft of the prop. This trim tab is usually made of zinc, and it also serves as the sacrificial anode. This being the case, this part usually requires replacement every few years. When your outboard was shipped from the factory that trim tab had a small fin cocked at an angle, which countered prop torque. Unfortunately, some lamebrain in the accounting department who had never set foot on fiberglass noted that the service department could save a few cents by replacing this trim tab with one that had no fin. Many service departments carry these finless anodes, which do not counter prop torque one iota. If you have to hold onto your tiller with a firm grip and push against it as you run, check the anode—betcha ten bucks it doesn’t have a fin. Get it replaced with an anode that does have the fin, and not only will you increase the efficiency of your propulsion system, you’ll burn fewer calories as you cruise to the honey hole.
