BBC 22 Fuel Usage

[RickSE]

Does this seem right?

On our recent 5-day trip to the lake we put 25-hours on our BBC 22. Near as I can tell we burned 200-gallons of fuel. We spent a lot of time skiing and tubing in the 2500 RPM range but also did some cruising, maybe 50/50 or 60-ski/40-cruise. Anyway, 200-gallons @ 25-hours equates to 8 gallons/hr. I may have used a little more fuel but not much over 200 gallons.

This seems really low for fuel usage since a typical cruise will burn approx. 30 gallons/hr in our boat. Even though the RPM's are low for skiing I'd think the motor would still burn a good amount of fuel pulling a load at slow speeds. Maybe it's also the effect of a lot of idle time during skiing?? I'm just trying to get a better idea of how much fuel we burn since, as mentioned in other posts, the gage can be iffy. I though we were good one day only to find out we had 2-gallons left in the tank after filling up.

I guess I should be happy we didn't burn the 30 g/h over the 25-hours since the actual $750 gas bill was bad enough.

[zelatore]

I can't say one way or the other about your total fuel burn, but it's very common for me to encounter customers with larger boats who swear up and down they only burn 5, 7, 10, whatever gph at cruise. They're absolutely sure and they have the numbers to back it up - they filled up at xxx hours, then refilled at xxx+10 hours and needed zzz gallons so that proves they burn zzz/10 gph!

Not so. while they may have cruised at a given RPM, they aren't taking into account all the time idling at the dock, running at 1000 rpm in the no wake zones, trolling, etc. It can have a surprisingly big effect.

A good example is a 28' diesel fishing boat we used to sell. They came with real-time fuel burn computers so it was easy to see what the consumption was. Typically, they burned about 15 gph at 20 knots. But when averaged out over a full tank, the owners found they often got about 5 gph burn.

Without a flowscan or similar device, it's tough to get an accurate assessment of fuel usage at various RPM. But by averaging it over a few tanks you will get an idea for what your average burn is, which will help figure what a typical weekend might cost. Not so much help in trying to find total range or the like though.

[Pismo]

A BBC in a 22...There usually is a whirlpool in the gas tank so consider yourself lucky.

[HOWARD O]

My 454/330 uses 10.5 GPH at 3000 rpm, 12.0 at 3200, 13 to 13.5 GPH at 3500 and 17 to 18 GPH at 4000 RPM. These were taken with 2 people in the boat and a full tank of fuel, smooth to ripply water. Hope this helps, I have a fuel meter.

[Cuda]

I know I ran about 100 miles in Miami in Howards boat with a plug wire off and still had abouot a quarter tank left. Catch 22 made the same trip, and ran out just before we got to the boat launch, of course that might me because be was driving it like he stole it!

[mrfixxall]

200 gallons would last me 4 weekends..

[RickSE]

200 gallons would last me 4 weekends..

Not on Powell.

My general rule of thumb is that I'll get 2mpg out of our boat and I typically don't watch engine hours. I just keep track of the miles we've covered and how far we are from the fuel docks. Running out on my lake can be bad since the fuel docks are 40-miles apart, but at least we're usually in-between somewhere.

[BigGrizzly]

I get 2.8 to 3.4 MPG.

[Tidbart]

I get about 3.5-4 mpg and 6-7 gph running at various speeds. Got MPI, so maybe better than most. Your numbers sound OK.

[Cuda]

Not on Powell.
My general rule of thumb is that I'll get 2mpg out of our boat and I typically don't watch engine hours. I just keep track of the miles we've covered and how far we are from the fuel docks. Running out on my lake can be bad since the fuel docks are 40-miles apart, but at least we're usually in-between somewhere.

I have a cousin who goes to Lake Powell. She and her husband worked at the Grand Canyon National Park.

[mrfixxall]

Not on Powell.

My general rule of thumb is that I'll get 2mpg out of our boat and I typically don't watch engine hours. I just keep track of the miles we've covered and how far we are from the fuel docks. Running out on my lake can be bad since the fuel docks are 40-miles apart, but at least we're usually in-between somewhere.

OK 200 gallons will last me 4 weekends on the 14? chain o lakes i boat on

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Rick,
I can't help on fuel mileage consumption in a 22 with a BBC, but it sure seems like everyone is getting about what I would have roughly figured. My 36' Cigarette with twin 540s gets almost exactly 1MPG at cruising speeds around 45-50MPH, but it is a heavy boat (almost 11,000lbs) needing lots of power. Bill

[Planetwarmer]

SEE, now this is why all of the oil men have $1,000,000 MTIs!!!