re: What's Your Boat's Best Gas Mileage With V-6 or V-8 ? m

So you're now officially a bank fisherman ?

When the new rig due ?

Bass Cat Eyra
2020 Merc 250 4 stroke.
Ran 126 miles this weekend. Mostly at WOT and burned 37 gallons.
averaged 3.41 mpg.

quote:

---

My 250 Pro XS two-stroke gets 6 miles per gallon at any speed between 25 and 50 mph.

---

That almost seems impossible.

Most records show 250's get 2.8-4.0 mpg.

Are you paddling as well?

quote:

---

Mostly at WOT and burned 37 gallons.
averaged 3.41 mpg.

---

This makes me jealous of you glitter boat guys. If I ran wide arse open everywhere I'd burn 100 gallons a trip

Mine is a mid 90s carbed V6 2 stroke mercury 200. I don’t want to know how much it burns, but I would guess somewhere between the flow of the old gas cans and the new stupid safety ones.

Going through two 18 gallon tanks in one day is not uncommon if I’m having to pickup and move when the bite is off.

Brother in law stays on me about not filling up with the non ethanol every time he goes out with me. I keep telling him I’m not paying anymore than I have to bc at the rate I burn it, it doesn’t have enough time to go bad and all my fuel lines are the new type. Water separator on both tanks barely has any water at the end of the year.

Can't paddle that fast. Have you ever owned a Bullet ?

ETA: Edited to ask - What records ?

I probably make more long runs in a bass boat than most people. If I can get to Venice from Morgan City I will go.
That trip is approximately 2 hours and 27 minutes one way and I usually have burned 45-48 gallons when I get to the marina (Cypress usually). I do run it at WOT as long as I can.

quote:

---

I think boat test has some pages with that engine. The mpg doesn't seem to vary greatly with bass boats.

---

After seeing your post I looked at the boattest.com site (I thought the magazine was defunct). They only show test results for one 21 ft. Bullet, and it was rigged with a 300 h.p. Mercury racing engine and no jack plate. Here's what their report said about cruising speed (best fuel mileage) for that boat with the 300 h.p. motor:

Best cruise came at two rpm settings: 3000 and 4000, where the boat went 37.1 mph and 54.4 mph, respectively, getting 5.3 mpg in both cases.

(Somewhat odd, but on the date of that test the boat's speed at WOT was 92 MPH. The same boat/motor on a later date was recorded at 103 MPH - but no cruising data was provided.)

I can assure LanierSpots that mine, with a 250 Pro XS and a 12" jack plate, will get 6 mpg at the speeds I listed. (He and I could even make a sizeable wager if he should want to do so).

I'm still "stuck" where I was when I started this thread - simply hoping someone who repowered from a Pro XS two stroke to a Pro XS four-stroke saw a difference in fuel mileage.

Mercury touts improved fuel mileage as one of the "selling points" of their four stroke Pro XS. I'm not looking for improved mileage - but I hope I don't see a significant decrease.

eta: My boat's WOT top speed (GPS) is 83 with a fishing load and a fishing prop. That's right at the engine's blowout point, so I never pursued a different prop nor made any changes to the engine height. (I wasn't looking at the Smart Craft fuel consumption data at that speed, but I'm sure it was less than half of what I get as the boat's "cruising" speed )

You won't notice.

I don’t know the numbers but I’ve got an old opti 150 on a 19ft center console and it seems to make gas. I really want to repower with one of the new 4 strokes but this motor is great minus the noise (which I actually enjoy at times)