Fuel Consumption

[93SkiNautique]

Hey everyone,
I was just curious how your boats are on gas. Me and my brother just bought our boat and he took it on holidays the next day (its torture, i havent even driven it yet). He told me he burned about $50 (Canadian) in 4 hours? I'm not exactly sure how hard he was running it but with the gas prices the way they are in the GVRD (Vancouver BC), I figure this is gunna cost me a fortune. I read a gas price this morning on my way to work that said 107.9 cents per/ litre!!!! Anyways, I'm just curious to see how everyone elses boats are.

[SGY]

RE: Fuel Consumption

I just had my 2003 206 with the Excalibur up in Grand Lake for a week. I ran it 20 hours and put about 40 gallons of fuel in. This was all kinds of mixed use, tubing, skiing, wakeboarding, etc. Cost us about $120-$130. Gas was around 2.70 per gallon.

[93SkiNautique]

RE: Fuel Consumption

I heard that the average cost should be about $10(Canadian) an hour - $8(American)...Is that at all true?

[bkhallpass]

Re: Fuel Consumption

Hey everyone,
I was just curious how your boats are on gas. Me and my brother just bought our boat and he took it on holidays the next day (its torture, i havent even driven it yet). He told me he burned about $50 (Canadian) in 4 hours? I'm not exactly sure how hard he was running it but with the gas prices the way they are in the GVRD (Vancouver BC), I figure this is gunna cost me a fortune. I read a gas price this morning on my way to work that said 107.9 cents per/ litre!!!! Anyways, I'm just curious to see how everyone elses boats are.

You'll likely burn 4 or 5 gallons (US) per hour.

4 or 5 people, 4 hours, $50 bucks. Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

You can't take 4 people golfing for $50. Probably can't go to the movies.
Probably spend more than that at a bar. Definitely spend more than
that snow skiing, going to a baseball, football, or hockey game.

Get the
friends to pitch in their fair share (a little more than just gas as
you've got insurance, maintenance, and cost of transport to the lake)
and it won't be bad at all.

BKH

[93SkiNautique]

RE: Re: Fuel Consumption

Thats one way to really put it into perspective bkhallpass. I totally intend on getting friends to pitch in, i hate being the one to say 'hey guys i'm going boating, if you wanna come you gatta pitch in' though. I've never charged gas money on car rides before, but i'm gunna have to start doing something i guess or pretty soon i may drive myself into debt. Anyways Its definately worth the few bucks Yellow_Flash_Colorz:

Jon

[bkhallpass]

RE: Re: Fuel Consumption

Well, you could just get one of those T-Shirts that says:

"This boat runs on gas, not thanks" :>)

BKH

[surroundsound64]

My 81 with the Chevy 350 will burn almost a whole tank (15 or 16 gal) in between 5 and 6 hrs. This is mostly wakeboarding, but some slalom skiing involved too.

[jthooker]

I have owned three new SN 196’s and kept very accurate fuel records on them. The total average fuel consumption for my 1992 was 2.68 Gallons Per Hour over 437 hours of operation on the meter. My 1997 averaged 2.72 GPH over 430 hours of operation. My current boat is a 2004 with 84 hours on the meter and it is averaging 2.72 GPH with 84 hours on the meter so far. The 1992 had a carbureted Ford 351. The 1997 had a throttle body injected Ford 351. The 2004 has a port-injected Chevy 350. All three engines were made by PCM. All three boats were (are) used for three-event practice with some wakeboarding, kneeboarding, and recreational skiing in the mix.
Jim Hooker

[bkhallpass]

JTHooker, good info. Thanks. I wish I had kept those types of records. Fact is, I don't think I ever checked on my 98 SN. The few times I've checked on the 01 Super Air, it was 4 to 5 gallons an hour as I mentioned above. Boat load of people, gear etc.

BKH

[inboardsonly]

I wouldn't worry about the price of gas. It is going to be your smallest expense.
Insurance: 500.00/year
Storage: 480/yr
Maintenance/ 350.00 year
loss of use of your money ($20,000.00)
smile on your face when you're out skiing---priceless...

When you are going from the dock to the area on the lake where you want to ski, you can keep the rpms down to 2200-2500, it will not use too much fuel, but if you drive it at 3800 rpm, it is going to cost you!!!
You'll go through the fun tickets pretty **** quick..

If your friends won't contribute to help out, it is time to find new friends.
I went for a two year break with no boat and would have gladly paid
for the gas and launch fees just to get out for a pull or two behind a ski boat. Any of my friends that own a boat or have owned a boat understand this, and realize what it costs to own/operate/maintain a ski boat.
Most of the time I don't have to pay...

[MacedayDave]

When I use my '05 Ski 196 for waterskiing, I am burning about 7 gal/hour. This is skiing at speeds of 35 to 36 MPH with a driver and spotter on board. The engine is the 330hp Excalibur.

Does anyone else experience similar fuel consumption rates under these conditions?

My 1998 Mastercraft 205 seemed to use about 6GPH under the same conditions. I'm curious if the Ski 196 uses more fuel because of the better wake (more of the hull is in the water) or because the engine is turning 1.23 times faster, or a combination of the two.

Thanks,
Dave

[AWhite70]

I have 2 Ski Nautiques and keep detailed fuel records for both. My '79 has a carb'd 351W that has been built up to be 300+hp and it burns 4-5 GPH in mixed use (skiing, wakeboarding, etc). The '02 196 has a 330hp Excalibur and it burns fuel at the same rate for similar activities.

The previously stated numbers are for mixed use. At purely slalom speeds 35-36mph I would guess both boats would burn more probably in the 7-8 GPH range or even higher.

MacedayDave-In a Nautique with the 1.23:1 transmission the engine doesn't turn 1.23 times faster than a 1:1. The engine spins at nearly the same speed for a given boat speed, but the prop turns 1.23 times slower. Slower turning props tend to be more efficient and will give you a better hole shot.

[skiinxs]

Pulled an INT yesterday with my '05 196 ZR6 (6 liter). Pulled it on less than one tank of gas, haven't refueled yet, but I put slightly over 11 hours on the meter. My guess it that it will take around 25 gal to refill. Very few 36 mph skiers, quite a few 34.2, lots of 24-32 and a little idling at the dock in between skiers. As usual, the MasterCraft pulling an equal number of skiers had to refuel.