mph, fuel and distance

[patrick and linda]

linda and i enjoyed the past three days on the beautiful, but muddy, ohio river. normal river pool, for our location is 26', during our weekend trip, river pool was at 29'. so, downbound travel was aided by a 4 or 5 mph current. our round trip distance was 132 miles. we ran average 24mph, 4800 to 5000rpm. fuel consumption was 28 gallons, or 4.7 miles per gallon. engines are twin honda's 40hp four stroke, ran well, were trimmed up approx. 25% and have 305 hours each. the reason for this post was to share the above information and if anyone has better experience or ideas for better fuel/trim and mph, i'm always interested in learning.
unrelated story, during our visit to smugglers cove marina, we overheard four seniors talking about their problems, went like this, one senior said, i'm so weak i can't hardly hold my cup of coffee, another senior said, you think that's bad, my arthritis is so bad i can't turn my head, another senior said, you think that's bad, my blood pressure medicine makes my vision all fussy, and the last senior said, you think that's bad, i can't hardly hear a thing. no one said anything for several minutes, then one of the guys said, i guess it's not all that bad, at least we can still drive!
pat

[Pandy Girl]

Hi Pat,
That sounds like very good fuel milage for a down hill run then back up the river, better than my single 90 Four Stroke.
I am going to stay away from the town those men live at or go around it
Jim

[Pandy Girl]

Pat,
Fuel Milage can be a good Topic, we get great fuel milage in the RV we can go about 1200 miles per tank.
On Pandy Girl we can go about 500 miles on a fill-up



If we use the 5 HP Honda trolling motor.
Jim

PS I talked to Fred today one of the guys at the Marina, he got his License renewed for 6 more years.

[snal]

Pat, on our first TN River trip we averaged 25mph for 253 miles at 5.6mpg, we slowed down to an average speed of 18mph on the second trip and the mpg went to 6.3 in over 600 miles with our Honda 45's.

I'd be willing to bet that those seniors were from here in WNC, all drove Ford Crown Vics with lightly scratched bumpers, AAA stickers on the rear glass, and likely didn't know they were in Ohio.

[patrick and linda]

hello larry,
the difference in mpg might be my return trip heading up river in slightly fast current. probably reduced over all performance, but either way, we had a great extended weekend and fuel didn't break the bank!
misty seas is currently located in four seasons marina, cincinnati, ohio, had many boaters stop by to have a look, that is until last week. a 32' nordick tug pulled in and has stolen my attention. what a beautiful yacht. obviously, i'm jealous.
hope you and pandy girl have a greatweekend.
pat

[snal]

Pat, steal the attention back by asking the captain about the tug's fuel consumption

We had very little current to deal with on the TN River, which most certainly helped our mileage.
We heard that the Cumberland River has the perfect water for top mpg...so we're leaving at 5am tomorrow to give the river 8 days to prove it This will be a serious working trip, researching mpg, and only stopping to tour Nashville, fish, play with the dogs on the shore, fish, hike, fish, swim, fish, explore, and maybe fish a little.

[Captains Cat]

[patrick and linda]

larry,
i have many heros in my life, i'm now adding you to my list.
have a fantastic time, this message is being sent from the kitchen table of the campbell palatial lake home estate, on beautiful lake cumberland. damn, it's great not to be at work! biggest chore today will be spraying some weeds in the mulch and then working out, will do legs and shoulder routine, not my favorite but when you're almost 60, what is?
pat

ps. charlie, not to be forgotten, you were added to list several years ago, just about the same time as the byrdman!

[snal]