Fuel Numbers For Hull Similar To A Venture 26

[forrest]

For those of you who are considering a Venture 26 here are some fuel consumption figures that may help in your decision. These numbers were taken last week on a cruise in the San Jauns that my wife and I went on. The hull is a CC26 with a 200HP Honda. The data numbers are taken directly from Honda electronic gauges. No consideration was given to GPS speed do to currents that may be present (although they were very close). I took readings several times and decided to go with fixed RPM for a standard because there could be a couple hundred RPM difference for each MPH. Using RPM the readings were fairly consistent. There was a light chop and the motor was trimmed to three with trim tabs up.

RPM / MPH / MPG / GPH
1750 - 9 - 4.6 - 1.9
2000 - 10 - 4.9 - 2.0
2250 - 11 - 4.3 - 2.5
2500 - 12 - 3.8 - 3.1
2750 - 14 - 3.6 - 3.8
3000 - 15 - 3.4 - 4.5
3250 - 17 - 3.4 - 5.1
3500 - 20 - 3.4 - 5.8
3750 - 25 - 3.7 - 6.6
4000 - 28 - 3.7 - 7.5
4250 - 31 - 3.7 - 8.2
4500 - 34 - 3.4 - 9.2

[RJD Wannabe]

that's very impressive!!

3.7 mpg @ 31 mph from a 200 HP Honda on a 26' boat is amazing. Gotta look into that.

Any guesstimates of the on trailer weight??

[forrest]

Full fuel, full water, gear, and fully equiped is 5300 to 5500 pounds. Total tow weight with trailer is around 7200 pounds. The Venture will probably weigh more because it has more trim and more drawers and more finish work in general. The CC's are more like a 22CD a far as finish goes.
Forrest

[Dora~Jean]

Hi Forrest, thanks for the posting your data, impressive indeed! Can you provide any more info on your boat's loading at the time (fuel on board, water, # people, raft, raft motor, etc)? I took the liberty of plotting your speed data, hope you don't mind.

(Edited chart using 0.868976 rather than incorrect 0.85 to convert statute to nautical miles)

[RJD Wannabe]

Many thanks!!

[starcrafttom]

Steve could you do me a favor and plot gallons per hour in to your data from now on? I would really like that. and posting the cd25 data new to this would be great.

[forrest]

Gear on board during test:
Fuel- 90 to 100 gallons. Although the figures with full fuel, 110 gallons, were better than numbers posted but less consistant. When I had full tanks I was using MPH as a starting point for measurement and the RPM had a broad range before the speedometer would go to the next higher number. I therefore used RPM as the baseline because I could make that number exact. These numbers were with about 6 inch chop. Slight wind chop would give the best numbers and flat calm were worse than than 6 inch chop in the lower RPM's but about the same for the higher speeds. I did this several times and the most it would change was one to two tenths either way.
water- 30 gallons
downrigger weights- 3x10 and 3x15, downriggers
full fishing tackle, 5 poles
waste tank wasn't full,, had some in it
cooler with ice, beer, wine, juice, pop
frig-full of food, shelves stocked with food
two clothing duffle bags
blankets, coats etc.
15HP Honda kicker
Rear Helm steering and control station
Radar and electronics
22# anchor with 20' chain and 470' 1/2 rope
Just the normal stuff
No raft yet
Two people on board. I'm 185 and my wife is....
Forrest
Also a Magma barbi and Magma stacking cookware, they're pretty heavy
Wallas stove and fuel
Hot water heater with 6 gallons water

[starcrafttom]

[Best Day]

Nice to hear that you are using your boat Forrest.

Those are very impressive numbers on a very fully loaded boat. I'm not very familiar with the Honda Electronic gauges. Do you have to calibrate them? Do they use a flow thru type sending unit or are the numbers coming from the fuel injection brain?

Thanks,
Bill

[Pat Anderson]

Instantaneous fuel economy numbers from gauges (FloScan, Navman, Honda, whatever) are really only useful for relative economy at different RPMs on the same boat, i.e., at what RPM are you getting your best economy. At the end of the day, what matters is calculated fuel economy - how many gallons did it take to go a certain number of miles. The calculated economy is never as good as the instantaneous numbers you see on the gauge. I very seriously doubt that a Venture 26 with a 200 hp outboard is going to turn in better actual economy than a CD25 with a 135 or 150 hp outboard. It really does not pass the "makes sense" test.

[JamesTXSD]

Pat, I was thinking that same thing. The CC hulls have a bit more deadrise, but not a significant amount. Those fuel numbers are higher than any CD-25 owners I've visited with (including ours). I use a fuel flow meter to establish relative fuel burn, but when it comes to real world, the amount of fuel used and the miles covered is how I come up with my numbers. Of course, that gives an average, but I rarely see over 3.0 on average, and usually come out around 2.5+ nmpg.

[forrest]

Bill,
I didn't calibrate anything. I don't know if Les did. I think the signal comes from the electronic fuel injection. I'm not sure how Honda calculates the speed through water. I did change the gauge from nauts to MPH. Did you notice that the worst milage is right where a guy (me) likes to cruise, 15 to 20 MPH? Les tried to talk me into a 150HP. I thought I would need the extra HP for a 26' boat and I like the idea of having plenty of power to get out of a trough and up on a wave crossing the bar on the Columbia or at Westport. I have had the boat up to 40MPH one time with throttle left. I'll never get to max throttle. The motor should last forever only going a little over half throttle. I love that 15 hp kicker. It pushes the boat at 7.5 MPH at WOT. Honda was the only Mfg. that offered a 15HP with remote starting. That was why Yamaha and Suzuki were not chosen.
Forrest

[starcrafttom]

pat I will have to disagree with you a little but really quickly. Any gas out board is going to burn the most gas in the last 1/4th of throttle. so if your 150 is going to need more throttle to mantain the same speed of a higher horse power motor that is not as far in to the throttle. if forrest can get up to 40mph then he is not using any where near full throttle ,or even half to cruise 25. Where your boat is using over half, if I had to quess, ( and I just did) to get to 20 to25. I would like to see some numbers of the e-tec 200, same weight as the e-tec 150 and lighter then a honda 135/150 , that is on a 25 in the bay area.

[journey on]

OK, for a comparative analysis, here is a chart of the R-25 (diesel), C-25 (150 Honda 4), CC-26 (200 Honda V-6). The mileage figures are in reverse order of my expectations: the diesel has the worst mileage, and the biggest gas outboard has the best. Assuming we're all honest people, " it gets curioser and curioser" (ref Alice in Wonderland.)



Now as to the accuracy of the flow meters. The flow meter on Journey On gives accurate total results, and the mileage figures are about what the graph shows for a C-25. I don't know about the others. I would expect the flowmeter for the CC-26 to be way optimistic, either that or I'm getting a bigger Honda. As for the diesel, I wonder if the flow in the tank return line is being accounted for (i.e. flow out of the tank minus flow back to the tank.)

Otherwise that tug has both a terrible hull for planing and is heavy, and the CC-26 has a very very good one and is very light. I don't think you can dismiss these numbers out of hand, but again the mileage figures are in reverse order of what one would expect.

Boris

[forrest]

Pat, James,
Next time I go on a cruise without fishing (so I don't use the kicker) I will keep track of total miles with the GPS and total fuel consumption. I would like to know myself. Probably won't be till late fall. I do know that last year at Westport I would go out 12 to 18 miles offshore, run the kicker all day trolling, return to port and I would average around 10 gallons per trip. Never did keep close track. Some days you would limit out fast and some days you would have to chase the little buggers around. I do know that the 26 with the 200HP Honda gets way better milage than my 18 foot Lund with a 115HP 2 stroke Johnson.
Forrest