Horsepower for your application

[robhwa]

The goal is to find your engine's "sweet spot" for the long cruises. That sweet spot
can be somewhat customized to your usual boat load by selecting the best engine
power/propeller combo from the start.

There are two sweet spots for my boat and my boating style. I find that I cruise mostly at 2400 RPM (6 Knots) and 4400 RPM (12-14 knots). My typical cruise is 10 - 14 days long, so heavily loaded. This speed combo gives me the fuel efficiency that I want and the speeds that I enjoy. I boat primarily off Vancouver Island and I want to keep my speeds to a comfortable and safe level. In these waters there is a lot of logging activity and you need to keep a sharp eye out for floating logs and deadheads. I have had a few close calls, especially when the water is choppy and the logs are hiding amongst the waves. WOT is just too fast for my liking and safety.

Excellent guidelines from someone that knows local conditions. Operating consistently at WOT is a good way to support repair shops, and boaters around here quickly learn their limits the hard way. I was fishing at Neah Bay (the most western point in the continental USA), last week. Good fishing. We would never consider operating at WOT unless glassy, which is rare. Usually the boats that you see really "go for it" are new, with new, overpowered motors on the stern. Even at slow plane, we managed to hit a submerged, invisible, log, on this trip, which bent the prop and broke off part of the antiventillation (caviation?) plate. I have never met anyone here that boats a lot that has not had some experience hitting things, and the faster the speed, the worse the damage. Outboard motors seem particularly vulnerable since they do not generally have prop protection from keels.