Your cruising speed?

R

Roy & Dixie

New member
My 22CD has 2 good cruising speeds: 6.5 knots at 2250 rpm and @ 11 knots at 3800 rpm. We cruised at the higher speed from Daytona, FL to DC and return (and many shorter cruises). Recently we cruised at the lower speed from LaBelle, FL to Tarpon Springs and return. Naturally, the higher speed got us there in much less time, but the slower speed seemed much more relaxed, was quieter, and mpg was over 7 mpg (2 mpg more than at the higher speed). We started our cruising on sail boats, moved to a 7 knot trawler, then to a CD.

Now that we have the ability to cruise at several different speeds, we seem to enjoy the old 5-6 knot travel best. We are seldom pressed for time, and are cruising for the enroute scenery, not the destination.

If on a longer cruise, what is your favorite cruising speed?
 
If we were not always constrained by time, we would cruise at precisely 4.8 knots in our 19. We do travel at this speed for short periods and enjoy the quiet and calm but steady pace. But.... our goals are always stretching our schedule for now so we settle in at 16 knots at 4800rpm much of the time. With a really heavy load that may be closer to 12 knots just to keep the rpms below 5k.

Greg
 
At our normal loading in calmer waters we cruise our CD22 most of the time at just over 4K rpm (where the Honda engine switches modes). This gives a speed of 17-19 mph. It seems to be happy at this speed.
 
I was out today, and doing RPM vs Speed with the light boat (at Powell, 3600 feet, and a 2" lower pitch prop, we could only get about 5,000 RPM and 17mph--so were cruising at about 15 mph or 6 mph.

At sea level we usually cruise at 17 or 22 mph. However, at our home, we have 12 miles from the house to the ICW, so that is a distance frequently traveled in an open bay.


Today: light boat (1/3 fuel, 10 gallons water, one person, and minimal gear) Honda 90 hp carb, 15" pitch prop.

At 1600 we were doing 5 mph; at 2200, 6.6 mph; at 3,000 9.9 mph:
At 3400 12 mph; at 3800 14.5 mph; at 4200, 17.5 mph; at 4400, 19.2 mph; at 4600, 20.5 mph; at 4800, 22.5 mph, at 5000, 24 mph, and at 5800 we were at 29.6--at WOT we hit 30.3 with a bit of trimming the bow up a little more. This was pretty neutral on the trim tabs.

My conclusion is that Roy and Dixie are running a very light boat. Their specs are very close to what I got. The boats are very weight sensitive. My feeling was that the boat was not truly planing until we were about at 14 mph.
 
At 11 my boat would not be quite planing, and running in inefficient mode. I do like the 7 though. I'm retired so it doesn't bother me.
 
28mph for the long runs ( in excess of 5 miles). 35mph for the short runs, you know, because it's fun.
The seas have to cooperate so the above is true to 2-3' seas. The 8-10 footers this last weekend had me down to 6mph which just sucked.
 
NORO LIM":30sbslue said:
Will-C":30sbslue said:
Usually one of these two; six mph or between 20 and 25 if conditions permit.
D.D.
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Ditto
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Double ditto. We cruise with 2 kids. They have about an hour of boat time before things start getting…not pretty. That will get us to most places in the San Juans if we're cruising at 22 mph. If we're just messing around, crabbing and such, I do like to putter around at 5 or 6 mph.
 
I like the 6 Knots for cruising and seeing whats all around. For higher speed cruising I'm around 14 knots. Depending on conditions and timing. Its about 20 miles from Sequim Bay entrance to Cattle Pass. I watch tide, wind and current to take best advantage of those, but generally try for early morning so will alter course to get the advantage.

When time is not an issue, the 6 knot cruise is so much more fuel efficient, when running with the current, and so much quieter it is the most peaceful pace.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Those of you enjoying those 6 MPH speeds would have loved my Duffy Electric. Quiet and smooth. Unfortunately when you wanted to go faster you couldn't. I enjoy cruising at the slower speeds but it is nice to have the option to crank it up to a whopping 20 or 21 MPH. When we travel with our boat club we usually try and get at least an hour head start. Some weekends we'll travel up to our destiantion a day ahead of the group just to be able to get settled and relaxed before everyone else arrives.
 
Since I only boat in open ocean waters, the conditions dictate my forward
progress. Highest speeds running with the swells around 12 to 15 knots unless big steep swells then maybe 2 to 4 knots.
Running into the swell is usually really slow unless swell has long interval. So on the average maybe 5 to 7 knots unless short period swell then slower.
Running perpendicular to swell allows the highest speeds and most fun with surfing swells but speed will still be well under 15 knots.
Once I get into the harbor I can open it up a bit and see over 25 knots for a short period but its noisy and I would not do this for long periods.

If its speed your after you need a different hull design and maybe a younger mind. I much prefer the slower and more fuel efficient speeds at this point in my life.
 
Some of the people posting do in fact have a different hull design than you. For us, we see the best fuel mileage at either of those two speed ranges. We adjust trim and the like while watching a fuel management program as the boat can be loaded differently which can effect fuel usage. Conditions always shape the plan.
D.D.
 
On my 22, 11kts would have been the speed with close to the lowest efficiency - e.g. just shy of on plane and a bit bow up. I tended to go either 5-6 kts when I was in no hurry or working against rough conditions and 15-20kts when the water was nice and I had someplace to go. 11kts was a rare speed to operate at for very long. The Tomcat (which I have now) is a whole different beast and typical cruise speed is 16-30kts depending on conditions with 20-25 being most common.
 
rogerbum":2d1qscq1 said:
On my 22, 11kts would have been the speed with close to the lowest efficiency - e.g. just shy of on plane and a bit bow up. I tended to go either 5-6 kts when I was in no hurry or working against rough conditions and 15-20kts when the water was nice and I had someplace to go. 11kts was a rare speed to operate at for very long.
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I find the same. I know that at 5 - 6 kts, I'm not on plane and at 15 kts I am. But with my c-dory, I can never tell exactly when I do start to plane.
 
A couple of things came out of my testing yesterday, the experience this year at Powell, and other's experiences.

1: I purchased a "10-9-10" Lev-o-gage, to measure the for and aft trim (I already have a gauge for athwart ships trim.

2. I am going to add a fuel flow meter system (most of my power boats have had these--but they are not accurate at low speeds).

3. I am going to take a 11" pitch (as well as the 13" pitch) prop to Powell next year.
 
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