GPH Cruising w/~26' Boat

Doug Roy

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Sep 27, 2010
Messages
45
Can anyone with a 26 - 28' cruiser (single engine preferably) and a fuel flow meter tell me what your GPH is at about 8 knots?

Also, anyone familiar with the Bayliner Explorer and it's semi-displacement hull? As I understand it the idea was to build a fuel efficient cruiser that could go forever on a tank of gas at a slow speed, like a trawler. I'm skeptical about the advantage of this design because all the weight in the Explorer is in the rear, unlike a real trawler with the weight distributed more towards the center. Bayliner only made these for 3 years ('80 - '83, I believe). You can still find ones in pretty nice shape for a lot less money than other hardtops like the Bayliner Discovery. If I go with a standard planing hull cruiser (like the Discovery) you can go slow if you want and still have the option of speed when you need it. I'm getting some idea of the GPH Explorer owners are getting but have no idea what to compare it to.

Thanks!
 

Mischief Managed

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Dec 6, 2005
Messages
1,928
Re: GPH Cruising w/~26' Boat

A 26 foot semi-displacement hull at 8 knots will be terribly inefficient . It will be trying to climb on plane but will be unable to do so and will swill gas. Slow it down to 6 or 7 knots and it will burn about 1.5-3 GPH.
 

CaptainKickback

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
1,060
Re: GPH Cruising w/~26' Boat

Hey guys. This is an old thread (9/27/2010). OP is probably long gone.
 
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