Old Mercury in-line 6....Gas hog?

[Gregk]

I'm looking at a '89 115. A friend told me that this particular type of merc is a gas hog....true? Is it any different on gas mileage than other outboards of this era?

 

[fishdog4449]

Re: Old Mercury in-line 6....Gas hog?

I don't think inline-6s were made in '89 but I could be wrong.
If it is then I will give you my experience...
I have an 115 inline six and I can run all day on 6 to 10 gallons just cruising around 3000-3500 rpm.
But, if I run WOT or pulll skiiers so I'm hammering her to WOT out of the hole, i'll burn through both 12 gallon tanks in two or three hours.

These motors actually use very little gas in their cruising range if propped and tuned correctly.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Old Mercury in-line 6....Gas hog?

rule of thumb for those motors at wide open throttle is 11.5 gallons per hour. again as said, depends on the boat and how you drive it. if you really have to worry about fuel consumption, you don't need a boat.

 

[Gregk]

Re: Old Mercury in-line 6....Gas hog?

cruising around 3000-3500 rpm.

what speed does that put you at?

 

[Gregk]

Re: Old Mercury in-line 6....Gas hog?

rule of thumb for those motors at wide open throttle is 11.5 gallons per hour.

With just that particular type of outboard or is that pretty much the rule with any 115 engine of that era?

 

[mickjetblue]

Re: Old Mercury in-line 6....Gas hog?

Well, I had an 80's 90hp, and it's pretty much the same motor.

When cruising around, it was very good on gas usage.

It has a beautiful hmmmmm, though, just above 5k rpm, and it
was worth it to be flying along with that hmmmmmmm occasionally.

I do miss it.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Old Mercury in-line 6....Gas hog?

Greg, I owned an merc 1500 inline 6 for 20+ years. After it finally blew up, I got a Merc 135V6. The inline was quite a bit better on fuel than the V6, eventhought they have about the same power at WOT. The V6 has a lot more bottom end power BTW.

I think the inline motor will cruise quite economically (relatively speaking) compared to the V6

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Old Mercury in-line 6....Gas hog?

that fuel figure is for most 115 hp motors..

 

[fishdog4449]

Re: Old Mercury in-line 6....Gas hog?

Greg,
3000 put me about 32-35mph depending on the load. My propped WOT is 5800, so I can cruise at 3000 with 2800 left to redline. The boat planes out very quickly...I can actually stay on plane at 1800rpm with a light load, believe it or not.