Evinrude eTEC 90 hp on Ballistic 5.5 MPG

[Jeremy]

Having just gone mad and bought my first RIB I was more than a little shocked to hear that I might get roughly 1 mile (nautical or otherwse) per litre out of it! It has a 90 litre tank and I was thinking I might try Cherbourg (from the Solent) which I reckon to be 60 ish miles as the seagull flies for lunch one calm day! Am I going to need the RNLI and appear on the news or do I just go by myself with fuel tanks everywhere?
From some of the threads on the same subject it seems I need higher level maths and a ready mileage/ US gallons converter and a small computer. All I really need to know is whether I could make the trip at something less than full speed and the family on board!!

[Nos4r2]

Is it your 1st boat or 1st rib? If it's your 1st boat, get some training before trying a long hike like that. PB2 as a minimum.

As for fuel consumption, take it out with a full tank in conditions varying from calm to rough and check your GPS distance travelled. Then refill the boat and work it out.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Jeremy

Having just gone mad and bought my first RIB I was more than a little shocked to hear that I might get roughly 1 mile (nautical or otherwse) per litre out of it! It has a 90 litre tank and I was thinking I might try Cherbourg (from the Solent) which I reckon to be 60 ish miles as the seagull flies for lunch one calm day! Am I going to need the RNLI and appear on the news or do I just go by myself with fuel tanks everywhere?
From some of the threads on the same subject it seems I need higher level maths and a ready mileage/ US gallons converter and a small computer. All I really need to know is whether I could make the trip at something less than full speed and the family on board!!

Is this your first boat? How much experience do you have? The question suggests you may not have undertaken any training (it was certainly covered in my PB2 course) ... in which case a cross channel trip is certainly ambitious.

[Edit - sorry Nos - already said this whilst my fingers were transferring thoughts to the screen.]

90 HP will use roughly 34 litres per hour at full throttle. So you have about 3 hours "endurance" at full power. You will probably get over 4hrs at optimum cruising speed. I think this is probably enough for a cross channel trip, but not a lot of scope for cock ups and almost certainly not enough for a round trip. If it was me I would take a spare 25-30L along in a portable tank and refil in france.

Normal recommendation seems to be to carry at least 20% spare in reserve.

[Jeremy]

Dear Nosfurato, thanks for your thoughts.. it's our first RIB but have RYA Coastal Skipper amongst other bits of paper so I should be able to find Cherbourg and I'll have a PB 2 as crew. I'll be doing the old "top it up and run it" trick for sure but was hoping for some better news on the "estimate" of one mile per litre.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Jeremy

Dear Nosfurato, thanks for your thoughts.. it's our first RIB but have RYA Coastal Skipper amongst other bits of paper so I should be able to find Cherbourg and I'll have a PB 2 as crew. I'll be doing the old "top it up and run it" trick for sure but was hoping for some better news on the "estimate" of one mile per litre.

On my Etec I find I get about .8 litres per NM at about 25 knots.

I would expect you will see similar but certainly not much less.

[Jeremy]

Dear "Nos" and Polwart,

Thanks again to you both. I was certainly expecting to have to refuel "en France" and will take 20 litres in cans so here's hoping for a fair passage some time soon. I'm guessing here but I take optimum cruising speed to be 75% of max revs or just up on the plane!
Over

[Jeremy]

Dear Chris,
With my O level maths, your numbers and the 3-4 hours "endurance" at optimum speeds from Polwart I believe I have a range of no more than 100 nm! Should see me there OK...
Out - with many thanks for your help.

[codprawn]

Just go for it.

The very first trip I did on my RIB was from Guernsey back to Weymouth - about 90 miles not counting me getting lost a few times until I had sussed the Raymarine - the route I thought I was following turned out to be an undersea cable - luckily it seemed to be going the same way!!!

I have also crossed the Bristol Channel from Swansea to Ilfracombe and back in my quicksilver 3.1m with a Suzuki 15hp - that's 26 miles each way...........

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by Jeremy

Dear Chris,
With my O level maths, your numbers and the 3-4 hours "endurance" at optimum speeds from Polwart I believe I have a range of no more than 100 nm! Should see me there OK...
Out - with many thanks for your help.

Take twice the fuel you think you'll need. Your 1mile/litre will double if you have to work the throttle a lot. I've used 30 litres before just going Yarmouth-Portsmouth in bad weather.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by codprawn

The very first trip I did on my RIB was from Guernsey back to Weymouth - about 90 miles not counting me getting lost a few times until I had sussed the Raymarine - the route I thought I was following turned out to be an undersea cable - luckily it seemed to be going the same way!!!

Cod - given that your relationship with your builder didn't seem to be particularly good, and there were details you weren't happy with - was it wise to make the first trip long distance through busy shipping channels? I'm not sure that I would advocate "luck" for getting safely across from the CIs nor getting the navigation right.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Polwart

Cod - given that your relationship with your builder didn't seem to be particularly good, and there were details you weren't happy with - was it wise to make the first trip long distance through busy shipping channels? I'm not sure that I would advocate "luck" for getting safely across from the CIs nor getting the navigation right.

Divers can use a variety of methods of navigating underwater but never thought about crossing the channel by following an submarine cable

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Polwart

Cod - given that your relationship with your builder didn't seem to be particularly good, and there were details you weren't happy with - was it wise to make the first trip long distance through busy shipping channels? I'm not sure that I would advocate "luck" for getting safely across from the CIs nor getting the navigation right.

Judging by the way I had been treated and the fact that i am still owed a trailer I just wanted to get my boat away as fast as possible. With all the hassle we had the crossing itself was an anticlimax to be honest!!!

I had no chance to familirise myself with the boat or any of it's equipment - to make matters worse the hand held VHF had vanished so no backup.
.

[matt h]

codders,i would have done the same, what an adventure!!

[ian parkes]

I haven't had a chance to try my 90 etec over a steady cruise yet. Every trip so far has been about 30 miles of very mixed use in choppy sea and prop testing so lots of throttle use
each time I have used approx 23l to 30 miles .
i would want to do a few coastal cruising trips etc before heading on an open trip just to get to know how much it will use and if there are any problems to sort out .
My etec did seem to use a bit less fuel after I had set for xd 100 oil .

[BogMonster]

I envy 1nm per litre. I finally got round to working mine out the other day (no flow meter) and my carb 2st uses about 1.25L/nm over 2 tankfuls... calm conditions and 1 (admittedly large) person on board.

Next one will be a stinky diesel I think!

[BruceB]

Well I am keeping my fingers crossed for 0.8lt per mile for this new boat.........

[thomas]

Regardless of what others have said this is what I strongly feel you should do:

Crossing the Channel is a very easy cruise in the summer, but can be hard work when doing it for the first time and when it gets rough.

Before you go, get yourself on a VHF course, go and do a powerboat 2, and get familiar with how your navigation kit works. Also take spares, even though your boat may be new or Navigation equipment new, always carry a chart and compass, this way if you have a bearing and your GPS goes down for whatever reason you have a heading to follow. Carry a handheld VHF, as mobile phones sometimes dont work in the middle of the channel on some networks.

Make sure your lifejackets have good gas bottles in them etc, and all your kit is in working order, carry more fuelou need, just in case. If you repect the water and plan properly like this you will have a great time, by doing the courses also , this will give you great training not only for the channel crossing but any boating you may do, in your pride and joy.

Remeber you are resonable for the people onboard while you are at the helm, by making sure you have done all these things, you show no neglict or leave things to "luck", one last thing-inform the coastguard of you movements, expected ETA etc, this way if something happens they are there to look after you. Just dont forget to let them know you have arrived safely!!


Re ETEC, I took the Thunderbolt over to Guernsey from Portsmouth in the Summer. I used a total of 120 Litres going over at about 3500-4000 rpm. This was when the engine was brand new, it also used alot of oil, 3litres! Having said this, the engine had not been really run in and on the way back, drank no oil whatsoever, still though drinking 105litres of petrol. So take some oil as well. 5 litres will be more than enough.


Have fun....

[Pete7]

Err, Tom he has an RYA Coastal Skippers ticket.

Pete

[Searider]

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with your fuel consumption.

IIRC my 5.4m searider with a 90hp carbed 2 stroke would better 1 mile per litre at a 25 knot cruise speed.

My Scorpion 6.5m with a 150 optimax does about 1 mile per litre.

I would think that you should get 30% better mileage than my Searider.

Keep the revs to less than 4000, 3500 to 3750 if you can, and you should see some good figures.

[LURCHER]

Like the name on your boat was the fist one OKYAR ! If you do go drop me a PM as we want to do it as well and would enjoy the company . We could carry fuel too as we have plenty of space.