Honda 50hp Fuel Consumption

[cwilde]

I sail a 26M with a Honda BF50A engine. Am about to do my first bit of cruising, and am looking for a fuel consumption chart to help in the planning. Can't locate. Can anyone help point me to a chart or give their personal experience. Many thanks.

[Retcoastie]

There was a chart posted somewhere, I'm not a wizard at finding things the second time, that gave max cruise at 3000 RPM of 7 MPG. Perhaps this is enough to jog the "finders" and get them on the trail.

Good Luck!

[Catigale]

Greetings cwilde

Use the search function above and click on 'search all terms'

Perhaps try Honda consumption or mileage as a start. It should be in the Performance and Tuning Forum of course, but try the Main Forum if you dont get hits.

[Frank C]

Try searching on the phrase planning fuel economy (click 'All terms') to get a reasonably short list of related discussions. Be prepared to read with a fine-toothed comb.

Calculating fuel economy for a recreational boat is somewhere in the "herding cats" skill set. The best answer to your question is, "Somewhere between 2 and 8 mpg." Since the range is so large, the question of statute versus nautical miles?? .... that issue is non-applicable.

Next, considering that the Mac is a powersailer, the question becomes yet another magnitude irrelevant. One particular post is uniquely illustrative, from the Engine Size vs Fuel Economy thread:

... I was a bit anxious about the crossing, 65 miles of open water to West End on Grand Bahama, easily the longest exposed passage we'd ever attempted. My plan was to cross as quickly as possible, which meant taking advantage of the Mac's speed. At 4 miles per gallon, with 29 gallons of fuel on board, I figured we had a comfortable fuel cushion for a full throttle run. We left Sailfish Marina at 4:30 am, motored through the Lake Worth Inlet and onto the Atlantic swell, dark ahead and receeding lights of Florida astern. I gave her full throttle but, with our extra weight, the 3 to 4 foot swell, and the "southing" we needed to make against the Gulf Stream in order to hit our destination, I could only get between 4000 and 4500 rpm's out of the motor (usually ran full at 5k) and speed was a disappointing 8.5 knots. I usually expect around 11 with typical cruising load. No matter, we were on our way, and the butterflies began to leave as dawn arrived. That is, until the engine cut out only 24 miles into the crossing. Well under halfway across, and we had consumed 12 gallons of gas. Under the conditions we were in, we only got 2 mpg.

At that rate it was clear that we would run out of fuel before making West End. Definitely time for a change in strategy. After switching tanks I let out the jib and began motor sailing, with the throttle down to about 2500 rpm. The boost of the sail plus lower rpm, along with less current as we got further across the Stream all aided in fuel economy. We completed the crossing on only 7 gallons of fuel, at an average speed of 5 to 6 knots. That worked out to 6 miles per gallon and a significantly extended cruising range.

From that time on, we rarely run at full throttle when motoring. I can usually average 6 knots at 2500 rpm, and generally figure 5 miles per gallon, with variations depending on wind, current, and ability to motor sail. Full throttle runs are limited to special situations such as making a scheduled bridge opening, reaching a rapids or anchorage at a desired tide/current stage, or making a short side trip where distance to the next fuel dock is not a concern. On 2 occasions in Southeast Alaska, distance to the next fuel dock approached 200 miles, and fuel efficiency was a significant issue.

I'm considering repowering with a 4 stroke, and will be looking for the best combination of fuel efficiency, quiet operation, and reliability. Weight will be less of an issue since, with our cruising gear aboard, our top end speed is already restricted ...
Happy sailing,
Mike Cecka

[NiceAft]

Since I was interested myself in this info, I did a Google search under Honda BF50A, and came up with their owners manual. I have one on the boat and never looked up this info Anyway, it says that best fuel efficiency is at 80% throttle. If you look it up, I believe it is on page 46

Ray

[beene]

Sounds right to me Ray.

My spec is 4500. I stay at 3700 when crusing. 82% of spec.

G

[Parlanaich]

Rough calculation, mostly cuz we're new to this:

2 tanks per season.



cheers, eh,
Rick

[beene]

2 tanks per season.

Wow!

Must be nice. I could do that in 1 weekend with the kids wanting to go tubing all the time....... and I have two 12 gal tanks. The guys at the pumps say I am their best sailboat customer.

Somehow I wish I did not get to wear that title.

My other sailboat goes all season on $20

G

[opie]

<<< Geocities is stingy so only a few people a day will get to see this, the mpg stuff is quoted: >>>


"Ran first 6 gallon tank dry just to see how far we could go at 7+ knots. We arrived at the dam with spare gas and returned part of the way back, so GPS showed we went 44 statute miles (38.2 NM) for 7.3 MPG at 3400 rpm 95% of time."

http://www.geocities.com/corbelljack/71407capefear.htm

[beene]

Opie

Nice shots

I love the Sat pics to help figure out where you were. Nice touch.

Thanks for sharing.

G

[jasper]

As a matter of interest, my Yamaha 25T showed the following consumption over the weekend. Total running time 8 hours.

1 hour at 75% - 100%
1 hour at 50 - 60%
6 hours between idle and 40%

Total fuel consumed 14 litres about 3.5 US Gals.