MacGregorSailors.com

Still have not taken my 26S out for the first sail (lakes frozen..) but this boat seems near ideal for a lake Powel trip Im planning and I may have to motor over 100 miles.

I have an 8 hp 4 stroke and am wondering if anyone has measured the miles per gallon of gas with a similar configuration they are getting with maybe 3/4 throttle and no wind? Id be pulling some kayaks but dont think this will make much difference.

Regards,

Hi Walt,
Don't know the milage, but have gone out on Lake Mead with 6 gallons for a week and only used three. I, of course, use the outboard as little as possible. There is a canyon or two we go through that we have to motor through, most times. This will add up to several hours of motoring for the week.

I have a 1987, 26D with an eight hp Honda 4stroke. (also older)

So, for fuel usage, it sure beats the 50hp that hung off the back of my former boat (26X).

Hope this helps some.

Best Breezes
Steve K

I cant post a link but this is from the earlier thread "have you seen this website"

Quote below:

I started the trip with an 8 HP Honda, which is a good cruising motor using 1/2 gallon per hour, and 10 miles per gallon.

That sounds about right to me
SK

I was looking at a GPS and trying different motor speed settings in no wind conditions. Hard to tell exactly (with the ballast full, you have to wait a while for speeds to stabilized and I probably did not wait long enough) but I was seeing maybe a 10% change in boat speed between about 1/3 and full throttle. I was seeing a little faster than 5 mph - maybe 6 mph or so for 1/3 throttle. For long distance cruising in no wind, 1/3 throttle seems fine with hopefully adequate reserve HP.

Note: to converet MPH to knots, divide MPH by 1.15.

5 summer seasons in MI with 9.9 Evinrude 4 str at South Haven MI on river with waiting for lift bridge on river about 10 mpg avr. Half 2006 summer season, same X, with new 9.9 Honda, about 12 mpg avr. on Lake Macatawa with free access to Lake Michigan. Ron

I have a 9.9 evenrode, Live in Holland mi. Have a 26D 1990. Use it all summer, 2 times a week. Went through less then 10 gal. of gas. Love being out on the water. Cheapest way I can think of being out there. Think I'll try for S. Haven some time next summer. Holiday week end maybe? With the moter, shouldn't be stranded for to long.

10 mpg according to Buck Graham, who did extensive testing by sailing from California, South to the Panama Canal, through the Panama Canal, and north again to Mexico!
http://members.tripod.com/~lbucko/mship.htm

I too have an 89 26D and have a 9.9 evinrude. It runs great, haven't measured mpg, but it seems like the tank lasts a long, long time.
Chris

I measured the gas milage of a 26S ballast full on a fairly windy day (15 to 30 mph winds) at 8600 feet elevation with my trusty 17 or so year old Honda 8 hp 4 stroke. Throttle always about 1/3 and speeds were from about 4.5 mph in the strong head wind to just under 7 mph downwind. In 10 miles (GPS), we used a little over 0.9 gallons. Given a little inacuracy in measuring the amount of gas, Id say a hair over 10 mpg is fairly accurate.

Last spring, I went to Lake Powell for a week. I motored most of the time, as there were only a few days that the sailing was good. Let's face it, you will be doing a lot of motoring if you leave the large lakes at the dam or at Bullfrog.

I was given some good advice from a friend who goes there often: take 2X more fuel than you think you'll use, it turned out to be good advice. We motored over 150 miles on that vacation. I carried two six galolon plastic tanks (purchased at Walmart) and an extra 2 gallon and another 5 gallons. These last two gas tanks were suspehded under the bow and off of the side on the chain plates. Laugh if you like, it is a very long way back to get fuel. I bought a gallon of two stroke mix, and I have a measuring cup from the dollar store.

Another item: you need proper anchoring gear. OK the discussion of anchors, rode and etc can go on and on. The winds at night can be BIBLICAL in force, and if you don't want to be up at 3 AM fighting the wind you had better get situated before dark. My solution: one Bruce anchor, one lunch hook, two 200 foot rodes. I tailed my boat to a beach and set the two anchors out in a vee or tied to a rock. You'll thank me when you experience the wind shift of 180 and 40 knots.

By the way, I just came back from Mead where I stayed a week. Almost no wind at all, and in the course of two days we burned twelve gallons of fuel, and ended up sailing at night for a while, then draining every last drop out of one tank into the other and then barely making it back to the marina at 1 AM. I don't mind sailing at night, but knowing I might be starnded the next day is irksome.

I would say that Lake Powell is far more scenic than Mead. It is well worth cruising on, but be aware that you will relly be on your own. At Mead, stores are only a few minutes away. At Powell, especially if you launch at Bullfrog, there is little availibilty of food and gear unless you pay the exorbitant prices there. Bring all of your food and fill all gas tanks. Example: one small bottle of propane for a stove = $8!

Hellol John. Im thinking something similar with two 5 gallon plastic tanks hung off the bow pulpit (one on each side) and the working 3 gallon tank for a total of 13 gallons. Im going for about four days so if I use this much gas, I spent way too much time motoring and not enough sailing or kayaking. Ill be keeping track of how far Ive gone and how much gas Ive got left. However, I think just motoring around in that area (Lake Powell) would be seriously better than being at work so who knows.

Ive got all sorts of anchor asenal but really dont have much experinece using them. But close enough that I dont think Ill die or have the boat sink so Ill probably just go for it.

My biggest concern is how to find places where you can beach the boat. Ive found a few web sites but any experience would be dependent on the water level. Once again, I figure Ill just go for it.

We just got back from our lake Powell trip, had a great time. Some pictures are here:

http://analogengineering.com/powell/

These Macs are really great boats for this type of trip. Its trailerable to get to the lake (480 miles each way to get there), it was great to camp in and allowed us to spend each night at a different spot. This will probably be an anual trip and each trip will be different for a number of years. It got crowded in the boat (2 adults, 2 kids, 2 dogs) but were going to make some mods to be better organized next year.