Marinette Boat Forum

..."Floscan went out of business a year or two ago"

Damn! Sorry to hear that. They were really nice folks to deal with.

There's gotta be a similar unit out there sold be somebody. Hope so.

Jeff

Oh..but wait,there's more to the story:

https://floscaninc.com/

it's not a TOTAL loss...there's a new owner out there. We'll track them down

I thought so also, but you can't get a hold of them, and all their dealers say they can't get anything from them either.

Rodney,
"...can't get anything from them either..."
Sounds similar to signs seen on (actually) closed businesses - "Closed for remodeling". They're realistically not going to reopen. Your situation with Floscan sounds (depressingly) similar.

Bill

Has anyone tried cruising with one engine and switching every hour? If so, what result did you get (mpg/speed/value)?

Bill Schneider

Bill,
I tried that on a trip from Cincinnati to Madison, In. In order to maintain a cruising speed of about 9 to 10 MPH I'd have to increase the RPMs significantly. The other engine's tyranny was in neutral but there was a decent amount of drag from the non-running prop even though it could freely pinwheel. Had there been an ability to 'feather' the non-running prop, it would have made a big difference. To bad Marinette, which started their boat business after defense contracts from WW2 ran out, didn't apply aviation prop feather tech to their new boat line....

All in all running on 1 engine doesn't save money.

Bill

Question: I understand that there is an "optimum cruise" mileage sweet spot that is probably right around juuust up on plane, experiment to find the best for this particular boat and engine combination. But, if I am looking for the absolute best MPG regardless of speed, if I slow to displacement speed (say, around 7-10 MPH) is this going to give better absolute economy? I understand that at that speed a good current or wind might make a bigger impact than at faster speeds, so assume neither is a factor.
Of course, one might not want to putt-putt along at 7 knots even if it's more economical. But, it would be nice to know if it is, and by how much.

My Floscan experience (32 footer w/ 360s) says you are correct: the boat got about 3 mpg at 7 mph. Since I'm not a sailboat or trawler guy, that speed would never do!

My best on-plane mpg was at 2,000 rpm and about 15 mph. (As I recall it was about 1.3 mpg.) I regularly got 1.2 mpg at around 20 mph, and about 1.0 mpg at 28 mpg. Fuel usage on plane per motor ran from 9 to 12 (as I recall. I never, ever ran WOT for more than a few seconds during testing.)

Hope that helps.

Jeff

One more thought (and my memory may be a bit weak here) is that a Mopar 360 burns about 2 gph at 2,000 rpm in NEUTRAL.

Jeff

Slightly different query...I plan on doing the Loop in a 32. Lots of 10mph cruising. What total fuel consumption can I expect at that speed?