Marinette Boat Forum

Has anyone used NMEA fuel flow meters and tachometers ? I think this could help with fuel savings !

Looks like you are trying to justify a new toy. Flo meters are pretty cool once you get them setup and calibrated.

The reality is your can figure approx. 1.2-1.6 MPG average on our twins 28-32. I think the 32's with the 1:5-1 and larger wheels does better than the 1:1 transmissions. 28 with single is probably the most efficient of the bunch.

Now you want to run WOT all bets are off.... mine will burn 12 gph per engine.... ouch!

I am sure there are others with other opinions and can provide more information on the cost and installation of the meters.

Safe moorings,
dave

I would go with the flow meters and skip the tachs if your planning on the NMEA 2000, I don't think the tachs are compatible with our old engines. I am hoping to add a set of floscan gauges to mine in the coming future. Take a look at there website, they have combo flow meters/tachometers/hour meters. They are spendy but nice.

How did you come up with the mpg do you have meters . And yes new toy sure is fun to build new things!

Planing a trip or 2 down river this year it will be nice to get the most speed/fuel economy I can.

My FloScan paid for itself in a year (or less).

Jeff

PS: Am I the only one who thinks the new "Starwars" movie was lousy?

Running the river with day marks and charts makes it pretty simple to figure MPG. Your consumption is dependent on many factors, Load, sea conditions, speed, etc etc etc. I do keep track of the hours run and fuel used. At the end of the season I always do the math and after 10 years of running my current M MPG has been very constant in the 1.4-1.6 range for the season.

I seldom run over 2,500 rpms and spend most of my cruising off plan in the 1,700 range or less. I am in no hurry and even run on one engine at times. It saves some fuel but not as much as one would expect running on one. Lots more drag with one just along for the ride. I pick up about .3 of a MPG with a fresh clean bottom but sure does not stay that way long.

Flo meters are great if your are having a problem with a carb. Would be interesting to start a pole to see how many a running meters.


dave

So is your floscan a NMEA 2000 compatible . Or is it a stanaloan unit? What are the stats after you installed?

Most of my running is at about 1500 to 1700 . This is my 1 st year with the boat as mine so learning a lot and doing lots of repairs .

Installed a Floscan system on our 32'er 4 years ago. I'm getting around 1.5mpg running at around 1700 to 1900 RPM with 1.5:1 trannies. Put in a combo unit which takes the place of one of the old tachs on the lower station. (used the other tach hole to mount a remote module for the inverter). I wish Floscan had a dual system to mount up on the upper station as well but alas, t'ain't so. So I'm going to put in a dual gauge capable gas tank sending unit ( http://wemausa.3dcartstores.com/Multi-t ... p_126.html ) and install a single gas gauge w/ a on-off-on toggle switch to keep track of fuel left in tanks. The stats part (fuel burn per hour, etc) I'll get from the lower station.

Tried the "run on 1 engine" idea a few years ago but felt the drag from the non-running engine/prop wasn't making a major difference...

... now, if I could figure a way to "feather" the prop(s) such as a plane has, maybe then ....

Bill