The Battle to Save Fuel

The Battle to Save Fuel:

With fuel prices out of sight, anything we can do to improve our boat’s gas mileage is certainly worth doing. To clean up the bottom and reduce drag, all thru-hull transducers—including the non-functioning Capac probe--were removed and plated over with 1/8 inch aluminum plate. A small, transom-mounted depth finder transducer was added instead, one that creates minimal drag and is handily located for barnacle removal. Below are other ideas that were used.

Installing a FloScan Fuel Measurement System

The most accurate way to determine how much fuel you’re burning is to install a flow measurement system like a FloScan or Navman. Here’s where I eventually located my FloScan flowmeter. I had placed it near the fuel pump, but enough air was sucked in thru the fuel shut off valve to screw up the readings. (The shut off valve is designed to keep fuel IN, but not to keep air OUT.) The flowmeter is now located below the Perko water separator, with the shutoff valve after the separator removed. (The shut off valve near the fuel pump is retained.)

A Comparison of Chrysler Exhaust Manifolds

There are two types: logs and center dumps (and both have plenty of vertical clearance on a 32 footer). The center dumps appeared around 1987. They have better performance, and use less fuel, since exhaust from the front cylinders doesn’t have to jam its way past the exhaust from the others. Virtually every modern V-8 marine engine now uses center dumps.