2008 GZ 250 for sale in Delaware * SOLD*

[mrlmd1]

My 42' sailboat had an inboard Pathfinder diesel engine (basically a "marinized" 48hp VW) that was solid as a rock and burned only 3/4 gal/hr at 2000rpm pushing the boat at powered hull speed of 7 knots. When I bought the 40' sport fisherman, a totally different breed of boat, with it's twin 450hp turbocharged Detroit Diesels, and I asked the salesman about fuel consumption, I almost had a conniption. He said that at WOT I could burn 48 gal/hr and I told him I didn't use that much fuel in a year on the sailboat and I could go from NY to Nantucket and back twice on that amount in that other boat. It wasn't that bad though, most of the time at cruising speed at 20-25knots I maybe burned in the range of 15-20 gal/hr, so that comes out to about 1.25 mpg. Buts that's pushing a 28,000 lb. boat probably with another 500-1000lbs.+ of "stuff" on it. Shit, 400 gal. of diesel fuel by itself weighs 2400 lbs, then there's 120 gal of water which is another 700 lbs. if you have full tanks.
The Volvo 310hp Duoprop in my 27' boat (6000 lbs), which is basically a GM 454 engine, is pretty economical (?), burns about 12-14 gal at 25 knots, 3000rpms, and about 20-22 at 30 kts at 3500-3800 rpms. Trolling at 5-6 kts. it only burns 3. That's all in the range of 1.25-2 mpg.
My little 16' with the 75 hp 2 stroke Yamaha only burns a few gal/hr and gets about 8-10 mpg. Of course when you put the petal to the metal on any set of marine engines, getting to WOT, the fuel consumption goes up asymptotically in a drastic fashion. You can go as fast as you want if you just keep throwing money into the tank, a good reason to slow down. So it's all relative, but nothing for that much fun beats a motorcycle's economy, even the jetski.

[mrlmd1]

Check this out for fuel economy, and it's pretty nice looking too.
http://www.gizmag.com/yamaha-y125-conce ... mpg/20672/

[Gz Rider]

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[Gz Rider]

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[Water Warrior 2]

Looks to me that it also has a rear spring/shock built into the backbone of the frame.

[mrlmd1]

Originally Posted by Gz Rider

Of everything you said, my biggest surprise was that you like your marine deisel (at least in the sailboat). I've never owned a deisel, let alone a marine deisel but I hear so many complaints and problems with them. My guess is you maintain and use yours regularly. I miss the days of the atomic bomb.

Yeah, the old Atomic Four was a real joy, if you liked fussing and constantly working on it, Yanmar made a 30 HP Diesel to replace it and it was a godsend at the time.
Diesels are very reliable, and very long lasting- thousands of hours instead of hundreds for a marine gas engine before a rebuild or major service is required. The only thing you have to do is keep the fuel clean with good filters so you don't clog up the injectors. Oil changes are routine, there's not much other maintenance to do. Diesel fuel is very high in organic material and you need to put a biocide into the fuel for long-term storage to keep the growth of algae down and gunk from forming in the bottom of the tank, like you would use Stabil or something similar in a gas tank, but for different reasons. They do make a bit more noise and are heavier, and sometimes have a smokey exhaust on startup. They are more economical to run than similar horsepower gas engines. Some of them need a glowplug or pre-heater in the cold weather to get them to start but that's usually not a real problem, and only for 30 sec. or so before you start it, then it just runs fine. They initially were meant for larger boats, like 30+ feet, but they are making them smaller now and I have even seen a diesel outboard. There is also no explosion hazard with diesel fuel. So yes, I do like them but it depends on the application.

[Gz Rider]

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[mrlmd1]

No problem with sitting for a while. I actually had my sailboat stored on the hard (out of the water) for 6 years with some biocide in the fuel tank and I had to buy a new battery and change a rusty pulley on the crankshaft that the belt rode on, and when I hit the starter button, that thing fired up in about 5 seconds and ran perfectly. My GF said at the time that the look on my face was better than having sex. I never had any problems starting it after the winter 4 month layover either.
There is no maintenance other than changing a fuel filter once a year and routine oil changes like I said, there's no carbs to fuss with, no plugs, nothing else to do, and you can store them forever if you protect the fuel in the tank.

[jonathan180iq]

Wow. You guys really like boats.

:popcorn:

[Gz Rider]

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