Trip to Long reef - Sydney

[AOT]

Hi

I have an aluminium boat 4.8m with Merc 2 stroke 75 HP.

 

Wondering if the fuel will be enough to make a trip from Davidson park boat ramp to Long reef and back on 60 liter fuel tank.

 

Or even enough to reach the fuel station near the spit bridge.

 

Really appreciate any guidance and tips.

[big Neil]

Why not take an extra 25ltr spare tank with you. I would imagine 60 ltr is more than enough for the return trip though I have no evidence to substantiate the claim.

Contact Pickles on here. He has a slightly larger setup (aluminium) and could guide you on his fuel consumption.

bn

 

[noelm]

In really vague guessing….that motor will use about 10l per hour in general use, so that suggests (using the old vague 1/3 out, 1/3 back and 1/3 reserve for safety) then you will get two hours there, two hours back, and the safety margin left. I have no idea of the distances involved, so you will need to factor that in to your estimates. As suggested a spare fuel tank is easy to carry, takes up little room, but…..you need to have suitable connectors/fuel line for the motor, or some method to get the spare fuel in the fixed tank, in a rocking boat.

[Gregdagoat]

On 9/9/2024 at 9:54 PM, AOT said:

Hi

I have an aluminium boat 4.8m with Merc 2 stroke 75 HP.

 

Wondering if the fuel will be enough to make a trip from Davidson park boat ramp to Long reef and back on 60 liter fuel tank.

 

Or even enough to reach the fuel station near the spit bridge.

 

Really appreciate any guidance and tips.

Hey mate,

I have a 5.3 glass savage with a 115hp 2-stroke merc optimax. I have 2 tanks a 41.5L and a 11.5L equating to 53L all up. With only my 41.5L I can manage around 40km+ of distance in a day (always keeping the 11.5L as a spare for emergencies), however the efficiency of which I use this fuel can be noted   poorly as I fluctuate my speeds from 15knots to 40knots throughout the day with some occasional idling.
 

I believe you would be able to journey to long reef and back with the information you have shared however I would always bring a spare tank incase something goes wrong (weather changes). The horsepower won’t make much of a difference since the most full efficient speed is around about where you start planing, Note: If it is a calm day trim it up for even less drag and more fuel economy but I am sure you already know this. For the first time i would definitely recommend waiting on a calm day so if something unexpected happens there will be plenty of leeway or even heading out with someone else.

I hope this information helps and good-luck with your journey

Edited September 10 by Gregdagoat