251 walk

[seahound]

Hi all It seems to me that most of the 251 W/A on hear are outboards mine is a 7.4 mercruser with a bravo3 duo prop and it is tough on fuel it holds 175gal any thoughts

[231CALIFORNIA]

do you have a fuel flow meter? (flowscan etc) invaluable for running at best economy, boat that size maybe get used to  about 1.3-1.8 mpg depending on speed and conditions. if engine is sound and tuned and you have right propset to hit recommended WOT rpm with normal load you probably can do much better ,or if you are  be happy.
flowscan will normally pay for itself in a very short while with boat like that
and watching  it will encourage you to try to drive at best cruise.
with 175 gallons of $4 fuel thats 700per tank.
if you can fine tune trim, speed,load, etc to get 10% better you will save
about $70 per tank, maybe even more.
worst economy is often from just above 5knots to about 16knots  boat plowing water but not on plane.
make sure her bottom is clean, your arent over trimmed or under trimmed and know your fuel flow and calculate your economy continuosly.
example , there are many sellers and a several models.

http://www.defender.com
search instruments for floscanCruisemaster Series 5500
under 300  shipped unless you have efi with return line

[seahound]

Thanks for that I was thinking of a flowscan maybe next year. I allready had to rebuild my stern drive, replace my trim tab pump and a new alternator this year and the wife hates boats so it mite be a hard sell for this year, but thanks for the info. Chuck

[a7ewizard]

I went from a 7.4Gi to a 5.7 Gxi.

My tuna trips went from a 1.8 nm/gal to 2.2 nm/gal overall average. These trips run about 160nm and are about equal times running and trolling.

with these high fuel prices, that big block cones into question???

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