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In these days of drastic fuel increases and knowing fuel consumption is a big chuck of our boat operating costs, we have to look for ways on how to save fuel. First it is necessary that we understand that the variables affecting our boat’s speed are mainly engine horsepower & the boat’s displacement that is basically our boat’s weight. Also it is necessary that we know our boat and it’s limitations. In Naval Engineering there is term called economical speed, which is the optimal velocity for a displacement boat with its best efficiency. |
Desde el escritorio de
Ignacio Calderon |
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As an example a 95’ displacement boat has an economical speed of:
Even
If this boat has enough power to go to a higher speed than their economical
one, every knot in speed above that would exponentially increase HP
requirements & fuel consumption. Also it is important to check if our
working speed is our optimal or below. If by any change we have a
possibility to reduce our speed by some degree, we would have higher fuel
savings than the reduction we do on speed. This is because HP & fuel
consumption increase exponentially to the increase in engine RPM´s As an example, if we reduce speed in 1 knot, from 13 to 12 knots, that reduction of 7.7% in speed would give us an approximate of 14.9% fuel savings. In this case the ratio between reductions in speed VS reduction in fuel consumption is approximate 1: 1.9 & change in every boat, depending boat’s length, displacement, speed & HP. Example:
A boat sailing at 13 knots:
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