Mel: You are right about running a trawler engine lightly loaded. I was referring to planing hulls with gasoline engines that are operated at 3000 RPM or my two cycle diesels running at 2250 at full cruise. When I am in my "trawler mode" running at 1200 RPM the engines are not working particularly hard. Sorry, sometimes I forget that this is a trawler forum. Frank At 01:33 PM 11/18/99 -0500, you wrote: > >>===== Original Message From Frank Burrows <fburrows@csi.com> ===== >>Marine service is a lot more severe than truck service since the boat is >>always going up hill... > >Is this really true - at least for the majority of trawler cruisers? It seems >that most of us use our engines in a lightly loaded mode - 1800 or so rpms for >8 knots, give or take. I've estimated, based on some information gleaned from >the list, that running my engine (rated for 120 hp) in this way, and using 2+ >gallons per hour, means I'm only using 30-40 hp. This doesn't seem like it >qualifies as 'severe service.' Seems like there's a big difference between >blasting up the hill wide open and going up the hill slowly in a lower gear. >