I'm sure this is an old question, but I am still curious: Why do we cruisers use Gallons per Hour instead of Miles per Gallon? 3 GPH at 6 knots = 2 MPG. 6 GPH at 12 knots also equals 2 MPG. What's the difference in terms of fuel consumption? GPH seems cumbersome as one must first figure out how many hours one will travel, then calculate how much fuel will be used. If one knows distance and MPG, the fuel estimate calculation is more direct. Our purpose is to go someplace, seems to me, not just burn fuel. Regards, John Sawyer Freedom Krogen 39

OK, I'll guess. Cap'n Bob says to his friend at the bar, "My trawler can cruise at over 9 knots", which is true but old Bob leaves off the fact that he actually cruises at around 6.5 or 7 knots port-to-port since Bob is paying for his own fuel. Then he says, "This baby sips only around one gallon per hour", which is also true, but old Bob once again leaves off the fact that when he's burning one gallon per hour he's only making about three and a half knots. So gph makes for better bar talk. When you get down to MPG then you get closer to the WHOLE truth, which sometimes hurts.<g> Bob Walters checkout my web page at http://members.cox.net/bobandching ----- Original Message ----- From: <Chessil@aol.com> To: <trawler-world-list@lists.samurai.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2002 08:21 Subject: TWL: Fuel: GPH or MPG? > I'm sure this is an old question, but I am still curious: Why do we cruisers > use Gallons per Hour instead of Miles per Gallon? 3 GPH at 6 knots = 2 MPG. 6 > GPH at 12 knots also equals 2 MPG. What's the difference in terms of fuel > consumption? > > GPH seems cumbersome as one must first figure out how many hours one will > travel, then calculate how much fuel will be used. If one knows distance and > MPG, the fuel estimate calculation is more direct. > > Our purpose is to go someplace, seems to me, not just burn fuel. > > Regards, > > John Sawyer > Freedom > Krogen 39 > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawler-world-list >

MPG depends on a lot of external factors, not the least of which is current. Wind second. Sea state another. You can't just say that at 1600 RPM you get 4 miles per gallon. What you DO know is what your engine burns per hour at a given RPM. You'll get a lot more MPG if you're going with a 2 knot current than against it. Once you know your speed over ground, and the fuel burn per hour, you will know what your MPG is, right now. It can change pretty quickly. Chessil@aol.com wrote: > > I'm sure this is an old question, but I am still curious: Why do we cruisers > use Gallons per Hour instead of Miles per Gallon? 3 GPH at 6 knots = 2 MPG. 6 > GPH at 12 knots also equals 2 MPG. What's the difference in terms of fuel > consumption? > -- __________________ Keith "Never miss a good chance to shut up." - Will Rogers