Fuel economy V21.....05' Rude 200 HO
 

Ran approx. 70 miles of ocean yesterday and refilled with 28.2 gallons = 2.48 mpg.

Boat load......... run with full tank, 3 guys, and good amount of gear. Bimini up / no curtains.
Conditions.........mix of light to moderate chop, tabs mid -to 3/4 down
Speed...............mix of 3,500 rpm cruise, a few miles of 4,500-5,000 and some in between.

Moderate chop conditions a few miles E of Raritan Bay, where it's usually choppy.

Range..............depends on if 1996 tank is 70 gallons as some say, or 60.
Let's use 60 as max or 150 miles if miles of high speed not included.

Without extra tanks, I'd say 50 out / 50 miles back / 30 reserve.
Bringing 2 extra 5 gallon containers with 1 gallon transfer tank hosed to wide gap funnel plenty of fuel.

Now, what can I catch on blue bird days ?
Mahi, and maybe yellow fin, small blue fin I suppose.

70 nautical miles or statute miles? My old hydra sports with an old smoky 2 choke evinrude on the back got right at 2 1/4 nautical miles to the gallon if I kept the idling/trolling to a minumum. If I did some trolling it would suck some gas back as that old carbed engine drank about 2-2.5 gallons per hour idling where a dfi will only drink a quart.

Ain't it nice. The Opti makes fuel too down low.. I saw 4 and 5 mpg offshore last in the keys. I have never seen it so calm for the week we were there. Seas 1' or less... I said YES and went trolling out of Marathon. Went 40 miles SE and another 10 N. I was closer to Islamorada when I headed home. Problem was I was in 700 feet and the dolphin were at the 200 to 300 foot line or so I was told. And the reef diving was insane. Vis was 60 feet. Fish would surround you. We were literally brushing into banded rudderfish by the thousands as we were snorkeling.. We saw grouper, eels, barracuda, yellowtail snapper, and about 50 tropicals that I don't know the name of...and the sea turtles were everywhere. Definitely cool.

Ridge - that's living........congratulations.

Yeah, Hard to justify a vacation when your not working.. Luckily I solved that problem. Been working steady for 2 months or better... Happy day!!!

Happy for you that things are getting back to normal Ridge. Way to go!!! :clap: