Real World Speed/ Mileage/ GPH Info:

1975 32' Sedan with 318s and direct drives, 14 x 11 non cupped, Nibril props. Cruises at 23 mph at 3000 rpm at 2 miles per gallon with a top speed of 35 mph at 4100 rpm.

1975 32 Express flybridge w/twin 318's. Took a trip from Baltimore to Charleston, SC and averaged 100 miles/tank (about 1 to 1.2 mpg) at 3000 rpms doing 21 mph per the GPS.

1979 32' FB Sedan with Chrysler 360 (250 HP) and 1:1 drives with 14 x 10 props. Ran 32 mph at 4,400 rpm.

1986 32’ FBS with 318's (240hp) and 1.52:1 reduction. Don't run at top speed except, perhaps, twice a season for a few seconds to gauge the top speed/revs. Usually, I run about 2800-3000 rpm. With clean bottom that gets me to about 19 mph and I think I should be getting more. (Agreed.)

1986 32' FB Sedan with 350 Mercruisers (290 HP); cruise at 25 mph (3,200rpm) with a top speed of 35 mph and 5,000 rpm. (Way under propped.) I currently have cupped, three bladed, Nibral, 17x14 props. Having my props re-pitched to 17x16, cupped. Optimum WOT rpms for the 350's should be around 4200-4600. I am anticipating increased performance with the new bottom paint and re-pitch. She already leaves the rest of the pack behind and should be even quicker with the improvements. I talked to a guy last year who claimed he had the same set up in a 32' FBSD and attained 40 mph WOT and cruised at 30 mph.

19?? 32 footer with twin Chrysler 318's, 240 hp each. The 16 x 15 props are cupped Nibral. I get just a skooch over 4000 rpm and maybe a bit higher in actuality because I think the tachometer reads low.

1984 32' FB Sedan with 225 hp 318's with the 1.52:1 reduction gears. The wheels are 16 x 15, 3 bladed bronze. Boat performance with 175 gallons of fuel, 600# of passengers, 30 gallons of water, and gear for a week-long trip: 3,000 rpm and 23 mph. As we reduced fuel, we cruised at 25 mph (also at 3,000 rpms). Over the 400 mile trip we averaged 1.2 mpg. We didn't have a generator on board but believe me we couldn't haul all of our gear in a Suburban! This performance mirrors an older 32' sedan at our marina.

Re-powered 1981 32' FSB with Marine Power 350 315 hp at 4500 rpm. Kept the props that were on the boat (14 x 10 cupped). On the sea trial every thing ran great, but at about 3,800 rpm & 31 mph the engines overpowered the propellers and over revved very quickly. Tried 14 x 12 with # 8 heavy cup. Boat runs great but only will turn 3,700 rpm doing about 34 mph. (Too much cup?) Went to 14 x 12 #3 cup. Okay, but not quite there. Put on 4 bladed, 13 x 12 with a # 5 cup. (13" for lower tip speed - less cavitation). Gets about 0.9 mpg at 3,100rpm doing 29 mph. Seems to hold speed better through a turn.

19?? 32 foot Sedan with 270 Crusaders (Chevies) and electronic ignition and 16 X 16 that were WAY out of tune. Hale’s MRI machine said go with 16 X 14, 1.25 bore with #3 cup. (That’s insane!) He tweaked the old ones to a 15 pitch with a mild cup for a back up set. He thought they were too old to try to remove 2 inches of pitch. Running about 4,350 to 4,400 rpms without AC and generator.

1970, 32 foot FB Sedan with 318s: Runs 20 mph at 2,700 rpms.

19?? 32' FB Sedan with 350 Crusaders. Had 17 x 17 (three bladders?). The engines are high output EFI Mercruisers and claim 290 hp at the prop. I have 1.56 to 1 gears and run only 27 mph at WOT and 4,000 rpm. Should be hitting around 4,600 rpms. (Over-propped? Slow for those engines.)

1983 32ft FB Sedan with twin 318's at 225 hp and direct drive with 14 x 10 cupped props. The boat will plane at 2,500 rpms. When I'm not in a hurry I usually run around 2,700-2,800 rpms at 18 mph. When I travel I run 3,000-3,100 rpms at around 19-20 mph with full fuel and basic vacation load: two to three people, food, and boat junk.

19?? 28' Sportsman with a single 360 - 275 hp. When my secondaries kick in I get a jump in speed from 2,600 rpm at 14 mph to 3,200 rpm at 22 mph with a top speed of 30 mph at 4,500 rpms.

19?? 28 with twin 318s and standard props. At 2,300 rpm I was doing 18 mph (on the GPS.); at 2,800 rpm doing 23 mph. Get 1.25 to 1.6 mpg depending on weather I have timing advanced with water injection on. Boat seems to run its best at 2,800 rpm at 23 mph.

1988 32 FN Sedan with Chrysler 360s, 275hp. Seems to do around 17mph at 2,550rpm and 21-22 at 3,000rpms turning 16x16 Dynajet cupped 3 blade props. Average around 1.1 mi/gal at 17 mph down to 0.8 mi/gal at 3,000 rpms. More data on this same boat:
1,00 rpm 8 mph 1.4 mpg
1,400 rpm 10 mph 1.3 mpg
2,500 rpm 18 mph 1.0 mpg (on plane)
2,700 rpm 21 mph 1.1 mpg
3,000 rpm 25 mph 0.9 mpg

19?? 37 foot Aft Cabin with 360s: Trip of 106 miles; used 87 gals. That’s 0.8 GPM. Second trip with less than a full tank: 136 miles and 156 gal or 1.14 GPM. For the second trip, I ran about 14 mph for the first 30 miles then slowed to 10 mph coming up back. I also put up the windshield on the bimini that slowed me down 2 miles per hour.

19?? 32' FB Sedan. Ran 2.9 hours at cruising speed approx 18-19 mph in 2ft or less chop and got roughly 1.6 mpg (excellent).

19?? 32 Express with 454 Mercruisers (340 hp.) and 1:1 trans. New props are 14 x 14 (no cup). Able to get at least 3500rpm before I had to back down due to traffic in the ICW. I wasn't able to keep them there long enough to check the speed. With the 14x10's I could get 28mph at 4,500rpm. With the 14x14's I got 17 mph at 2,500 rpms, and 28mph at 3,200rpm. Anything past that and they start cavitating or ventilating. The bottom paint evidently needs re-doing, after 4 months in the saltwater, I've already acquired enough growth that my top speed is down to 23mph at 3,500rpm, but I can still get 17-19 at 2,500rpm

1985 32 Sedan w/o FB. 260 hp. 360s with 17 x 15 four blade props:

13-14 mph at 2,000 rpms and 6.0 gph / engine = 1.08 mpg
17-18 mph at 2,300 rpms and 7.5 gph / engine = 1.16 mpg
19-20 mph at 2,500 rpms and 8.5 gph / engine = 1.15 mpg
22-24 mph at 2,800 rpms and 10 gph / engine = 1.15 mpg
26-27 mph at 3,o00 rpms and 12 gph / engine = 1.10 mpg

Fuel consumption under unusual conditions (32 footer with 360s):

2 gph at 6 mph for 1.5 mpg with two engines running
2 gph at 5 mph for 1.5 mpg with one engine running
2 gph in neutral (one engine)
3.5 gph in neutral (one engine)
4.5 gph in neutral (one engine)

---

Unzinced ships sink at slips.