We were thinking about adding 30 or 40 gallons.
That's a lot. You may be surprised how far that engine will run on a little gas. It's the same one we put on the GF18 and it's fuel economy is amazing. Of course it only has to run at half throttle to scare you to death
This is a cut from an email I got from Rogerdog over the weekend...
So we went out to the lake with friends on Saturday, and the boat was great.
There were four of us plus Isabelle’s friend, five XXXX's and three YYYYYYYs for a total of 13 (five adults, four 13 year olds and four Charlotte’s size). Kilpatricks had a pontoon boat. We were not all on Soleil, but at one point there were three adults and six kids on the boat pulling a tube with two kids (two adults were on the pontoon). Boat handled great, and I noticed that with the extra weight, the boat would turn better in a tight circle. Turning a full circle is best done in a series of short turns then straighten the wheel and turn again rather than hard-over the wheel and force it all the way around – I do not want to get her sideways at speed and trip over a chine. I’m a no picture taking fool.
Fuel economy is fantastic too. I fueled up right before I saw you guys the other week. After we left you, we ran around for another five hours or so. The next time we were up there, we ran the boat hard for six hours – start, stop, turning, pulling tubes. I filled the tank on Saturday, and it took 11 gallons. Running, playing, working the boat on a gallon per hour is crazy good, and it makes me know that over a Saturday/Sunday outing trip, it would be VERY difficult to run that 31 gallon tank out of gas
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It's also got a Yamaha fuel management gauge that tells you GPH and MPG. I ran it about 6 hours in testing and didn't really believe what it was telling me, until Rogerdog refueled the tank.
Completed GF12 X 2, GF16, OD18, FS18, GF5, GF18, CL6
"Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made." -Robert N. Rose