www.iFourWinns.com

Hello fellow boaters,
I just recently bought my first boat after years of ski boating. Ended up with a Vista 268 with a Penta 5.7SX. Have it out in San Diego and have been having some trouble figuring out what the optimum rpm is for planing and for optimum fuel consumption. Just had it out this morning and I cant seem to get the thing to plane at less than 3200-3400 rpm, which gives me around 20 knots per GPS. Made it around 40 miles and blew through 30 gallons of gas, which from previous board postings seems high. I had a survey completed and a mechanic look at the boat prior to purchasing with everything checking out. So I am really at a loss for why I seem to be so lethargic. Maybe I am just used to ski boats with high speeds and lower fuel burn. Not sure if anyone has any thoughts? I had wondered about a prop change or any thing else....

2000 Vista 268

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Pac Winn

First Boat:
2000 Vista 268

That does seem a little high per the Four Winns spec sheet for your model...

http://assets1.fourwinnsmarketing.com/past_product/specs//2000/19%20268%20Vista%20(p116-119).pdf

But then again there are so many factors that play into fuel consumption and I believe the spec sheet is for a boat running at ultimate optimal conditions. Scroll down the page and you'll see this...

"Performance and Fuel Flows may vary widely due to Boat Weight, Load, Atmospheric
Conditions, Engine Conditions, Weight Distribution, Sea Conditions, Propeller, Boat Bottom
Condition, Trim Angle and Operator Technique."

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'01 Vista 298

We were headed into a five foot or so swell with the boat fully loaded. I saw that spec sheet and was hoping for performance like that, but figured that was probably on a glassy lake with a tail wind or something. I keep hoping that I someone will know of some easy fix. Ideally would like to go around 130 miles on my 85 gallons, but that might be a pipe dream. Thanks for the quick reply!

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Pac Winn

First Boat:
2000 Vista 268

I have a 2005 Vista 269. I have the Volvo 5.7 OSXi engine. I have a fuel computer onboard and get about 2.4 - 2.6 MPG on calm water when cruising. It drops to about 2 MPG when cruising with 2-3 foot chop.

And heading into a 5 foot swell it's going to drop even further.

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'01 Vista 298

I have a 2006 248 with a 5.7 Gi DP and surprisingly the mph except for WOT is right on the Four Winns specs, All it can muster is 40mph at 46-4700rpm with a full tank of fuel and water + 2 adults and 2 kids - FW says 42-43mph - close enough. Fuel use on the other hand so far is well under what the chart says, but I have been playing around with it a lot, takes a lot of fuel getting it on plane and I have been doing it a quite a bit just getting a feel for the engine trim, tabs etc. So far I have went 70 GPS miles on 60 gallons, I'm hoping to bring that number up with a steady 25-28mph cruise.

I'm coming from a 23' 300hp DP stingray bowrider and not only would that thing easily cruise at 40mph GPS (60+ top speed) it would only burn about 7-8GPH at 40mph which was nothing compared to this one. But that boat dry was 3300lbs and this one 6100, big difference, plus the stingray was like a bass boat, only about 1/6 of the hull was in the water on plane, this thing is moving some water for sure at 25mph. But I kind of expected a heavy fuel increase and speed loss, I can say our lake seems a lot bigger again when you go 25mph instead of 45

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2006 Vista 248 5.7DP - SOLD
2011 Crownline E6 - SOLD
2007 Sea Ray 260 Sundancer

Sounds about like my 268, the places i was looking at boating to seem much farther away... What sort of range do you have at a steady cruise then kp47? After thinking about this further, my hourly burn rate might not be much over 10 to 15 gph, I just am having a hell of time keeping it planed while running below 3400-3600. Again it may be the swell but just wanted to get everyones thoughts.

This forum is great, thanks for all the replies and I am sure to be on here all the time since this is my first boat purchase...

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Pac Winn

First Boat:
2000 Vista 268

Apply some tabs at lower RPM's to bring the bow down and stay on plane. Our 2000 268 would maintain plane at 2800 RPM with a little tab. 3400 to 3600 RPM was right about 26-30 mph with no tabs.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

I just got the boat a week or so ago, I took my first steady cruise today, went 63 miles on 23.2 gallons. I have the fuel flow meter on my Garmin GPS hooked up and its pretty accurate. Thats 2.7mpg @ 24-28mph, thats 3200-3400 on the tach. Total time moving was 2 hours 37 minutes so thats like 9.3gph. That was a non stop trip except for turning around at 31.5 miles and slowing twice to get around some heavy patches of floating wood. There was a ton of big boats coming back from a footbal game so it was choppy as it gets around here (Tennessee river), this boat may not be fast but at least it doesnt get tossed around like my last boat, that was great boat on a weekday when the lake is like glass but it would beat you up pretty bad when it was busy.

Four Winns says 9gph at 3000 rpm and 11gph at 3500 so its actually doing a little better, if you can believe the fuel flow meter I'll find out for sure when I fill it up again.

And like cap'n morgan says, use the tabs to keep it on plane at lower rpm, this one is really different than my old boat as far as trim tas and engine trim, took some getting used to but I got it down pretty well now.

Earlier this year I installed a Floscan 9000 series fuel flow meter in our 2005 268 5.7Gi DP and it has become the gauge I pay attention to the most! We recently returned from a 941 mile trip on Lake Michigan and achieved a total trip average of 2.07mpg fully loaded and carrying bikes on the back! We mostly traveled in choppy waters with our worst day being caught in 5-7 footers on our way to Mackinaw! When we were in the 5-7 footers we were getting around 1.3-1.5 mpg. Our best mileage was on mostly flat water and light wind where we got an avg of 2.31mpg on the 150mi final leg home. When conditions allowed I found the sweet spot to be between 3500-3650 at 26-28 mph with little to no tabs to get 2.2-2.3 mpg.

Before I got the fuel meter I would run around 3200-3400rpm thinking this would be optimum and easier on the engine with the lower rpm's and slower speed, but this range only gives me 1.8-1.9mpg. I never would of thought 200rpm more would give me .4mpg better fuel economy and get me there quicker

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Our Boating Blog: http://ben-dana.blogspot.com/

2005 268 Vista "Sea Pickle II"
1979 AMF Alcort Puffer
Previous:
2003 FW190 Horizon
1973 Startcraft 18ft "Sea Pickle"

Thanks for all of the help. Sounds like I will have to try using the trim tabs a little more to keep me on plane at slower RPMs. Thats a whole new animal for me. Sounds like I can also run it at a little higher RPM and end up burning about the same gas. I dont have a flow meter on my fuel line, so I'll just have to run some tanks through it and see how it does. I can think of worse things to have to do... Thanks again for all the replies.

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Pac Winn

First Boat:
2000 Vista 268