Shakedown Cruise

Fuel Chart (click to enlarge)

The shakedown cruise was really in two parts. Part one was when Brian, my Canadian boat-loving friend, and I headed south from the Vero Beach City Marina with the purpose of developing a fuel consumption chart. The fuel chart to the left was the end product of our efforts. We ran the boat at various RPM's and noted the fuel flow rate and GPS speed for that RPM. The chart makes it clear that at a decent cruising speed (13 to 16 knots) with both Suzuki 115 hp outboard engines running, we could expect about 2 nautical miles per gallon. Fuel consumption is a bit more at 20 knots, the speed that feels the most comfortable in calm water. Top speed was about 25 knots with about 1.5 nautical miles per gallon fuel burn.

Twin Suzuki 115 hp engines

We also needed a "fuel remaining in tank" graph as the fuel gauge reads in percentage full, not gallons in tank. We accomplished this by filling the gas tank in 10-gallon increments and noting the percentage reading on the gauge. The result was the first graph on the above chart. By combining this data with the fuel burn rates, the graph shows how many nautical miles remain at a given percentage of fuel in the tank.

I should point out that these figures are approximate, and obviously, "your results may vary" :-)

The second part of the trip was a two night cruise to Stuart, Florida. We headed out and before we got 100 yards, the starboard engine quit. We couldn't get it to turn over, so we limped back to Vero Beach City Marina on the port engine. After tying up, it turned over fine and never gave us any more trouble. I later discovered the battery for the starboard engine had never been replaced. I put a new battery in, and hopefully the problem is fixed.

We started out again, but only got as far as a few miles north of Fort Pierce where we sat dead in the water waiting for a flotilla of small, one design sailboats in a race to cross the Intracoastal Waterway. I'm guessing it was an hour before they all crossed and we were able to get underway again.

We anchored in Faber Cover by the barrier island opposite downtown Fort Pierce where we quickly discover two anchoring quirks. First, neither the 9-pound Danforth-style nor the 14-pound Delta plow I had purchased would hold the boat in a moderate wind even though Faber Cove was known for its good holding. I've since replaced the 9-pound Danforth-style anchor with a 13-pounder and it holds well. I'll be replacing the Delta plow with a 22-lb Rocna. The second quirk was that the boat tended to tack back and forth in the wind while at anchor. A friendly boater dinghied over and offered to tie off the anchor line to the bow tow eye located at the water line and this helped a bit. He also suggested lowering the engines into the water which helped a bit, too. I did some online research and found that dropping a line at the bow with ten feet of chain dragging on the bottom should help as well as trailing an empty bucket off the stern.

Stuart Dinghy Dock

The next morning we motored down to Stuart. The waterfront by the New Roosevelt Bridge has slips, moorings (one of which was open so we hastily tied up to it), a restaurant and crowds of people. We dinghied ashore and discovered there was a fair going on downtown so we took the free trolley to it. I had a Maryland-style crab cake and a beer.

The trip back was uneventful after a pleasant weekend and a successful shakedown cruise.