Cruising rpm

titanjas

I just purchased a 2000 Hurricane 217 w/ a Yamaha 200hp engine. I took the boat out for the first time Saturday and was wondering what is a safe rpm for the engine to run at while cruising down the channel. It was running about 33mph at almost 5000 rpm. Is that too high?

bshippjr

I would think at 5000 rpm you are approaching WOT.  In my opinion, for "cruising" you generally want the sweet spot on gas savings and a comfortable ride which I would guess to be about 3500 rpm on your motor.  Obviously you can crank it up if you need to be somewhere sooner.

I have a Johnson 150 2 stroke on my 217 and with a full load I generally cruise around 3200 rpm at 22-25 mph.

Without a fuel flow meter, much of it is feel.

Ernest_T

I doubt you will hurt the engine running it wide open all day long if you want to.  Look at the bass fisher guys, that run their outboards like that day after day, and the off shore fishermen that do the same.  But, I've always been told that 70% of maximum rpms is a good level for long distance cruising.............don't know if there is any validity to that number, but it would be around 4200 rpms.  

Generally overloading the engine (too much prop), is going to cause more stress on the engine than rpms, as long as you keep the maximum rpms at or under the manufacturers recommended limit.

I've got a Yamaha F150 on my 217 and my best cruise speed is pretty much in line with bshippjr at around 22-23 mph.  That is as long as you are not in a hurry.  That speed also seems to be the best for fuel efficiency.