Speedboat fuel question?

Question

Okay, first of all, I'm going to say I know nothing about speedboats, and I don't own one or plan to actually take one out on water. However, as a writing assignment, I need some information about how speedboats run so I can describe certain scenes bettter.

So, I would just like to know, how long the fuel of a speedboat can last on average if kept running nonstop and also what would happen when it runs out.

Answer 1

Well to answer the fuel question is allmost impossible. U need to know what kind of engine or size the boat has along with the size of the tank. The find out how many GPH of fuel the engine uses at full throttle and load.  Then figure it up to get a close estimate. GPH means gallions per hour.     If the boat runs out of gas the engine will just sputter a little and stall out.

Answer 2

General rule of thumb, fuel burn in gallons per hour at full throttle is about 10% of the engine's horsepower rating.  Representative figures for a generic speedboat configured for, say, freshwater skiing (as opposed to offshore cruising) would be neighborhood of 175 horsepower, fuel capacity of 30 gallons.  That would give you about one hour & 45 minutes.

Cruising at 3/4 throttle might cut the burn rate to 55 to 60% of the full throttle rate.

Answer 3

about 11/2-4 hours depending on the size of the tank and the fuel of choice.        

When the fuel runs low the engine starts to stutter, before totally shutting off and loosing all power