Houseboat Fuel Consumption

I apologize in advance, cause I know this information has been posted, but I can't seem to find it. Planning a week long trip to Lake Powell and trying to figure out how much gas we'll use. Does anyone know how much fuel a 46' XL will use per hour at various speeds? Also, what is a good cruising speed for these houseboats? 10 or 15 MPH?

its full when you get it. drive to iceburg canyon. then escalente, siphen gas out of it, run the gennie, have about 16 people for a week. it was still about only half empty, when we went back. (just make sure u use the blue life savers for the bano.)


ask kraig kaiser he might be able to give you a techniacal answer!

Don't push past 2/3's throttle. You will only lose 2 or 3 mph, but will burn half the fuel. Cut the gen whenever you don't need it. Gas won't be you problem my friend...beer will be the issue.

Exactly. beer beer and more beer. Not sure what the cost of beer is on powell but we went to dale Hollow and ran out of beer and it like a little more than buck a beer for cans. So make sure you bring a lot. We also took a keg down..bad idea it was so humid we spend a ton on ice just to have it melt in a few hours. but we kept the keg outside since we had a leaky tub

rock salt the keg

Travel is one thing, but generator on all the time means more gas consumption. Got to have that generator on for the blender to run and the hot tub. That and lights for the poker table.

Is there some sort of easy way to figure out gas per hr on a big houseboat? I know they all are diffrent but just a general #. Example you have a 4 hr ride to your parking spot you can expect to burn threw 10 gallons of gas? somthing like that.

we have a 8m tall living boat with 55 hp.. fuel consumption is 2 l/h.

2 L/H...great, now I have to do math...

I found this on a houseboat forum, but I have no idea what size houseboat it applies to. I was hoping to get a consensus from some folks on here that have been to Powell.

Average engine fuel consumption : 2-4 gallons per hour
Average generator fuel consumption : 1 gallon per hour
Average cruise speed: 7-10 miles per hour

By the way, I think I have the answer to the beer problem....tequilla!

(Message edited by o2binvallarta on February 20, 2007)

Those numbers are pretty close to our experience. I'd figure about 4 gal/hr per engine. And that is keeping the engine rpm between 2400 to 2700. Above that and it will suck a lot more gas.

o2. I think its important at this point for me to be present to monitor all fuel, beer, and tequila consumption. I offer these services free of charge.

The more the merrier...however, I should warn you that this will not be a party barge. The crew will be me, my wife, our 4 (yes, I really just said 4) kids, my sister, her husband and their daughter.

We've already decided that our next trip to Powell will be 18 and over!

A general rule of thumb is that it takes about a gallon an hour to produce 10 horsepower.

If you have a pair of 350 Hp Crusaders operating at WOT to plow the boat along at 20 MPH it will burn ~70 gallons an hour.

Been there, done that, couldn't afford it anymore.

Now I have a houseboat with a pair of 50 Hp outboards that pushes the boat along at about 10 MPH. Burns about 10 gallons an hour. Back off the throttle a little, boat slows to 8 MPH, gas useage drops to 5 gallons an hour.

It takes one horsepower to generate ~750 watts of power, so a 5 KW generator loaded down will burn about 0.6 gallons an hour.

I have a two stroke, 1100 cc Jetski, supposedly produces 130 Hp. It's never operated at anything other than WOT so it uses 13 gallons an hour. It will empty its tank and all my gas cans in really quick order!

You will probably use more gas in the ski boat than in the houseboat. I would plan on 10 MPH for the houseboat, and an hour to get underway and two hours to stop at a marina. If your objective is to see as much of the lake as possible then let the houseboat chug slowly up the lake while you explore the side canyons with the ski boat.

I recommend NOT taking too many toys! If you are going in a group there is a tendency for everyone to want to bring their boat, PWC, etc. That works fine for the first day or two but people get burnt out, both literally and figuratively.

Any ski boat you take should have a bimini top, the sun can be brutal out there. I highly recommend that there be two full crews for every boat, including the houseboat. One houseboat and one ski boat is fine for 12 people. If you add a second ski boat you will probably end up towing it behind the houseboat, which will really slow the houseboat down.

A PWC would be nice, but they burn a lot of gas and you will end up towing it a lot.

Rod McInnis

Thanks Rod, that was great input. The boat we're getting, the 46' Voyager, has "2 fuel efficient 4 stroke 60HP Mercury outboard engines". I'll take your calculations into consideration when I start mapping the trip out. We're only taking our boat, a Mobius LSV. I'm thinking 3-4 hours of play in the morning 3-4 hours of driving to a new spot, a couple more hours of play in the afternoon/evening and then margaritas!

For those that have been to Powell, we're launching at Waheap. Is it possible/likely to make it up to Rainbow Bridge and back in a 5 day trip? I'm thinking not, but wanted to get some other opinions.

No problem going to Rainbow Bridge. At 7 to 8 mph, it will take about 6 hours. Find a nice spot in Mnt. Sheep Canyon or somewhere else close to Dangling Rope and then take the LSV to Rainbow. I wouldn't take the houseboat up Forbidding Canyon- can be crowded and rough in a canyon that can get narrow.