Fuel capacity

Gemdandy27 · Post by **Gemdandy27** » Thu May 24, 2007 5:47 am

Hello everyone, this is my first post. I have purchased a 1979 33' Sportfish and will be bringing her to Pensacola, FL next week. I am trying to find out the fuel capacity. It has the original 3208 Cat's in her with app. 4000 hrs. Sea trialed it past Sunday and cruised at 20 kt. and top end of 25 kt. Everything looked OK but present owner of last 25 years couldn't tell me for sure about fuel capacity. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Post by **dougl33** » Thu May 24, 2007 6:47 am

Gary, Welcome to the club. Your fuel capicity should be 250 gallons as long as your boat was diesel straight from the factory and not a gas conversion (in which case the capicity would be 310 gallons). If you look in the Articles section on the tree to the left, you will find links to the layouts/specs of both the SF and FBC from the 2005 Power Boat Guide. Good luck. Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... sabeth.jpg[/img]

lobsta1 · Post by **lobsta1** » Thu May 24, 2007 6:49 am

Gary, Welcome. Doug L. can chip in from his Power Boat Bible, but I believe you have a 255 gal. capacity. Al

Gemdandy27 · Post by **Gemdandy27** » Thu May 24, 2007 7:09 am

Thanks for the response. Guess one of the first things I will have to do is add more fuel. We like to leave out of P-cola on Friday evenings and Run about 8 kts. till daylight throw the lines in and fish Sat & Sunday and run in from about 40 miles out. Before I had a 32 Albemarle with 300 Cummins and fuel capacity of 308 gallons and always had plenty of reserve. Can you give me an approximate fuel consumption at 1200 RPM and cruising at 2300?

Post by **dougl33** » Thu May 24, 2007 7:14 am

I can't begin to guess on the 1200rpm figure, but Bertram's own spec sheet from 1987 lists the fuel burn for the 270hp 3208's at 22 gph at 2500rpm. My boat has Cummins (though I just converted from gas) so I have no idea if Bertram's figure is correct. Maybe some of the Cat guys can chime in. Here's a chance for you to help me out. I just converted to 300hp Cummins 6BTA's. What kind of fuel burn did you get with your Albemarle? Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... sabeth.jpg[/img]

malone145 · Post by **malone145** » Thu May 24, 2007 7:53 am

Hello Doug, my name is Harry, I'm Gary's son and part owner in the above mentioned Bertram. He left after his last post and went out of town, but he will be back on Monday and I'll see to it that he gets back to you on that.

Post by **dougl33** » Thu May 24, 2007 8:01 am

Glad to have you with us Harry. Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... sabeth.jpg[/img]

sbeer · Post by **sbeer** » Thu May 24, 2007 8:01 am

Gary, Welcome aboard. You have very good taste in boats. What H.P are the cats. I have the 320 hp in mine and I get about a gallon per mile at 2400 rpm. I never run it higher. Good luck with the new set-up. Mike

Gemdandy27 · Post by **Gemdandy27** » Thu May 24, 2007 8:08 am

One quick post before I leave Doug, I burned 28gph (both engines and genset) @ 2500 RPM cruise. About 4 gph at 1100 RPM trolling speed with genset. I can answer a lot questions about 6BTA's. I completely rebuilt one of mine after extremely overheating due to one of the hoses blowing off the bottom of the heat exchanger. That is the most important things I can tell you is to double clamp that hose. It's the big one, about 3" and unless they have changed it has single clamps on it!

Post by **dougl33** » Thu May 24, 2007 8:31 am

That seems right about in line with Cummins fuel curve charts that shows just about 12.5 gph at 2500rpms. Times 2 gets you to 25, plus figuring the gennie @3gph gets you to 28gph. I'm hoping to cruise between 2200-2400 rpms. Hopefully this should be around 17-21 gph total for both engines. Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... sabeth.jpg[/img]

mak6190 · Post by **mak6190** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 5:22 am

Hello Mike, With the 320hps, are you: Using the same props with diffrent pitch ? What are you using 3 or 4 blade? How about the Shafts ? What about the transmission ? What is you new cruise speed ? Sincerely, Mike Kohlhofer quote:Originally posted by sbeer Gary, Welcome aboard. You have very good taste in boats. What H.P are the cats. I have the 320 hp in mine and I get about a gallon per mile at 2400 rpm. I never run it higher. Good luck with the new set-up. Mike Mike Lawrence 81 sportfish 33' shot'n'beer [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... N_Beer.JPG[/img]

sbeer · Post by **sbeer** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:13 am

Mike I bought the boat with the cats already in. I am running 1.53 zf220a trans with a 21 x 23 1/2 prop with a #3 cup. The shafts are 1 3/8 and have been on the boat as long as I have had it. Alittle scary, would rather have 1 1/2 or 1 3/4 would be even better, but as long as you don't try and run up the back of 6 ft. swells I havent had a problem. Own the boat almost 5 yrs now and she runs like the first day I took her out,[ knock on wood ]. I cruise at 23to 24 knots. Fully loaded its about 22knots at 2350 rpm. I don't run the boat above 2400 although Cat says that 2500 is O.K. Good luck, Mikequote:Originally posted by mak6190 Hello Mike, With the 320hps, are you: Using the same props with diffrent pitch ? What are you using 3 or 4 blade? How about the Shafts ? What about the transmission ? What is you new cruise speed ? Sincerely, Mike Kohlhofer quote:Originally posted by sbeer Gary, Welcome aboard. You have very good taste in boats. What H.P are the cats. I have the 320 hp in mine and I get about a gallon per mile at 2400 rpm. I never run it higher. Good luck with the new set-up. Mike Mike Lawrence 81 sportfish 33' shot'n'beer [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... N_Beer.JPG[/img]

Mikedcabo · Post by **Mikedcabo** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 12:45 am

In our 79 Sportsfisher c 3208 Cats we typically cruised at ~22-2400 about 20 knts and consumed about 1 gal per mile. At trolling speed we used so little fuel I think we were running off the water tank

sbeer · Post by **sbeer** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 1:39 am

Thats the one thing that makes me smile everytime I pass the gas docks,lol. Mike

mak6190 · Post by **mak6190** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 10:36 am

Thanks for the info Mike ! Big difference in HP and speed. You have a great cruise, that's where I would like to be , sweet 23-24kts. I have the 275HP CatS 3208 and @ 2350 RPM I was able to do around 18.5 kts (315 gal.), but at full throtle I had problems turning 2800rpm. I was only was able to turn 2650RPM fully loaded down, so I went to the original Federal 21X21 the the boat shipped from factory with and had them set back to 20" pitch. The gear box is the MG 502 1.54 :1 and now the engines will run the 2800rpm wide open loaded. To run @ 18KTS, the engines need to be turning 2500 rpm. I have the same 1 3/8 shafts and they have been holding up well. I am looking at some Mercedez Benz 320Hp http://www.megatechpower.com.br I already have a qoute and I asked them if I could pay them a visit to check out their facility and look at some engines in operation. Sincerely, Mike Kohlhofer quote:Originally posted by sbeer Mike I bought the boat with the cats already in. I am running 1.53 zf220a trans with a 21 x 23 1/2 prop with a #3 cup. The shafts are 1 3/8 and have been on the boat as long as I have had it. Alittle scary, would rather have 1 1/2 or 1 3/4 would be even better, but as long as you don't try and run up the back of 6 ft. swells I havent had a problem. Own the boat almost 5 yrs now and she runs like the first day I took her out,[ knock on wood ]. I cruise at 23to 24 knots. Fully loaded its about 22knots at 2350 rpm. I don't run the boat above 2400 although Cat says that 2500 is O.K. Good luck, Mikequote:Originally posted by mak6190 Hello Mike, With the 320hps, are you: Using the same props with diffrent pitch ? What are you using 3 or 4 blade? How about the Shafts ? What about the transmission ? What is you new cruise speed ? Sincerely, Mike Kohlhofer quote:Originally posted by sbeer Gary, Welcome aboard. You have very good taste in boats. What H.P are the cats. I have the 320 hp in mine and I get about a gallon per mile at 2400 rpm. I never run it higher. Good luck with the new set-up. Mike Mike Lawrence 81 sportfish 33' shot'n'beer [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... N_Beer.JPG[/img] Mike Lawrence 81 sportfish 33' shot'n'beer [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... N_Beer.JPG[/img]