twins or single outboards

[daffy]

Would anyone out there know approx the difference in fuel consumption between say a pair of 90hp efi and say a 175hp efi i know the motors these days are suppose to have no problems or that is what i have been told but i would feel more comfortable with two than one offshore if the petrol costs are not to excessive regards daffy

[NQCairns]

Hi Daffy I suspect that todays extra reliability claims are just good marketing. Although you would expect a new motor today to be as reliable as any over the last 40 years.

I cannot guess at how much 2 90s would use in fuel but if you do go comparing consider that any V4 will use more fuel than the same HP 3 cyl.

I would suspect that if comparing to a single 175 then 2 70s would probably work ok also and be quite fuel efficient. Worth checking out anyway. cheers nq

[QldKev]

There was a discussion here about a year (maybe more) about twin outboards. From memory most people elected for single otherwise your up for twice the maintenance, 2 lots of chances for problems etc

[basserman]

yeh kev your right there however i would think they might be a bit more efficent how much i can't say however youwould also need less HP for a twin set up mainly becasue you have extra prop in the water doing the work hence my thought that less HP would be needed and would be more efficent
but you will need to weigh up how much saveings you would make there apposied to the twin service and the inatail cost of fitup
next soultion if you was really worried would be to have a axilaury motor ;)

[Mantaray]

Plus 10%

[dfox]

Daffy- The issue here is fuel burn against safety...
But heres some points to concider...
For starters twin 90s are going to wiegh more on the transom and have two gearboxes creating drag, a single engine would work out lighter and less drag.
In general a single outboard of equal power will usually out perform duel engines for speed, but the duel setup usually has more torque.
The cost of a duel setup would cost more to purchase and service.
Theres every chance that the duel engines will use more fuel.
You can always run on a single engine while sounding or trolling.
If you fish areas that are remote and well away from vmr and coastguard units the twin motors give a larger saftey margin.
Simularly if your generally in radio contact with a vmr why bother with duel engines.
There many reasons for and against its just a mater of your desired use of the vessel. If saftey is the main issue and you can afford duel engines on a hull that will handle this setup fuel usuage isnt a major issue.
Its a hard question to answer but i hope ive pointed out a few things to think about...foxy