Floscan

[Bill McIntyre]

I already asked this in the CA forum in a thread about radio coverage at an offshore bank, but I know that many people don't read it, so I'm trying to maximize coverage.

My Christmas present (and birthday present and July 4th present) is a Floscan 9000 series, the one that gets input from the GPS so that you get an instantaneous readout of nautical miles per gallon. Since I'm spending the off season with surgically screwed up shoulders and would have a hard time doing it myself, I'm getting it professionally installed so that it will be ready to go when I'm ready to go diving. The installation will cost almost as much as the instrument, but at least it will probably be done better than I would have done it, even if I were sound.

So anyway, how much will this thing help? If you believe the testimonials, I'll be able to pick just the right speed for the conditions and load. For instance, when I'm pounding into rough seas at 15 knots, I'm always wondering if I should use the trim tabs to get the bow down, or not. I'm always wondering if I should trim the outdrive in or out just a bit. And recently, I went a couple of trips burning more gas than I thought I should have before finding I had a slight bend in a prop.

As it is now, I know that on a very nice day with a relatively light load, overall mileage can be as high as 2 nmpg, but that includes all the gas burnt launching, recovering, anchoring, live boating, etc. so there is no way to know what mileage I'm getting while actually cruising on plane.

So if anyone has one, I'd appreciate knowing how much it will help. At the very least, just having the totalizer to let me know exactly how many gallons I've burned will be great, but I'm hoping for a lot more.

[SEATUX]

I installed one on my previous boat, it was great. There is and adjustment on the back so you can tweak it to be right on the money. It is an instantaneous readout so as you change the way you trim or drive it tells you if you’re using more or less fuel. Forget the gas tank gauge, now you will know exactly how much fuel you have left. I wanted to put it on my present boat, but with twin diesels it not only cost more that I could ever save but wasn’t available in the dual gauge that was available for the twin gas units.

[Mobile Diver]

I have Floscans on my boat & love them. It is impossible to say how much fuel you will save in any given situation, but you will learn a lot about how sea state, load, load distribution, trim, etc affect your mileage. Also, you can spot engine problems you would not notice otherwise.

[Polystigma]

I also installed a floscan system on my boat. I have the K series I believe, which is for diesels. My father and I were amazed with it and always knew exactly how much fuel we had. The totalizer at the end of the trip is great. Installation was a nightmare! But I would still have done it myself than pay someone so much money to do it.

[Bill McIntyre]

Just so everyone understands- I intalled two different Floscans on the previous boat that I had for 24 years, and as long as I could keep them running, the totalizer was always within a gallon of the amount of gas I put in the boat to fill it up, so I am very familiar with the benefits of the totalizer.

But besides the fact that I couldn't keep them running, they were the old style that just read out in gallons per hour, and since that was before I even had a LORAN to give me speed, I couldn't even do my own math to get nmpg. So while I will surely welcome knowing exactly how much gas I've burned, what I am really wanting to know if whether I will easily see differences in mileage with changes in trim tabs, load distribution and speed.

And of course it will be nice if it lasts longer than my other ones did. I had a wet bilge in that boat though, so I'm hoping the dry bilge in my present boat will be less of a challange.

And Poly- if the installation makes it last and work better than my installations did, then the money will be well spent.

[Mobile Diver]

Bill,

I have had to replace sensors a couple of times in 1600 hours, but you should get pretty good service. As to the mileage readout, it is very responsive. Updates as often as your GPS updates its speed. After some use you will notice what changes will affect your mileage.

[The Collector]

I only have 2 trips on mine but I am definately learning tab, trim, and throttle settings in changing sea conditions. I think I may be able to gain 10-15% in nm/gal and that will become alot of $$ with the amount of miles we travel to fish. I am glad I installed it in my recent refit.

[JGrant]

Bill,

to know your mpg just divide your speed by the g/h on the floscan. that gives you your present mpg at that rpm. right????