Carver Owners Forum

Newbie question: I've recently acquired a 1989 Carver 3207 (aft cabin) powered by twin Crusader 350s. What is the estimated planing speed for this boat? It cruises nicely at 8 knots and can do ~25 knots at 4,000 rpm. But at top speed I can sit there and watch the fuel gauges drop! At what speed can I first go up on plane before watching my fuel consumption go through the roof?

My brother used to have that same boat. Seems he ran it in the 18-19 mph range and got decent mileage at that speed.

I hope 4000 RPM's isn't your top speed. Those engines should be running in the 44-4500 range WOT.

Once you get up on plane, depending on conditions and load, you can probably back down to 12-14 and stay on plane and cruise economically. We do this all the time when we're not trying to get somewhere. Your economy won't double, but it will improve a bit. All depends on if you're measuring by GPH or MPG and which is more important at the time.

km1125 wrote:Source of the post All depends on if you're measuring by GPH or MPG and which is more important at the time.

Good point. We had a gas powered 4207. St Joe to Chicago and back was a good 4 hours one way.
PV will do it in about an hour at a nice cruise speed-50mph. Total trip fuel burn was about the same.

buster53 wrote:Source of the post I hope 4000 RPM's isn't your top speed. Those engines should be running in the 44-4500 range WOT.

Depends on the engines. I have 270 Crusaders in my 3007. WOT is 4000 RPM. I either cruise slow 8 to 9 MPH or up on plane at 16 to 19 MPH. 3100 RPM gets me around 18 MPH under most conditions. In my case the engine manuals came with the boat and it states that 4000 RPM is WOT.

[quote="jdonovan43"]Source of the post Newbie question: I've recently acquired a 1989 Carver 3207 (aft cabin) powered by twin Crusader 350s. What is the estimated planing speed for this boat? It cruises nicely at 8 knots and can do ~25 knots at 4,000 rpm. But at top speed I can sit there and watch the fuel gauges drop! At what speed can I first go up on plane before watching my fuel consumption go through the roof?[/quote

It appears that your performance numbers are close to mine. I have an 81 3007 Aft Cabin. I have twin 270 Crusaders (350's) 4000 RPM is my WOT and it tops out at 25 to 26 MPH at that setting. I cruise generally at around 3000 to 3100 RPM and in the 16 to 18 MPH range.