2kwik4u
Jetboaters Fleet Admiral
- Messages
- 7,720
- Reaction score
- 10,223
- Points
- 577
- Location
- Buffalo, NY
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2017
- Boat Model
- AR
- Boat Length
- 19
Part of the reason they get good mileage is by finding ways to make buttloads of torque/HP. Takes less energy/power/RPM's to make them move/get going. Same thing while towing. If you're having to wring out your motor at 6k RPMs to tow a boat you'll burn way more fuel than I will at 1900 rpms cause I have gobs of torque at my disposal.
The problem with a turbo motor and towing is keeping the EGT's (and chamber temps in general) at a manageable level. To combat this, you'll see the AFR's run pretty rich by performance standards. You aren't using the fuel to make more go, you're using to to keep the cylinders from melting themselves.
In an otherwise performance only applications, that kind of loading isn't sustained for very long because you end up well over legal speeds. Add an uphill and a 5k lb trailer and suddenly you have extended periods of boost application, and even the best intercoolers can't keep the combustion temps down. Also, keep in mind that power comes from air not fuel, and if you're running 14.7psi (gage pressure) of boost on a 3.5L, you're effectively pumping 7.0L worth of normally aspirated air mass through the engine. You only gain your efficiencies when you're out of boost and only running on 3.5L of air being pumped (downhills, steady state are mid power levels, etc).
I would love to see someone really lean on an ecoboost when towing, HOWEVER use water or methanol injection, and keep the AFR at a more reasonable level. I would wager your fuel economy would rise to be more inline with what you would expect the displacement to reflect.