More Time on the Water: Fuel-Saving Tech For Your Boat
4 Outboard fuel-saving technologies to boost your boat’s fuel economy, plus: drag-efficient boat hull designs
Outboard fuel consumption and boat fuel economy is becoming more important than ever. The Market Research Report Search Engine says that in April 2019 more companies were researching more efficient marine propulsion systems than ever before. And, at the recent Dubai Boat Show, nearly 40% of some of the top new boats unveiled are aimed at slashing boat fuel consumption drastically in the next few years.
And it makes sense. South Africa is still reeling from an early April 2019 fuel price increase that had associations petitioning government to step in and try to stay further increases. But that’s not going to happen soon, as the fuel price goes up again in May 2019.
So, we looked at 4 technologies from Suzuki that boost your outboard and boat’s fuel economy, while giving you max power output. We also show you a few fuel-efficient Suzuki outboards and look at drag-efficient boat hull types that boost fuel economy without sacrificing power.
4 SUZUKI TECHNOLOGIES FOR OUTBOARD FUEL ECONOMY
SUZUKI LEAN BURN
It’s like an intelligent “brain” inside every new Suzuki outboard. A central control unit inside the outboard that constantly measures your speed, acceleration and the conditions in and around the motor, and then automatically adjusts the fuel-air intake ratio, to give you maximum efficiency. It can boost your boat’s fuel economy by up to 42% and most Suzuki engines come standard with this tech.
See what the engineers who designed it have to say about Suzuki Lean Burn.
VARIABLE VALVE TIMING
An intelligent design in the outboard’s camshaft allows the engine to delay or speed up the time intervals between fuel/air intake and outlet to automatically adjust the outboard’s performance at various speeds. This tech lets the engine “modify” valve timing to give you better torque at low speeds or more horsepower during higher speeds – boosting both performance and fuel economy in all outboards over 150hp with Suzuki’s variable valve timing.
MULTI-STAGE INDUCTION
Engineers discovered that you can maximise an engine’s performance and fuel economy at the same time by controlling how the air is fed to the motor. At lower RPM, when you’re trolling or cruising, you want more torque, which needs a precise amount of air that’s been sped up. At higher RPM, you want horsepower, which needs large-volume free-flowing air directly fed into the chamber. Suzuki engineers have developed a system that does this automatically, upping performance and fuel economy. See how it works in outboards over 150hp with Suzuki multi-stage induction.
THE ULTIMATE OUTBOARD OIL: ECSTAR BY SUZUKI
It took Suzuki 35 years to develop the ultimate motor oil for higher performance and fuel economy in its engines. They started testing it on Suzuki racing bikes in the MotoGP a few years back. Now, after three top-5 finishes in the last four MotoGP races, Suzuki has brought that fuel-saving technology to its outboard motors. See just how you can boost your boat’s performance and save fuel by using all-new Ecstar Marine Outboard Oil.
BONUS: YOUR OUTBOARD DOUBLES AS A TROLLING MOTOR
To make sure things stay fuel efficient and save you money by removing the need to buy a separate motor, Suzuki incorporated a built-in trolling motor mode into its outboards. See which Suzuki outboards now also double as a trolling motor.
FUEL ECONOMY: HOW MUCH YOU SAVE WITH THIS SUZUKI TECH
You’ll save roughly this amount of fuel just by switching to these Suzuki outboards alone:
16% less fuel consumption on the Suzuki DF20 and DF30
42% less fuel consumption on the Suzuki DF40 and DF50
45% less fuel consumption on the Suzuki DF60
14% less fuel consumption on the Suzuki DF70, DF90, DF100, DF115A and DF140A. Plus: check out the all-new Suzuki DF140BG!
15% less fuel consumption on the Suzuki DF150, including the new Suzuki DF150A outboards
16% less fuel consumption on the Suzuki DF175
19% less fuel consumption on the Suzuki DF200
14% less fuel consumption on the Suzuki DF250 and DF300
Check out all our Suzuki outboards.
PLUS: UNIQUE FUEL-SAVING BOAT HULL DESIGNS
POWERED CATAMARAN HULLS
Using updated dual-sponson designs to the original catamarans, today’s powered catamarans overcome the drag that you get with a traditional mono-hull boat (single hull) to give you better performance while saving you fuel (you can run them more efficiently off smaller engines).
But where the old-school catamarans were built quite flimsy, today’s powered cats are built to withstand even the toughest ocean conditions. Discover three awesome new powered cats in the CarryCat 670, the larger-feel CarryCat 740 and the much bigger-build CarryCat 760.
CATHEDRAL HULLS
A mix between the normal mono-hull boat and a cat design, the cathedral hull has a much shallower central hull, with two stabilising sponsons. The result – usually boosted by being made from very buoyant materials – is a boat with a very shallow waterline that almost strides across the water, saving you fuel in the long run.
It’s been put to great use in the utility boats – you can use them as riverboats, bass boats, on a lake, in estuaries or even take the larger versions out to sea – in the Bandit 380, its bigger sister, the Bandit 410 and the bigger, two-engined Bandit 490.
Check out all our custom-built new boats for sale.
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Also discover the performance and fuel-saving benefits you get from Suzukis when we repowered hard-working science research vessel uKwabelana and check out the new Suzuki DF80s on Zee Koets.
Plus: See all out recent boat and outboard repowers and get all the info you need under our section on boat repower, and see why choose Suzuki outboards.
PS: See how the planet while fishing with the new Suzuki MicroPlastic Collection Device.
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