www.iFourWinns.com

Looking at the 378 after initially thinking about the 358. What kind of mileage do you see in the 378 with either gas v-drives or diesels with v-drives or IPS? The diesel IPS adds a lot to the cost and if I want a 1 or 2 year old boat, then most of them seem to be 8.1 v-drives. I am really trying to gage what the mileage will be in calm water at a 25 knot cruising speed. Thanks.

No offense intended but with a vessel of that size, with 8.1's..... does it really matter.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but you're probably in the range of 1 mile / gallon... or less.
My 298 with 5.0's gets I think between 1 - 2 miles per gal at cruise.

_________________

"ROCKHOUND"
2005 Vista 298
Georgian Bay, Ontario.

You can review these two sites for information.

http://www.boattest.com/boats/591/test_results.aspx

http://www.fourwinns.net/fastfacts/fast ... 7/378V.pdf

I'm giving my kids oars this summer.

_________________
Jnizi

2007 Vista 338 "Better Yet"
Previously:
2007 Vista 258 " Just Right"
2005 Horizon 230

So there it is... based on the FW info, the 378 with 8.1's @ 3500rpm (24mph) will get 'in a perfect world'...
.857 miles per gallon. OUCH!
Depending on load and conditions it's probably more like 1/2 mile per gallon.

_________________

"ROCKHOUND"
2005 Vista 298
Georgian Bay, Ontario.

I own a 2004 378 Vista the 8.1 SHO Mercruisers V-Drives. At the speed your asking about, the mileage is usually about .7 mpg. THe fuel burn is around 34 gph. This is measured on a Mercury Smartcraft. The mileage doesn't change much as the speed increases, but the fuel flow sure does, at WOT (around 37-38 MPH) I burn 66 gph.

_________________
Jerry
2004 378 Vista "Escapade", T-Mercruiser 8.1 SHO
2003 Maxum 3300SE
1987 Wellcraft San Tropez
1991 Chaparral 2550SX
1987 Bayliner 2150
!967 Caravelle 1751

All of these things are REALLY thirsty. But even if gas was $8/gallon, it would still be cheaper than cost of capital and depreciation of a boat like these.

Real cost of owning a new 378 (going 100-150 hrs) is somewhere around $35-40K per year. An extra 50 hrs of cruising adds about $5000-6000 including gas and oil. An extra 10-15%. Do the math...

If you have to ask, you can't afford it...

When you buy the best you only cry once....

Life's short, then you die...

Daddy warned me to never play with toys I couldn't afford...

_________________
2004 Sea Ray 420DB
Formerly: 2005 348 Vista

When we brought our 04 378 home last year from Long Island,NY to Philadelphia we burned 29 gallons an hour at 3500 rpm and 24 mph. We have the 8.1, 375 hp volvos .

Thanks for the input, it sounds like the published Four Winns numbers are pretty accurate. We currently have a 280 Sundancer and trailer it to FL and do a couple of 1 week trips to the Bahamas each summer and a couple trips to Ocean City MD as well plus the usual weekends. So we want a larger boat we can spend a week at a time more comfortably that will also ride well offshore. It needs to be fairly new as I dont want a lot of mechanical issues far from home. Since the 378 is not easily transported over land I would have to take it down to FL in the water each summer for a couple of months. If we go that route and are putting 3000 miles on the boat each year, fuel and cruising speed become a real issue.

I test drove a 378 with diesels and IPS drives and it is absolutely awesome. Fast and fuel efficient. I really wanted a 1 to 3 year old boat as the depreciation the first couple of years is pretty dramatic. And the added cost of a new boat with diesel/IPS really drives the price up. But the 378 is a reasonably heavy boat, seems to have a nice ride, good build quality and a nice layout in the cabin and on the deck.

I guess at the end of the day, the question needs to be asked: "Can I afford this boat" and that includes not only the monthly payment but also the monthly fuel useage, the monthly slip fees and all the upkeep required on a vessel of that size. I could easily see a 378 costing an owner 5-6 thousand per month. That's stuff for rich folk, I'll stick with my teeny weeny 248 because I can afford to fuel it. I could swing the payment on a 378 and that would be about it!

_________________
Brett DiMichele