I must say I'm impressed with the ranger!

My mods that would/might effect milage:
Crank underdrive pulley, X-cal 2 w/tune from Henson performance, e-fan, K&N FIPK kit, homemade air box, Magnaflow after cat, mobil 1 10w-30 full synthetic oil, and all tires inflated to 33psi.
Gasoline brands varied from Speedway 92, shell 93, Amoco 93, & BP 93.
(93 octane tune used)

With 4 people on board (three adults 1 child), approx 150lbs in the bed and a 3200-ish lb 18ft boat and trailer we averaged 15.36mpg towing from Mich to east Tenn and back. That covered 1200 miles of towing at 65mph when possible in 5th gear. I went down into 4th and kept the rpms up between 2500-3000 when the hills required it.

We were down there for 2 weeks and towed the boat to the river 5 times (16miles one way). Plus all the daily driving that is the norm for a family of four stuck in a little ranger. The whole trip averaged 16.65mpg! Used a total of 123.8 gallons at a cost of $485

IMO that's pretty good compaired to three years ago when we took our V8 mountianeer. On that trip we only averaged 13.3mpg.

Impressive considering the weight & conditions if you ask me.


Regards,
Rich

 

very nice .... biggest ive towed with my 2.5l is a 5x8 uhaul enclosed trailer filled with **** and was getting 17 - 18

 

Nice boat, what kind is it?
We have a Four Winns 20ft bowrider.
Towing it with my dad's Tahoe averaged 17mpg on the highway. It is about 4000lbs with the trailer.
However the boat itself is no where near as fuel efficient. It has a ford 5.0 EFI engine and a 35 gal tank. We could easily burn the whole tank in a day but we try to limit it to half a tank.

 

I was watching the scanguage like a hungry hawk. It simply does it's best with lower rpms. Even if that means you gotta put your foot into it just to the point where it's almost going to kick down. It's still better like that than dropping a gear. Under those conditions I'd be at 55% throttle and 95% load.
Usually it would be getting 12.xmpg like that. And if I dropped into 4th and let the tq convertor get back into lock up.. the mpg would be in the single digits.

No doubt about it. Rpms was the number one killer for milage on this trip.

Rich

 

It's a 2004 bayliner 185. Has the 4.3L V6 and is actually very good on gas.
On this trip we went from the chilhowee dam all the way to the Lenior city dam, and back! Then tubed and tubed until we couldn't stand anymore. In all I used 27 gallons in the boat.
(I have a 19 pitch prop and a 23 pitch prop. I swap them out depending on if we are crusing or tubing)

Rich

 

Not sure what what the pitch is on our prop, maybe 21, it is a three blade stainless. Tops out at about 50 to 51 mph with like two people in the boat. Tubing eats up alot of gas but I am more into wakeboarding.

Gas at the marinas is real expensive now, $2.58 ...
per half gallon! LOL The pumps dont go above 4.00 a gallon.
We just carry jugs of gas to the boat.
My boat needs at least midgrade gasoline BTW.

 

I never put marina gas in mine. I store the boat in my yard and only keep about a 1/4 tank in it. I just throw 5 gallons in it every time I go out. That's just about what we use each time so it works out pretty well. Plus we don't have to lug around a full tank all the time. Makes for jumping up on plane quicker and consumes a slightly less amount of fuel because of the lower weight.

Rich

 

I see what you mean by not keeping it full. We just keep the boat docked all the time. With the 5.0 and hull design the boat plains very quicly. I don't know if you have the ethanol in your gasoline but for long term storage you should keep the tank empty or full. That ethanol just absorbs water from the air like a sponge. Be glad its not a fiberglass tank.

Anyway I dont see my ranger getting anywhere near that fuel economy towing a boat.
I could really use an Xcal 2.

 

I towed our 17' boat from Phoenix up to Southern Utah. My mileage was 8.5 MPG to get up the hills from Phoenix to Flagstaff. I filled up there and I got 8.5 MPG. Then from there the hills weren't so bad I was able to get 13 MPG. I was pissed getting 8.5 MPG. On the way home I had my dad tow the boat with his F-150. I got 22 MPG on the way home with 2 people and probably 200lbs of extra gear/weight.

 

Not bad Rich! Your definitely right about the RPMs. Last trip I took with a trailer we only averaged 10, but we were in a hurry.

 

Man Thats Spectacular Compared To Mine, I Average About 13.5 When Towing. By The Way, Where Did You Get That Bar On The Front?

 

I avg 12mpg while towing :(

 

I am assuming a 4.0 right? I killed my 3.0 while I was towing a 6x12 U-Haul trailer from central Maryland to southern Arizona. The engine crapped out while in New Mexico...about 150 miles from Tucson...WTF??!

Anyway, my problem was my 20" wheels, 89 octane performance tune fromthe X-Cal 2, and too much weight. Either way, I put in a new engine within 2 months.....again a 3.0L (I obviously didn't learn my lesson)

Long story short, I averaged about 12-13mpg each day.

 

This weekend we went canoing and instead of using a truck we tried towing our 6X10 foot trailer with my brother's escort. it does pretty good considering the size and weight of the trailer. the escort could fit in the trailer if it wasn't for the wheel wells. lots of funny looks but it gets good mileage! btw the escort probably gets 35mpg while towing.

 

i think i read your thread on RPS?

when my motor goes, it's getting a 4.0 for sure.

 

The bar on the front is a Westin bull bar. Bought it from one of the R-F vendors. Not sure which one it was though..?

I suspect more than anything else I owe the good milage to the X-cal and crank underdrive pulley. All the other stuff I think helps.. but only to a small degree.

Driving technique of coarse being the number one thing a fella could do.

Rich

 

Yep, that was me. I got some help from another member on RPS. He offered his garage, tools, and experience while we did the transplant. Of course, I bought him some beer, and he kept the block from the broken 3.0L. He was thinking about a stroked 3.0L + turbo, but I think he changed his mind to stroked 4.0L + turbo after finding one in Phoenix for $1,000 with 19 miles on it and all accessories.

 

ha i wish i could get that good of mpg im lucky to get 16 without a trailer taking it easy
nice boat i have a four winns 195 sundowner with the ford 5.0 carburated engine
how does your boat only weigh 4000 mine weighs close to 6000 empty we fried our tranny in our old (97) 1500 suburban towing the boat but our 03 2500 suburban tows like a champ but only gets 13-14 mpg towing thanks to the 6.0L engine

 

I thought it was 4000 lbs, not sure now. The Tahoe has a 5.3L v8.
5.0 EFI FTW.

 

5.0 carburated FTL haha

 

I got 16.5 mpg pulling my 16' aluminum fishing boat. I'm sure it weighs only half of what your boat does. Still, with all the hills I was running I locked OD out so RPM's were kinda high. If you can keep it around 55-60 mph it uses alot less gas.

I somestimes avoid the interstate and drive 2-lane hyways for that reason. Saves gas, as long as you are not in the big yank.

BTW....my truck is stock.

 

I got 13mpg with our popup camper loaded into a 15-20 mph head wind. As for speed it was around 60-65 mph, but on the way home I was tired and wanted to get home I was running 70-75 and got 10mpg into the wind and raining