I'm seriously considering purchasing a 1995 Carver 430 MY with twin cummins Diamond-B 6BTA5.9M-2. Testimonials/Reviews? Can anyone fill me in on the most efficient cruising speed and/or RPM's? MPG/GPH? Cheers, Brian
Brian, We have just (actually yesterday) completed the purchase of a 92' Carver 430 MY with the twin Cummins 6BTA's so I hope you complete your purchase and we can share notes. It was a repo so there is a lot of repair and deferred maintenance we are going to do over the next few months. Our boat, we have named it the HameWith B, is on Lake Chickamauga on the TennTom waterway and our intention is to cruise locally until the season is right and then begin the Great Loop around the first of October. Good luck with your purchase. Leonard and Betty
Brian, the most efficient would be at idle where you would be getting 3 to 4 NMPG. As you powered up to 8 knts your efficiency would drop to 1.5 to 2 NMPG. At 9 kts you drop to around 1 NMPG and it would drop further to around .6 NMPG at higher speeds. Most people cruise at 8 kts to achieve a reasonable speed and efficiency. The 6 bta are sweet engines.
I doubt the OP is going to reply as the thread is 12 years old idle speed is lousy speed with diesels as they will run cold. Best speed with pretty much any diesel (or any boat for that matter) is hull speed at which usually the engines will run hot enough. On a 43 LOA, figure 39 LWL... hull speed will by 8.1 kts. On a 43 footer you should be getting 1.5 to 1.7 nmpg