Range question 69 20' & 97 200 OX66

[Fr. Frank]

Depending on the year, model, and options, the 20' could have an 18 gallon tank, a 27 gallon tank, a 40 gallon tank, a 70 gallon tank, or a 110 gallon tank.

My Seafari came with a 27 gallon (usable) tank. For long offshore trips I carry 24 gallons extra fuel in portable tanks on the deck, and burn that first. I have gone as much as 112 miles offshore this way, from Crystal River to the Florida Middle Grounds in the Gulf of Mexico. I burned just under 48 gallons of fuel round trip with my 90 Optimax. When I made the same trip earlier with my Mercury XR4 150, I burned 71 gallons. Back then I took two 30 gallon drums of extra fuel along, and lashed them to the foredeck/cabin roof when they became emptied.

I never, however, would attempt such a trip alone, without accompanying vessels.

The fewest boats with which I have made a trip to the Middle Grounds is 2 others, and I had the smallest boat. On that trip the others were a 23' Seacraft Tsunami and a 30' Cruisers Express. My buddy on the Tsunami ended up towing the Cruisers for the last 20 miles when he ran out of fuel. (The Cruisers had a 7.4L 300hp Volvo-Penta duo-prop with 130 gallon tank, and the Tsunami had a 110 gallon tank and a single Evinrude 225.)