Went for a run on a local 2 million dollar Riv 47 yesterday had twin 1000 hp Cats a 10 year old boat with fully enclosed fly bridge Basicly a Gin palace! I remarked that I would love it as my home the Care taker (that I'm reliving for a year) said yes but look at the fuel burn! 200 litres per hour! Dam I shut my mouth!
Oh and I do want a Cat! A black one and I will call it Trim ! Cheaper than a wife yes?
yep, not sort of thing to chug out on to catch a snapper or two is it ? 200 ltrs p/h say $300 p/h...... 1/2 hr out catch a couple pinkies say 2 kg total back home = $150 per kilo .
good fun though !!
Yep and yep.....doesn't even sleep on it for some reason! Has 3x Island queen beds with on suites! Ilike I said it's just Gin Palace!
Yeah, had to wait at the fuel dock the other day to fill my 2 x 20L containers with diesel while a Riv was taking on board 6,000 litres. I'll never use that much in a life time. Glad I have a sail boat.
If I ever had cause to own a motor boat that needed 200 or more horsepower I would be happy if the engine/s were Caterpillars.
i run 2 c12 cats on my riv 48. they are good honest engines. at idle she does 6.9 knots burning a total of 11 litres per hour. at 1800 revs she does 18-19 knots burning 175 litres per hour. at 2300 revs we can do 28 knots but we're burning 240-250 litres an hour. Suffice to say in enclosed and calm waters 6.9 knots is my favourite speed.
Select to expand quotesameh said..
Suffice to say in enclosed and calm waters 6.9 knots is my favourite speed.
If you do too much of that you are going to glaze the bores. Do you do any single engine cruising?? She should handle that OK.
shes got troll valves for low speed work, but in reality in all but river conditions the 48 riv hull is terrible at displacement speeds. They are particularly nose heavy especially with a 4 metre rib on the nose. they are ponderous and very wet at low speed. In any kind of sea they need to get on the plane to perform. at 13 knots and above they are a very good albeit very wet seaboat. I dont run one engine normally because the steering becomes too difficult. I did run her on one engine from Jurien to Geraldton on the way to the abrohlos islands after an electrical fault shut down the starboard engine. We averaged 12 knots but it was a pig to steer. So much so that the auto pilot couldnt cope. they really need both engines to work properly in any kind of sea.
Well remind me not to buy a Riviera 48 then. 
A mate of mine has this classic Moreton Bay cruiser which is a "Flemming 40". Flemming was a contemporary of the Wright brothers in Brisbane who were legends in timber boat building.
Tarana is not an open sea boat but we took her from Bundaberg down to Brisbane and copped a bit of a blow on the way to Hervey Bay.
She handled it quite OK when we pulled back on the throttle a bit to stop her pounding. With that lovely flared bow I think she will handle most seas if directed into it and throttled back as appropriate.
After the morning blow in Hervey Bay we took her down the Great Sandy Straits and out over the Wide Bay bar the next morning and continued through to the Brisbane River, anchoring there about 9 pm that night. So it was a two day trip, one night anchored on the way.
She is powered with a 6 cyl Perkins, about 3 or 4 litres displacement and turbo charged which pushes her along quite comfortably at eight and a half knots with a bit more available in reserve. We did hit 12 knots coming through Spitfire Passage off Bribie Island with the tidal stream.
As you can see, there is not a lot of her in the water and John has since had the rear roof lightened down and dropped to wheelhouse height, a definite improvement.
I really love this boat. She is a beautiful thing.
