How often do sailboaters run their engines?
This seems to vary a great deal, depending as much on the energy requirements of the equipment being used as wind conditions themselves. In This Old Boat, it is said that the typical refrigeration unit requires about two hours of engine time a day, and other power-eating items might even add a bit to that. Jere Lull writes: We run as a powerboat probably a couple of hours a day on average this year. We put 60 hours on the clock during a nearly 3-week trip this year, but that was because we didn’t feel like working. With the previous boat, we didn’t use the engine 6 hours in a 6-month season! Sailed to and from the mooring. We’re also running under autopilot for the first year and that chews up some battery, so we spend more time on the motor simply to ensure the batteries stay fully charged. Sail: Rigs The simplest rig is the cat, which has just a single mainsail. This is generally used on small boats and not at all by cruisers. The most common type of rig is the sloop, with a smaller
