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Right engine rpm

Define cruising speed?
Depends on hull design, displacement or planing hull, fuel capacity and what degree the throttle plates are open.
 
26' cruisers deep v hull with twin 350 this thing will do over 40 mph wot. But some times we run for 3 hours and if run at 3500 rpms the speed is around 30mph
 
In my experience, Once up on plane,backing off throttles as much as possible but staying on plane was usually best and most economical RPMS 2400-3000
 
There is a decal on recent (last 10 years at least) manufactured engines on the top of the flame arrestor on the engine. It specifies the maximum wide open throttle RPMs for that particular engine. With a 3/4 to full tank of gas, your normal load of people and equipment, fresh gas, a recent tuneup, your boat should rev up to within that RPM range. Your "cruise" RPMs should be no higher that 80% of your observed max RPMs for decent engine life. Better engine life if limited to 75% or lower. On my 5.7MIE, I limit cruise RPMs to 3300 to 3500 RPMS. In reality, the boat moves along quite nicely at decent fuel burn @ 2500 to 2800 RPMs which is a very comfortable ride in the often choppy waters of Barnegat Bay.
 
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