Shutting down No 1 engine to increase endurance

[ConwayB]

Hello all,

I may be doing some prawn spotting soon in an O-2A which requires maximum endurance on full tanks. This led me to wonder about a technique that tuna spotters used in their operations in South Australia, namely shutting down the front engine and cruising on the rear engine.

Flight times of 8 hours and more were commonplace and, when time is money, that was quite lucrative.

However, I am the owner/operator of my aircraft - unlike the tuna spotters - and I have ABSOLUTELY NO INTENTION of deliberately shutting down a perfectly serviceable engine during the proposed prawn spotting... but it led me to wonder if there are any 337/O-2 drivers who have experience in this technique to increase endurance? What were your fuel flows and endurance figures and airspeeds? What detrimental affects did it have on the aircraft?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers

Conway