Trying to choose my new boat

[skip]

Benri,

Glad to hear you are in the water and happy with your set up. 35Litres for that combined trip is very impressive especially with the engine being new. Can you give us some idea of what speed/rpm you were running when cruising? Also at what rpm do you troll to get approx what speed.

Mr. Suzuki Charlot will be very happy

I definately think you went down the right route with that extra power on the boat and good to hear that even with the two tanks at the rear and people you have no distribution issues. Hopefully when you add the weight of the bracket and the aux engine you will still be good.

Nice to know aye you can be out in a Force 4 and still feel at ease

[shanook]

Well done benri now dont be nasty and come rushing by me to rock me from sise to side eh....... Very impressive fuel economy, these new engines are making miracles.....
Now u need to catch the first fish and that way u would have baptised it. So if u were happy in force 4 u now know the trick of catching lampuki thats the time to go on the fads as u will be alone.

[fishfinder]

Hello Benri,

I knew you would be happy with that Suzuki but I have to admit that you've impressed me as well by using only 35ltrs all that way including 7hrs trolling.

I wish you all the best and I hope that it will bring you luck and nice fish.

10hrs more and the running in is ready but I hope that Domnic told you not to exceed 4000RPM before the first service.

good luck  

[benri]

Thanks to all. Yes he told me Fishfinder... But I read the manual and you can speed up for a short time to get the boat on a plane, etc. and it also says that you can use full throttle for up to 5 mins (after 2 hours)
I was mostly between 3700-4000 revs while cruising but I'm not sure of the revs while trolling. I didn't record the speed though as I don't have a GPS installed yet. Hopefully on Monday I'll use the handheld and give you more accurate information. What is really impressive is the slow running! People told me before I bought it that it would be excellent for trolling but believe me, you have to try it to get the feeling.
Now all we need is the fish but until next monday I'll have to keep the wife and kids happy in gozo and comino (they deserve it) and shoot off for lampuki on Tuesday!

[busumark]

benri now when you catch a fish bring it in the boat and dont worry if you dirty the boat. the most important thing is that it doesnt escape. you can clean afterwards. what do you think shanook he can take me with him i wont dirty his boat

[shanook]

yes i can vouch for Busu he keeps the boat very clean especially when he is cutting bait like klamari and tumbrell. And the bait box it has a particular aroma when he opens it ah tiftahlek l'aptit.
No busu is very practical he does what has to be done at the right time.
I will give u a call Tuesday I might go for a bit of tal Qieh serran, pagell, pagri etc. so not far off. Namlu naqra aljotta

[rob1974]

Hi Benri,

Just a couple of questions:
Max Speed?
Cruising Speed/revs?
Minimum speed?
Can we see a couple of pics of your baby?

Tight lines


Rob

[benri]

Hi rob
Re. Max. speed - I never managed to measure yet as my GPS is a small handheld unit and the few times I try full throttle it always ends up flying to the end of the boat while everbody is holding tight reluctant to fetch it!!!  I don't want a permanent fix for it as hopefullly for next season I'll get a good fixed unit.
The boat cruises comfortably on a plane at around 17-18 knots. At 4000 rpm she's cruising at 21 knots and for trolling at 1800 rpm she's between 5.5-6 knots.
I haven't taken any pics as yet but should eventually take a couple and post them.

[skip]

Brian, I have the perfect answer to the picture problem that I have as well! We go out as two boats with a video camera and a digi camera and use one boat as a chase boat taking pictures and then swap over. I'm sure I can convince my gf as she's good with camera's if you're interested!

Whatever GPS head unit you opt for, make sure it has NMEA 2000 functionality and that you can get (if interested) the necessary harness to interface with your engine.

The Lowrance I have (527C iGPS) has the option to buy a Suzuki engine interface kit as well as adding fuel flow meters etc, but with the interface cable which goes directly into the ECU it displays parameters such as engine hours, lt/per hour, k/m per litre, fuel remaining, cylinder temp plus heaps more.

Plus it will display fuel flow at idle which most aftermarket inline fuel flow sensors don't manage as they only go down to around 3 litres per hour.

The Suzuki SMIS (Suzuki Modular Instrument System Layout) is in fact made by Lowrance for Suzuki and is essentially a NMEA 2000 network with some intelligent digital multi function guages.

Lowrance seem to be at the head of the game with NMEA 2000, and especially interfacing with engines, Suzuki etc, so food for thought.

[benri]

We should take the "photo session" but to be honest after having a look at the forecast this morning, I'm thinking of getting it up on Saturday... what do you think?
Yes, I think Lowrance is the way to go. Did you get yours locally and what type of transducer does it have? Is it complicated to install?

[skip]

Bought all my electronics (except for the VHF) from West Marine, and was lucky to find a deal with the Lowrance. The transducer it came with in the kit is a transom mount dual frequency skimmer as I did not want to drill the bottom of the boat.

Not really complicated to install, nice winter projects

The weather is not going to be on our side for the next few weeks which is a shame as officially I need to take my boat out of the water before 30 Sept.

[rob1974]

Thanks for the info Benri.  Will it go below 1800rpm, or is that the minimum trolling speed?

Great info re NMEA2000 skip.  It is ideal to keep such parameters at the touch of a screen to monitor the most economical speeds of the engine.

Rob

[benri]

Yes, it goes well below 1800rpm. You an practically start from stationary (300-400rpm I think) upwards.

[skip]

Hi Rob, yep you'd be surprised how just touching the throttle for a 50/100 rpm change can make one hell of a difference in terms of fuel flow/mpg. Initially I was focusing on fuel flow but really that should just be a guide because the most important figure if your nmpg or nmpl.

I've found with the current prop I'm running I can average around 1.25 nmpl (nautical miles per litre) which equates to 5.68nm per gallon (UK) or 4.73nm per gallon (US). I can get that level of economy at 4000rpm for around 19 knots or 5000rpm for around 24-25knots which effectively means I have a slow cruise for slightly rougher weather and a fast cruise for calm weather, at either speed for the same distance travelled I will use an identical amount of fuel, even though the flow rate is higher at 5000rpm, as I'm going faster I travel for less time.

With two people and a more aggressive pitched prop I can get 1.4nmpl at 4000rpm but then I suffer from bad acceleration (holeshot), higher min planing speed, but obviously a higher top speed.

Without this reference I would be totally lost in terms of always trying to run at the most efficient throttle settings, even to an extent using it as a reference when trimming the engine trying to optimise speed/ride and fuel effeciency. Probably a few years ago I wouldnt have cared but with the price of fuel I'm paying more attention to these things.

[skip]

Yes, it goes well below 1800rpm. You an practically start from stationary (300-400rpm I think) upwards.

Do you know what pitch prop they ended up putting on the boat? 3 blade/4, Aluminium/Stainless?