Boat Upgrading - Suggestions

Shaftbomb · August 03, 2009, 22:25:40 CET

Nivram no problem with asking questions....Regarding prices of engines, I would say you need LM6500 for one brand new engine for that horse power, but shop around, there are many marine diesel engine dealers in malta and prices do vary. Japanese engines do tend to be on the higher price side than european ones but usually have a better weight to power ratio. From what i am seeing IVECO are becoming more popular both in Malta and Gozo. Ask the guys at petecraft.....they just installed an iveco engine on their new hull - the 20ft fast fisher.

The_Gaffer · August 03, 2009, 23:33:20 CET

Hi Nirvam. Watch out for my post tomorrow on steyr and volvo penta.

nivram017 · August 03, 2009, 23:37:35 CET

Hi Gaffer, Shaftbomb told me you have a Steyr 250hp on your boat. First of all what type of boat do you have, and what are the top and cruising speeds you get? does it consume a lot of fuel? Thanks mate!

The_Gaffer · August 04, 2009, 07:40:59 CET

Hi Nirvam, as promised here is a complete reviwe on the Steyr 246 Hi Power Common Rail Marine turbo diesel engine. My boat is a Trojan 26 Flybridge, weighing in a over 5 tons!. High Cruising speed is 20kts and top speed is 25kts. However, don't judge the Steyr on this hull, as the top speed for the Trojan hull is 25kts.

I know of a Steyr 236 fitted on a buccannear 205 with speeds over 35kts!!.

The engine is as I put it, state of the art. Fully electronic, backed with a professional after sales service which is second to none. The engine boasts the best weight to horse power ratio, meaning that for every 1kg of engine weight, you get almost 0.7HP from the engine. By all means, it was the lightest engine in its category when I bought it. Fuel economy is a blast. Normal 8 hrs trolling with a fast arrival and return to the 2nd ridge off filfla and back to Msida Marina comes in at about 90lts for the whole day. This is also dependent on the number of people I have out on the boat with me. The fuel injection system is made up of two stage injector units, meaning there is no fuel injection pump involved. Very efficient, low noise, and boasts the lowest emmisions in its class at the time of purchase.

If you would like to see the engine, just PM me, as I'm on leave all this week.

Now

nivram017 · August 04, 2009, 08:47:26 CET

Hi Gaffer thanks for the info you posted! Regarding fuel consumption it sounds quite economical for that size of engine and the trip you mentioned. I will take it into consideration. With regards to your invitation I really appreciate and thanks a lot but at the moment I m quite busy. In case i will have some spur time i will PM you!
Thanks once again!

busumark · August 04, 2009, 12:17:36 CET

nivram last year the yanmar 110 hp with gearbox was LM6000 so i think a yanmar 250 hp costs a lot more tham LM6500. check leonard at rabat he has big engines and not expensive compared to the others

busumark · August 04, 2009, 19:33:55 CET

i was talking with leonard and he has some new modern eletronic marine engines. you can phone him 99499082

Shaftbomb · August 04, 2009, 21:54:31 CET

Nivram, when deciding on your engine choice take everything into consideration, weight, size, power, max rpm (very important) and also very important: transmission ratio. Also do ask if the engine you decide on was installed in the same or similar boat, so that you know what prop size to buy and not spend money changing props. Engine choice is vast, IVECO, YANMAR, STEYR, SOLE, NANNI, MEGATECH, VOLVO, CUMMINS - ETC - they all have local sales representatives.

nivram017 · August 06, 2009, 00:50:38 CET

hi dear friends and all contributors, thanks a lot for your information its quite valuable and surely worth considering!. Today I came across a Fast Fisher 22 with a Yanmar 300hp installed. A friend of mine told me that such an engine may cost around Lm9000 if new, this one has c 280hrs working and the price for the boat is not so bad in my opinion. The owner also said that his boat reaches 43knots and cruising speed is around 30knots. What I am still a little bit worried about is that first of all what should i do regarding a supplimentary engine and when you are using the boat for example for trolling?? (bir-rixa) then will the engine run economiccally since it is a large engine and will be used at a very low speed?

Thanks Once again!

Shaftbomb · August 06, 2009, 01:34:57 CET

When trolling that engine will be economical and as for the supplimentary engine, throw a 20-25hp outboard at the back.

busumark · August 06, 2009, 08:15:19 CET

nivram tell him to go with him to test the boat and if he doesnt have a gps take a handheld with you so that you will know the real speed. also take into consideration what weight you will have on the boat. it makes a difference if when you go to test it you are only two peolple and from when you are going fishing with all the fishing gear and other things. in malta i think some people have very different gps from each other because they start saying speeds that are a bit hard to beleive. even the one that you mentioned of the boat sometimes says some difficult to beleive speed. i dont know but a 300 hp engine even on idling it consumes fuel and i think that engine has more than 3 years so its not the latest technology

The_Gaffer · August 06, 2009, 09:03:07 CET

Nirvam, I fully support Busumarks suggestion. I am not too sure about the 30knt cruising speed on a hull like that, not to mention the 43knts flat out

Each hull is designed to perform at a given speed. Not even the famous Bertram, which without any doubt is the best hull in the world for fast fishers, can achieve those speeds quoted by your goodself further up. So, yes, by all means, go out for a 'testdrive', and take a handheld GPS. Also test in different weather conditions, say with wind speed at F2-3, then F3 and F4, and F5. Test the boat going up wind and down wind. Take particular notice of the boat handling capabilities in somewhat choppy water. Allow me to give you an example:
My Trojan 26 has a hull designed by Bertram. It is powered by a 250HP High power Steyr Marine Turbo diesel. Hull speed design is 25knts. That's as much as the hull can take before becoming dodgy and unpredictable. True enough, if I try going over the 25knt limit, the hull behaves eraticlly. She's a star in head on waves, with her open bows breaking the waves and opening up a path, I can do 18-20knts in F5 head on winds. Not the same when it comes to down wind. Because of here beamy transam, she's 10 feet wide at the transam, the boat will pitch and dive when waves or swell hit her stern. So I have to drive at 13-14 knts, trim tabs up (to get her stern in the sea) and try and outrun the following waves.
I have seen overpowered boats in Malta. Their behaviour is very unpredictable.
So again, heed Busumark's advice. Go out for a test run in different conditions, and take a GPS with you.

nivram017 · August 06, 2009, 18:51:39 CET

That's a good advice thanks a lot. Thanks to this forum i will surely make a better decision and I'm getting aware that I don' t know a thing on these things! I was also told that it has a trolling valve??1, for slower speeds , I will surely have a test drive before getting it however I'm still quite confused! I also agree that 43 knots are quite difficult to achieve. So do you think the boat is overpowered with a 300hp engine?

stevea · August 06, 2009, 19:43:04 CET

onto another related subject guys.... do you think that a hand held gps or any GPS for that matter can be truly relied on for accurate speed reading? I do indeed 'rely' on my fixed GPS to take speed readings however I deal with this on a comparetive/ relative measure and not absolute speed.

busumark · August 06, 2009, 21:23:52 CET

steave if you take a handheld and a fixed gps they give the same reading. i tried the handheld in a car that has a digital speedometer and they give the same reading altough the gps is a bit less than a second delayed fron the car s speedometer