New Owners: Engine management

[danhaun]

Hi All:

We are new owners of TomKat (PDQ32 classic) and will probably have a lot of questions.

Today is our first day. We left Indiantown Florida this morning heading west in the Okeechobee waterway. I probably need to make 6 knots to reach our intended destination at a decent hour. Right now we are making about 6 Knots with both engines at 3/4 throttle. My question is about going to one engine, full throttle or leave it as is. Today is out first day on the boat. To complicate matters, the fuel gauge is not registering though I have a full tank.

Any suggestions as to how to maximize speed are appreciated.


Thanks,

Dan and Pat

[thinwater]

Yes, many go on one engine at near full throttle, as it is better on gas and significantly quieter. However, it might be just less than 6 knots (5.8?). Depends on wind.

My blog (below) has a lot of PDQ 32 how-to stuff; perhaps some will be useful.

Enjoy you new boat!

[Lady of the Lake]

Dan,
Are you sure you can make it through the lake? Specifically the channel from the lake to the canal on the west side at Clewiston? When the lake is at 14 feet, I only saw 6-8 feet there, with the lake at 9 feet, I am not sure there is any water at all...

Sam

[danhaun]

The folks at Indiantown marina insisted that we would make it OK but I wasn't 100% sure and watched the finder.

The lowest number that we saw was 2.7 feet (below the keel I trust but with so many gators I was not jumping in to calibrate) and we are now tied to the dock at Moore Haven.

We dropped to 4.3 knots on one engine so ran both and did nicely. Fuel usage looks reasonable.

We had a fun say with many "firsts" (new boat, locks, etc.)

Dan and Pat

[amytom]

Congrats on the new boat!

I've always enjoyed going down and through the Keys instead of across the lake, easier and better scenery.

[thinwater]

If you are only getting 4.3 knots on one engine, there was either an adverse current, a LOT of wind on the nose, A VERY dirty bottom, or something is not right. You should get very close to 6 knots, and about 7.4 with 2 engines (and my engines are 11 years old).

[Lady of the Lake]

Glad you made it, we do the trip every year (after the rainy season). We go around the Keys from west to east but come east to west through the canal. There are so many reports of low water I am surprised you made it, but glad you did. If you are at Moore Haven it is all downhill from there, the Caloosahatchee is much deeper than the rest of your trip, you are past the shallow parts. Where are you headed?

One note of caution, if you are coming all the way through Ft. Myers, try to hit Ft. Myers on a weekday (which you obviously will if you continue on your current pace without lingering anywhere), the Miserable Mile is hell during peak boating times.

[danhaun]

Thanks all.

I'm not getting near that speed,Thinwater. 6.9 K with both engines WOT. The bottom is not foul but is in rough shape (tired ablative over Trinidad). The engines are 2007 with about 350 hours. There was no wind, speedo and gps speeds match so no current.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Are we overloaded? Probably - we have full tanks of everything and carry the extra water tank in salon.

Dan

[Page 83]

I wouldn't worry too much about your engine performance, you have enough power to make progress into some pretty rough conditions, However, if you are a tweeker (most of us are) here's the start of a list of things to check:
Props: are they the right pitch? Are there any dings or bends in the blades? (do you have a spare prop?)
Lower end oil: does a magnet pick up any tiny steel flakes? Does it look like oil or coffee with cream? (that means theres water in it)
Are you using the right spark plug? Is the fuel fresh? (if some of it was E-10 and it seperated, the octane drops to below 80; if theres water in your fuel/water separator, this may have happened.)
Are you getting 5300+ rpm at WOT? If you see less than 5000, you are only getting 8 or so hp. If you don't have a tach some timing lights will show RPM.
Are your rudders parallel when the wheel is centered?
Are your sterns well down at rest?
there's more to check, like....

[danhaun]

Thanks, Sandy and all.

I will check these things when we deliver the boat and haul out. Right now we are enjoying the trip and the boat and trying to learn all the new systems. We come from a pretty simple monohull and now have radar, AC, refrigeration, propane and solar power. I'm sure that I'll have more questions.

Dan

[thinwater]

6.9 knots with that load and a less than perfect bottom is about right. What struck me strange was 4.3 with one engine. I motored for 5 hours on one engines yesterday in little wind and mixed currents, averaging ~ 5.6-5.8 on flat water at WOT. That's with 4 crew and lots of stuff piled on for a 4-day trip, including a kayak! The higher numbers are for a lighter ship and fresh bottom.

Fuel consumption should be a around 1 gallon/hour per engine WOT.

Sandy has a good list. The transoms on most are about 1-2 inches below the water,depending on load and salinity.