Every day I get closer and closer to severing my ties with 64 years of sailing. Well, the boat hasn't sold yet, but, getting closer.
Anyway, after all these years of boating you would think that I would have some informed opinions about engines in general even if the largest diesel I have ever owned is 35hp.
As we look at "trawlers" in general (forget about displacement or semi-displacement) there are single and twin engine. Ok, but, all the twins seem to be over powered for the size boats. We love traveling at 5-7 kts. We can run our 35hp diesel at 3/4 throttle and use maybe a little over 1/2 gallon an hour. We have been told that if we run large diesels at low rpm's we will ruin them in short order. If that is true, how many engines are ruined by doing the "loop?" There aren't many places where you can run up over 10kts.
At our age we want more creature comforts afforded by a trawler. However, we aren't exactly thrilled about feeding $20,000 worth of diesel through one just to do the loop.
Anyway, after all these years of boating you would think that I would have some informed opinions about engines in general even if the largest diesel I have ever owned is 35hp.
As we look at "trawlers" in general (forget about displacement or semi-displacement) there are single and twin engine. Ok, but, all the twins seem to be over powered for the size boats. We love traveling at 5-7 kts. We can run our 35hp diesel at 3/4 throttle and use maybe a little over 1/2 gallon an hour. We have been told that if we run large diesels at low rpm's we will ruin them in short order. If that is true, how many engines are ruined by doing the "loop?" There aren't many places where you can run up over 10kts.
At our age we want more creature comforts afforded by a trawler. However, we aren't exactly thrilled about feeding $20,000 worth of diesel through one just to do the loop.