Largest Auxiliary Engine Possible

[GreggL]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

My bet is on bottom and prop fouling...

New boat? I can't believe Hunter put the wrong prop and rigged the throttle incorrectly.

Gregg - I know you have significant powerboat experience. In general sailing boats have "just enough" power and are more sensitive to fouling than powerboats which generally have an excess of power.

Most folks clean/wipe their hulls monthly depending on the sailing area and how much performance they want from their sailboat.

The first check when sailing or power performance/low rpm is suspect are prop wraps and fouling.

Certainly wouldn't be the first thing hunter rigged wrong on this particular build. Nonetheless I'll check out my hull and prop. Thanks!

[charliehows]

Originally Posted by GreggL

This makes sense. Only problem with this theory may be that I did not have this problem from day one. Is seems to have only begun after my 50 hour service. Certainly haven't changed any hardware since then.
I'm going to check the hull and take it from there.
Thanks everyone for the replies..

did they detail what they did in the 50 hour service (hate to say it but mechanics can do some stupid things sometimes) - it does seem unlikely a new boat would be overpropped, even less likely if it initially ran ok. hull fouling over a few months also shouldnt make much difference. I reckon do the rev check - ie check full revs in neutral, if it doesnt pull 3500 at least thats an indicator of something amiss. The only thing i would suspect below the waterline is the prop - either barnacles or something fouled on it, that would certainly slow the boat, barnacles probably wouldnt get much of a hold over just a few months either...the only silver lining i can see is that by the time you've sorted all this out you'll know a whole lot more about your boat.

[GreggL]

Originally Posted by charliehows

did they detail what they did in the 50 hour service (hate to say it but mechanics can do some stupid things sometimes) - it does seem unlikely a new boat would be overpropped, even less likely if it initially ran ok. hull fouling over a few months also shouldnt make much difference. I reckon do the rev check - ie check full revs in neutral, if it doesnt pull 3500 at least thats an indicator of something amiss. The only thing i would suspect below the waterline is the prop - either barnacles or something fouled on it, that would certainly slow the boat, barnacles probably wouldnt get much of a hold over just a few months either...the only silver lining i can see is that by the time you've sorted all this out you'll know a whole lot more about your boat.

No details but they said everything was as its supposed to be. Ill look into reving in neutral tomorrow and take it from there.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

My bet is on bottom and prop fouling...

New boat? I can't believe Hunter put the wrong prop and rigged the throttle incorrectly.

Gregg - I know you have significant powerboat experience. In general sailing boats have "just enough" power and are more sensitive to fouling than powerboats which generally have an excess of power.

Most folks clean/wipe their hulls monthly depending on the sailing area and how much performance they want from their sailboat.

The first check when sailing or power performance/low rpm is suspect are prop wraps and fouling.

Agree. Prop fouling of some variety seems most likely, especially since Gregg reports that he didn't have the problem earlier. The puzzler, maybe just a coincidence, is the problem seemed to appear right after the 50 hour service.

[Nicholson58]

Interesting observations reguarding prop pitch and RPM. Our boat is 55,000 disp with a 115 Westerbeke 6-cyl; 2:1 Twin Disk reduction gear and a Hundested variable pitch control to the 3-blade 24 inch prop. We run comfortably at 950 to 1200 engine rpm and around 7 knots in flat seas & windless. 4 nm/gallon is about the rule for us. I can run up to about 2500 rpm and vary the prop pitch which is useful for increasing the thrust at low boat speed such as in maneuvering or pulling off a surprise sand bar. I can run at the higher rpm and reduced prop pitch at up to about 10 knots but higher total power demand for sustained periods results in overheating. All heat exchangers were de-scaled this spring and the system is clean.

[hellosailor]

Dan-
"New boat? I can't believe Hunter put the wrong prop and rigged the throttle incorrectly."
Actually, with Hunter's recent bankruptcy? It wouldn't be unusual for wrong parts to be used or poor work to be done in the final months of a bankruptcy, where someone says "We're out of blah blah props, just use a whatever and ship it". Same thing for adjustments and such, with possible payroll problems and so on.
Hopefully not, but it has happened before in that situation.