Quote:
Originally Posted by valinor30
Thanks for the quick response. I generally keep engine speed to 2200, but in heavy weather really need more power. Seems 2500 into steep chop is sustainable.......though experience has shown that fwd progress (SOG) slows to <1kt with head winds exceeding 25kts in anything over 3' chop
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I've got a
Catalina 30 Mk1, previously with an M20
diesel.
I've since converted to
electric and
sold the diesel, but when I did have it, the
heat exchanger was torn up, so it overheated at anything over 2200 rpm. I would run at 2200 all day long, but bump it up to 2300 and needle would start to rise and the
alarm would sound in minutes. Even so, with the
2 blade Campbell Sailor prop, I would easily hold 5 kts SOG in the harbor (smooth water) into an average 10-15 kts headwind. The max I ever tried was 2500 rpm, and that sounded like the thing wanted to explode, so I was always too chicken to run it up there. When the
wind is up we generally sail, so I didn't very often
motor into those conditions, but it seems a bit on the low side.
Do you clean the bottom regularly? I am consistently amazed at the performance difference between a clean and fouled bottom (I pay a lot of attention to performance now doing a lot of data logging as I play with the electric). Also, are you perhaps under-propped?
I'd suggest you ask over at the yahoo groups
Catalina 30 group. There's something like 800 members, 799 of whom are a lot smarter than I am. The
archives there are a real treasure trove of Catalina 30 knowledge.
JRM