Engine Installation on the Far Reach

[Jim Walsh]

Good for you. Everything seems to be working out relatively smoothly when the totality of the project is considered. It’s not uncommon for new installations of folding/feathering props to need some fine tuning.
Just for the record I’d never enter murky water regardless of the local meat eating population. If there are gators there is likely a bull shark population. (Cue the theme from Jaws....)

[John Stone]

Just for the record I’d never enter murky water regardless of the local meat eating population. If there are gators there is likely a bull shark population. (Cue the theme from Jaws....)

I dislike diving/swimming in murky water. But the danger is way over played. During my 26 year Marine Corps career I spent 10 years in reconnaissance units. I have swam many many miles in the ocean both surface and sub surface. Both in FL and off the coat of SOCAL I have swam in small teams over three miles off the coast through the surf zone to the beach and always at night. Never saw a shark. No one ever got bitten. We never saw a shark. I'm sure they were there. They may have swam close to us. And it was always on my mind creating at times a serious pucker factor especially when a team mate's fin grazed your leg...but nothing ever happened.

I have seen alligators swim through the docks at our present marina. The local divers that clean boat hulls say they have never had an encounter. I'm not suggesting there is no risk...but I think it's very small. I think our fears are often fueled by our imagination.

I believe everything I wrote above and I have the personal experience to support it. But running into the man in the grey suit still creeps into my mind when I am in murky water and I am happy to exit the water in as good a condition as when I entered it. LOL.

[John Stone]

The new 15x11R blades arrived Tuesday. Yesterday I rigged up my hookah, got into the water, and installed the blades. I thought it would be more difficult to install them than remove them. Not the case. Very easy even in the murky water. As before I hung a five gallon bucket over the shaft with a three lb dive weight in it to hold the parts and catch anything that might slip out of my hand. I put the blades in the bucket along with the hinge pins, and two threaded bolts with the precoated waterproof thread locker. Only took a couple minutes to install the blades.

This morning Gayle and I took the boat out for a RPM test. The target goal was 3,600 RPM. With the original 16x12R blades we could only make 3,280 RPM. As before, we worked our way up through the RPMs and eventually got to wide open throttle. The photo optic tachometer indicated 3,612 RPM. That's about as close as you can hope to get to 3,600. I'm declaring victory.

Getting back into the slip was easy. She stopped quickly with the stern pulling just a bit to port once headway was lost. I still have much to learn about her handling characteristics especially as slower speeds and in reverse but early indicators are it's manageable.

We will move the Far Reach over to the more protected slip in the next couple days and get ready for some sailing. All that's left is to calibrate the tach with the electronic flash programmer Beta Marine sent to us.

[Mbigos]

Congratulations, John! I hope to see the Far Reach some day. This has been a great thread to follow. It must be one of the longest on the discussion board. I hope you enjoy the fruits of your design and labor for many years to come.

[wikakaru]

You must be itching to give the Far Reach a good shakedown, John. Do you have any plans for a cruise in the near future?

Smooth sailing,

Jim

[John Stone]

Congratulations, John! I hope to see the Far Reach some day. This has been a great thread to follow. It must be one of the longest on the discussion board. I hope you enjoy the fruits of your design and labor for many years to come.

Thanks much. I am always interested in meeting up with up CD'ers.

[John Stone]

You must be itching to give the Far Reach a good shakedown, John. Do you have any plans for a cruise in the near future?

Smooth sailing,

Jim

I am about half out of my mind to go off on a long cruise. I planned on a week long sail after 4 July but we have a big part arriving from the west coast for our Jeep and I have to be here to pick it up next week and trailer it home. So probably the following week we will head out to Cape Lookout and some local sailing. The summer heat is about to emerge here snd Indont enjoy sailing here in July or Aug. it's just too hot.

So we may haul out for two months during the worst part of hurricane season while we go off camping to increase our latitude or altitude, or both, to escape the heat. In late Oct we will prep the boat for sailing back to the Virgin Islands in Nov for the winter. There is still a lot of uncertainty in the Caribbean about Covid. I talked to a friend last night in the Virgin Islands and he said the BVI is still shut down. Still no cruise ships and he said in his 25 years there he has never seen the water so clear.... I can't wait to get back to sea and spend the winter exploring the West Indies. Of course all that depends on no unforeseen events emerging to alter our plans.

[wikakaru]

I am about half out of my mind to go off on a long cruise. I planned on a week long sail after 4 July but we have a big part arriving from the west coast for our Jeep and I have to be here to pick it up next week and trailer it home. So probably the following week we will head out to Cape Lookout and some local sailing. The summer heat is about to emerge here snd Indont enjoy sailing here in July or Aug. it's just too hot.

So we may haul out for two months during the worst part of hurricane season while we go off camping to increase our latitude or altitude, or both, to escape the heat. In late Oct we will prep the boat for sailing back to the Virgin Islands in Nov for the winter. There is still a lot of uncertainty in the Caribbean about Covid. I talked to a friend last night in the Virgin Islands and he said the BVI is still shut down. Still no cruise ships and he said in his 25 years there he has never seen the water so clear.... I can't wait to get back to sea and spend the winter exploring the West Indies. Of course all that depends on no unforeseen events emerging to alter our plans.

Summer in North Carolina on a boat can be brutal. On one of my cruises I went from Florida to the Chesapeake during June, July, and August. I don't recommend it.

Instead of going camping, you could always hop offshore at Beaufort and be in Buzzards Bay in 5 days, or Maine a day or two later. No COVID worries on that trip. You could be back to North Carolina in plenty of time to prep for a trip south, and you'd have had a nice shakedown between U.S. ports, where parts and services are readily available. Plenty of time to be back in NC for a crossing to the islands in the fall. Just sayin'.

Smooth sailing,

Jim

[John Stone]

I am about half out of my mind to go off on a long cruise. I planned on a week long sail after 4 July but we have a big part arriving from the west coast for our Jeep and I have to be here to pick it up next week and trailer it home. So probably the following week we will head out to Cape Lookout and some local sailing. The summer heat is about to emerge here snd Indont enjoy sailing here in July or Aug. it's just too hot.

So we may haul out for two months during the worst part of hurricane season while we go off camping to increase our latitude or altitude, or both, to escape the heat. In late Oct we will prep the boat for sailing back to the Virgin Islands in Nov for the winter. There is still a lot of uncertainty in the Caribbean about Covid. I talked to a friend last night in the Virgin Islands and he said the BVI is still shut down. Still no cruise ships and he said in his 25 years there he has never seen the water so clear.... I can't wait to get back to sea and spend the winter exploring the West Indies. Of course all that depends on no unforeseen events emerging to alter our plans.

Summer in North Carolina on a boat can be brutal. On one of my cruises I went from Florida to the Chesapeake during June, July, and August. I don't recommend it.

Instead of going camping, you could always hop offshore at Beaufort and be in Buzzards Bay in 5 days, or Maine a day or two later. No COVID worries on that trip. You could be back to North Carolina in plenty of time to prep for a trip south, and you'd have had a nice shakedown between U.S. ports, where parts and services are readily available. Plenty of time to be back in NC for a crossing to the islands in the fall. Just sayin'.

Smooth sailing,

Jim

Jim
I hear ya and I am in complete agreement. We are, how shall I say, negotiating....

We ordered the Jeep camper top on 1 Oct! It took nine months!!! Of course it arrives this week from SOCAL. Its in a crate 9' long and 6' wide. We need to mount it on the jeep ASAP so we can get our vehicles in the garage. Sigh.

I shouldn't complain. It's going to be a fun thing to have and open up a lot of inland parts of the continent to us in the future. It's an Ursa Minor. Like this.

https://youtu.be/8x2_vyDrzHg

MTF.

[John Stone]

Took the boat out today to check the depth sounder and confirm the recalibration of the tachometer. Sounder worked perfectly. The engine ran like a sewing machine. Checked the stuffing box. Cool to the touch at 2,500 RPM. Speed about 5.7 kts. Probably need to tighten the stuffing box a wee bit. My gallon jug from the drip catch was 3/4 full but that after about total 30 NM underway time since we launched the boat a couple weeks ago. Tach appears to be spot-on now so I can check that off the list. We are ready for some sailing.

[wikakaru]

Jim
I hear ya and I am in complete agreement. We are, how shall I say, negotiating....

We ordered the Jeep camper top on 1 Oct! It took nine months!!! Of course it arrives this week from SOCAL. Its in a crate 9' long and 6' wide. We need to mount it on the jeep ASAP so we can get our vehicles in the garage. Sigh.

I shouldn't complain. It's going to be a fun thing to have and open up a lot of inland parts of the continent to us in the future. It's an Ursa Minor. Like this.

https://youtu.be/8x2_vyDrzHg

MTF.

Cool camper top! Unobtrusive on the highway, and looks comfortable when popped up. You are in the enviable situation of having many good options to choose from. In the end, it doesn't matter what you end up doing; it will be fun.

Smooth sailing,

Jim

[JD-MDR]

My automatic bilge pump, my manual bilge pump, and my shower/icebox sump all exit through the counter. I wouldn’t hesitate to route my exhaust that way also. I’ve seen many boats which use this technique to keep the topsides pretty by not exiting through the transom. In fact it was more prevalent many years ago than it is now.

I noticed a little water coming in at the plastic thru hull for the bilge pump .I took it out and noticed, not much water could go thru that little hole. It's only about 3/8" at most. I replaced the plastic with a bronze thru hull. It's fine for my little 750 gph pump but I want to hook up my other larger pump. It's not installed just has a long hose and a long wire with a cigarette lighter thing to plug it in easy. I figured I would just run the hose out on deck somehow. Now I want to install it permanently. I was thinking of connecting it to the thru hull for the manual pump. It's 1-1/4" I think and higher above the waterline. I've been searching for a better way .Nobody seems to like the idea of connecting two pumps on one outlet.
Jim, or someone else , what does it mean yours exit thru the counter? Please respond.

[John Stone]

I have put about 30 hours on the Beta 25 HP engine and our 2 blade 15X11R two blade folding prop since we completed the installation. A lot of that time was idling and sorting out the prop pitch, etc. But I did make a trip out to the Bight at Cape Lookout last week. Round trip about 70 NM. Lots of motoring in the ICW. The stats I gathered reflect the following:
- I ran the engine mostly between 2,200 and 2,400 RPM.
- We averaged between 5.5 and 6.5 knts, depending on the current direction.
- We averaged about 1.5 qts per hour which equates to about 15 MPG.
- Theoretical range is about 270 NM using 18 gallons of 19.5 galling fuel tank capacity.

The engine starts immediately, runs and shifts smoothly, seems to have more than adequate power, exhibits no excessive vibration. The offset design appears to work well. The boat steers straight with no hand on the helm. Eventually it slowly veers off course but that seems more related to the effects of wind direction/speed and not the underwater configuration of prop, offset prop shaft or rudder mods. The boat stops in about 1/3 length at what I estimate 2 to 3 knots approaching the slip. It backs to port.

There are some steering challenges in reverse if the wind is other than from dead forward or dead aft. I need more practice figuring out her behavior and operational parameters when backing in other than benign conditions.

I have noticed a little loss in stowage space with the engine install. But mostly it relates to the loss of easy and convenient stowage of the 650 SF 1.5 oz drifter. I used to stow it under the companionway. That space is gone. I think I can store it under the dinghy. Maybe.

Was installing the engine a good idea? I think so. I'll have a better more informed opinion after I return from the Virgin Islands next year. There is no substitute for actual living on the boat to appreciate the effects of modifications/alterations to the boat on its livability and performance.

[John Stone]

As suggested by FlexOFold I did not apply anti-fouling paint to the prop. They said "See how it does. Lots of copper in the prop. Might not need any coating."

Ha! Maybe in Europe that works but the American marine life just laughed. "Bring it on."

So what to do? I removed the prop today using the puller I made last year. Worked very well. I'll take it home and work it over with a brass/bronze wire brush. Sand as required.

There is a coating called "prop speed" many of the big boats in the yard use. Supposed to be superb. Maybe so but the coast is outrageous. I found a spray on coating made by Petit called Barnacle Barrier. Mixed reviews. It's $30 bucks. I'll probably try it, unless the CD Brain Trust has some thoughts to share.

Guy I know with a PS 34. Keeps his boat not far from mine. He coats his prop with black Magic Marker. I kid you not. Swears it works fabulous.

Anyway, thoughts?

[Steve Laume]

Compare the contents and the price to Barnacle Barrier. I have been using this with good results for years now. https://www.rustoleum.com/product-catal ... und-spray/