DOES ANYONE HAVE EXPERIENCE ON WESTERBEKE W27
DEISEL ENGINES? I CAN'T GET MINE TO IDLE LOWER THAN
1100 rpm, which equals 3.9knts., no fun docking.
ALSO ANY INSIGHT ON CD 24 TRAWLERS WOULD BE APPRECIATED AS I AM NEW TO POWER WITHOUT SAILS AFTER 30YRS.
HAVE SOME INFO, SALES,ECT. WILL SHARE COPIES.
GERALD.E.SCHAAR@USA.dupont.COM
CD 24 TRAWLER
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Ronald H. Carpenter
Re: CD 24 TRAWLER
Dear Jerry:
I composed a long reply, but I must have done it incorrectly because it showed up blank. I'll try this note and send it; if it shows up, then I'll rewrite my long reply, which I no longer can retrieve from wherever it went.
ronstyle@ufl.eduDear
I composed a long reply, but I must have done it incorrectly because it showed up blank. I'll try this note and send it; if it shows up, then I'll rewrite my long reply, which I no longer can retrieve from wherever it went.
ronstyle@ufl.eduDear
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Ron Carpenter
Re: CD 24 TRAWLER
Jerry: We have much in common. I am a former sailor with no experience in power boats with inboard engines. But as I got older and lost the agility for sailing in a small boat, I heard about the CD trawler for sale, drove 200 miles to look at it, had it surveyed, obtained the sales receipts for the new Westerbeke put in the boat in 1995, and bought it. I was attracted by the workmanship (I have hull #6) and steering from within a pilothouse. After moving to Florida from the Midwest in 1971, I eagerly took to the sun (with resultant little skin cancers coming up now and then). We keep the boat at Palm Coast on the ICW, about half way between St. Augustine and Daytona. This is about 90 miles from Gainesville where we live and where I am on the faculty at the University of Florida. When we purchased the boat we hired someone to put it on a trailer and launch it at its new home.
The trawler is a great boat! Admittedly, being new to an inboard powerboat (and single screw at that) made for a very difficult learning curve when it comes to docking. The problem was compounded by the fact that my slip at the marina is very narrow, and the channel leading into those apposing rows of slips is about the same width as my CD's length. So SLOW is the watchword. Actually, to get in and out of my slip I essentially must pivot the boat on its axis--constantly shifting between forward and reverse with only the slightest nudges on the throttle. I lost much sweat during those early docking attempts. I still do not do particularly well when trying to go in reverse for a long time.
The only drawback to the boat in my judgment is the lack of a ventilating windshield. The sliding side windows help, but in our heat this is not enough. On the ICW I'll keep the forward hatch open to bring air through, but I find that it obstructs vision when maneuvering in tight spaces like my present marina (I likely will be changing marinas, though, because we recently bought a condo in Daytona Beach Shores, and I'll want to have the boat down there, ten minutes or so away.
Mine has the sail rig (small main or steading sail and big roller furling lapper jib), in the version with the mast stepped on top of the pilothouse (I have seen a picture of a version of the boat wherein the mast is stepped in the cockpit). Another strong point of the boat is the big cockpit. We have been out on the ICW with six people aboard and room exists for deck chairs to accompany the stern seat and pilothouse seats.
I have not taken the boat out on the Atlantic yet, even for a few minutes in the nicest weather. I want to be completely comfortable with my boathandling skills. Once we move the boat down to Daytona, however, we will have some wider expanses of water down toward Cape Kennedy. Where we are now, the ICW too often is little more than a long and narrow ditch.
I emphathize with your concern about high RPMs. When I want to go slow, slow, slow, it still seems that the engine is turning over too fast with the throttle all the way back. My mechanic says it idles that way normally. I don't know about that, though.
My biggest lack of knowledge is about electrical circuitry. My batteries (both new about a year ago) seem to run down completely too often. Somewhere, something is drawing them down while the engine is running. When docked, everything in the way of equipment is turned off and the batteries are off, too (the boat is tight that I can be gone for a few weeks at a time and come back to find the bilge dry without having the bilge pump to be on in the automatic mode.
I would be very pleased to hear about your boat and experiences with it. Cordially, Ron Carpenter
ronstyle@ufl.edu
The trawler is a great boat! Admittedly, being new to an inboard powerboat (and single screw at that) made for a very difficult learning curve when it comes to docking. The problem was compounded by the fact that my slip at the marina is very narrow, and the channel leading into those apposing rows of slips is about the same width as my CD's length. So SLOW is the watchword. Actually, to get in and out of my slip I essentially must pivot the boat on its axis--constantly shifting between forward and reverse with only the slightest nudges on the throttle. I lost much sweat during those early docking attempts. I still do not do particularly well when trying to go in reverse for a long time.
The only drawback to the boat in my judgment is the lack of a ventilating windshield. The sliding side windows help, but in our heat this is not enough. On the ICW I'll keep the forward hatch open to bring air through, but I find that it obstructs vision when maneuvering in tight spaces like my present marina (I likely will be changing marinas, though, because we recently bought a condo in Daytona Beach Shores, and I'll want to have the boat down there, ten minutes or so away.
Mine has the sail rig (small main or steading sail and big roller furling lapper jib), in the version with the mast stepped on top of the pilothouse (I have seen a picture of a version of the boat wherein the mast is stepped in the cockpit). Another strong point of the boat is the big cockpit. We have been out on the ICW with six people aboard and room exists for deck chairs to accompany the stern seat and pilothouse seats.
I have not taken the boat out on the Atlantic yet, even for a few minutes in the nicest weather. I want to be completely comfortable with my boathandling skills. Once we move the boat down to Daytona, however, we will have some wider expanses of water down toward Cape Kennedy. Where we are now, the ICW too often is little more than a long and narrow ditch.
I emphathize with your concern about high RPMs. When I want to go slow, slow, slow, it still seems that the engine is turning over too fast with the throttle all the way back. My mechanic says it idles that way normally. I don't know about that, though.
My biggest lack of knowledge is about electrical circuitry. My batteries (both new about a year ago) seem to run down completely too often. Somewhere, something is drawing them down while the engine is running. When docked, everything in the way of equipment is turned off and the batteries are off, too (the boat is tight that I can be gone for a few weeks at a time and come back to find the bilge dry without having the bilge pump to be on in the automatic mode.
I would be very pleased to hear about your boat and experiences with it. Cordially, Ron Carpenter
ronstyle@ufl.edu