Blue Note repower thread

[Jackman]

Jim,

Congrats on the sucessful repower. You probably feel as good or better than I did back in June! Now....when are we having the Cummins/Hat outing? With the number of cummins remans/repowers we would have in representation we should be able to get cummins to sponser and have a talk! Maybe we could get "Powered by Cummins T-Shirts" to hand out!

Jack

[the kuz]

Jim, sounds like a great outcome. When you say "true port to starboard", do you mean that they will take out enough pitch on the port prop to allow the port engine to turn 3040 RPM like the starboard? I'm assuming that Bluenote was loaded pretty light - you are getting almost one KNT better than me at 2500 RPM (or could it be those Slane vents?). What props/pitch are you turning? FYI, my experience is that after two years of loading stuff aboard, when fully loaded my 36C is 1-2 KNTS slower than my sea trial (and a little slower coming out of the hole). This boat with these motors seems to be very sensitive to both increased weight and fouled running gear/bottom. You are wise to set up for some extra turns above rated RPM. The sweet spot for my boat when fully loaded (with 330Bs) is about 2375 turns with trim tabs 3/4 down, and that yields about a 23.5 knt cruise and I'm estimating about 18 GPH. The faster/lighter I am, the less tab I use. With 1/3 fuel and water, we need about 2500 RPM to get 25 KNTs (2375 gets almost 24 KNTS). How does Bluenote ride at 31 KNTS? What a great feeling of acceleration when those turbos kick in! Love that straight-back wake! If I remember right, you put in 370Bs. Do the 370s provide more power than the 330s across the board or just at higher RPMs? If more torque across the board, the weight make not impact you as much. Good luck with your "new boat". What a difference this re-power makes. Looking forward to seeing you here on the Chesapeake.

Best Regards, Bob K

[whaler23]

Jim

Sounds great so far. For perspective my boat still has the original 210HP Cats in it and cruises at 14.2 knots under good conditions, wide open at 17.5 knots, again under good conditions. One question I have is that at full throttle I throw a huge rooster tail. What kind of tail does it throw at 25 knots? Are you tabbing down to eliminate this?

[Jackman]

Kuz,

When I spoke with my repower people and was deciding between the 330b and the 370b they told me the only difference is at the top end. The engines are identical. Everything is the same except for the fuel pump mapping which allows you to turn more rpms than the 330b. Since my boat is lighter than Jims I went with the 330bs. I could have taken the 370's and just never take them over what I'd use a 330b but it would have been a waste for me. With Jim boat being larger he probably needs the extra rpms. Seems like we both have just about the same results from our repowers.

And yes, nothng feels better than having the boat repowered!

Jack

[jim rosenthal]

According to Tom, the stbd engine is developing a little more boost and turning up 30 revs higher than the port. This was also the case with the CATs, so the port propeller likely has more pitch in it, even though they are supposedly identical. They are going to have them scanned and trued so that the port prop has slightly less pitch which should even up the WOT rpms.

Rooster tail.....I have not seen it yet. With the CATs (max speed was about 27-28 kts and I never did it for more than a few seconds) there was no rooster tail. Actually at speeds over 22 kts or so she runs quite flat and doesn't need any tab to get to the right running attitude. She will feel a bit different now as the Cummins motors are lighter than the CATs- the weight distribution will be different.

Extra weight: absolutely right. The trial was done with (I think) four people aboard, half fuel, no water, and the salon furniture in Maryland. All the salon furniture will add 250 lbs. My boat still has the small tanks (250 gals) so some weight is saved there- the bigger tanks arrived in 1972. (Tom's other 36 projects have gotten a 375 gal tank which they custom build for them.) I try very hard to keep weight out of the boat- small fridge, water tanks nearly empty, aluminum anchors, and leaving my 100lb toolbox at home. Tom thinks she is lighter than the other 36s they've done- she doesn't have a tower, she has the original and less functional small bridge, the small tanks. His other boats perform very well despite the extra weight, since he uses a deeper gear and more pitch on the props.

The only way I know to keep the bottom clean is to run the boat a lot, which I intend to do.... I am also going to try a hard paint instead of the ablative I was running; there may be less drag. Also, most of our boats will perform better in the fall, when the air is denser, the water is cooler and engine cooling is better, and the water is slightly denser. These things do make a difference, albeit a small one.

Right now I think the props are 21.5 diameter and 22 pitch, with slight cup. At some point I would really like to try a set of Australs or ZF or Veem wheels, but right now I just want to do some cruising and fish a little, have some quality time with my boat.

[the kuz]

Jack,Jim, thanks for the info. My props are 22x23 3 blade Michigan Nibrals (no cup). Jim, are you going to use Black Dog or someone else to scan/true your props? Also, if you know the true weight for Bluenote, that might be helpfull. My port side also turns up a little less than the starboard @ WOT (that prop did get some minor damage which I " fixed"). Actually, with all the 36C seriers one members that have/are considering this re-power, we might want to create a "critical info/data sheet" to help ALCON get the most out of our re-power investments in boats many of us plan to keep a long time. A spreadsheet of some sort maybe?

I'm almost ready for my 600 hour service and am leaning towards trueing the props after the service check. I plan on getting Wes Denton (the northern Bay Cummins rep) to come down from Baltimore, so I know he will do a sea trial and check boost and other critical stuff. I'll watch/work with him this time and plan on doing most future checks myself. I guess I'll call Wes, and ask him if he wants the prop work done first. Any thoughts?

Can't wait to get passed by Bluenote - might have sit off Point Lookout and watch for the trip north.

Best Regards, Bob K

[Boss Lady]

See old dogs can learn new tricks. Congrats Dr. Jim. Now you have a hot rod! LOL

[Jaxfishgyd]

Think the last post for this thread should be a pic of Blue Note as she is cruising home blasting by "the kuz" !!!

[Jackman]

Jim,

How does she ride at 31kts? Did they say anything? I know when I had the seatrial and Mr Carey pumped her up to WOT she was a bit squirrely because of the keel. He suggested some custom lifting strakes, which is what he has on the custom boat he built that does 52kts WOT! I know I need better tabs and am still thinking about the lifting strakes. We'll see at the end of the season. I'm keeping it in his yard this year so I don't have to take off the hardtop.

Where are you bearthed? I may want to stop and see your boat sometime. I come up to northeast MD often and probably will more often now that I have diesels. My grandparents have a small bayfront cottage on the elk river, your first right coming out of the C&D canal towards the Chesepeake.

Let me know when you're back home and maybe I'll stop in to see Blue Note and her new lease on life!

[jim rosenthal]

I can't wait to find out how she rides....hopefully she'll be home in a few weeks. Delivery is a bit of a problem as I have no more time off, but we are working on that.

I don't think these hulls, and their contemporaries, were designed to go this fast. I have heard that the 36 gets squirrelly at speeds much above this; don't know from experience. Don't know that I would want to find out, either.

I will keep you all posted on when she's on the way home; no one will be happier than me, you'll be able to hear the yell of joy just by opening the window, wherever you are, you won't have to use the phone.

Hot rod.......you should see the 289 Cobra that's in the garage, about to get her engine put in...., talk about big wheels.