Beneteau Flyer 7.5 metre

Assume you mean 140 Suzuki 4 strokes?

There seem to be an increasing amount of happy owners of these engines, in both recreational and commercial marine.

Cruise revs around 4500, for a 'reported' 30 litres per hour on a 24 foot power cat. Think they peak at 6000.
 
OK,

The Beneteau Flyer range is better with a single larger engine. The twin Suzukis are very heavy and not that quiet. Economy will be better with a larger single as well. Think about 4ltr a mile with twin or 3.2ltr a mile with a large single. Top speed will be around 38 knots with the twin set up.

However if cruising at 3000RPM you will be doing a steady 28knots and using about 3.0 ltrs a mile.

Nice boat as well! I would put a large 2 stroke Evinrude Etec on it though!

Paul
 
Nautorius said:
OK,

The Beneteau Flyer range is better with a single larger engine. The twin Suzukis are very heavy and not that quiet. Economy will be better with a larger single as well. Think about 4ltr a mile with twin or 3.2ltr a mile with a large single. Top speed will be around 38 knots with the twin set up.

However if cruising at 3000RPM you will be doing a steady 28knots and using about 3.0 ltrs a mile.

Nice boat as well! I would put a large 2 stroke Evinrude Etec on it though!

Paul
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Apparently most boats up to this size perform better with a single installation. The offshore guys seem to prefer the twin set up, and those that travel heavy (commercial)

I have noticed you speak highly of Etec's..... we have had bad experiences with them in the past.
A sister company of ours actually abandoned the brand, for the fear of future warranty work breaking the business. Brand warranty work doesn't pay that well!
Just one issue that I have experienced, was the company bought 6 x Etec 90 h.p., of which 5 had major failures, resulting in new power heads fitted under warranty. I had one (of the original 6) with a major failure at 140 hours, now on the second (because it was in stock), with my fingers crossed.

The techies say they don't handle anything out of the ordinary, things like excess water spray, even slightly dodgey fuel will block injectors and cause a major failure in the powerhead. They run so lean, they are right on the edge.
 
4 stroke air step

hi all yes it is the air step and the engines are 4 stroke
i dont have a choice of engine as the engines are already on the boat.

any body know what the air step stands for ?
BLOKATOS not sure what you meean by iirc ?
thanks alan
 
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alanhanson said:
hi all yes it is the air step and the engines are 4 stroke
i dont have a choice of engine as the engines are already on the boat.

any body know what the air step stands for ?
BLOKATOS not sure what you meean by iirc ?
thanks alan
Click to expand...

IIRC ---> If I Recall Correctly


Air step is a hull which funnels air down the hull to bring the boat earlier and easier to plane, to maintain a smoother ride etc. That's what Beneteau claims, I cannot speak from personal experience as I never owned an air steped boat.
 
Not quite Blokatos, or at least not the full story

A stepped hull has one or more steps in the hull (get away), with a vertical section of hull between them, a few cms high. Where the water flows off one step, air is drawn in from the side, which reduces friction between the hull and the water, because some of the hull is actually riding on air, which has far lower coefficient of friction than water.

iirc, the Beneteau goes one stage further, and injects air into the step through holes in the hull, which is what they call the "air step"

edit: I should also mention that stepped hulls have some disadvantages, otherwise all boats would have them. They can be slower to plane, and need more speed to stay on the plane. They can be more sensitive to weight distribution, and less predictable in turns, poorer designs even falling off the plane in turns. Because they are notoriously difficult to design well, they can need a lot of development and trialling, which potentially means lots of mould modifications, which adds to the development time and cost.

I would definitely want an extended sea trial, especially with the weight of two outboards on the back, as the combination of stern weight and stepped hull could make for a very flighty boat. Also check; lowest planing speed, lots of turns at different speeds, move some weight around and see the effects etc. I've not heard any bad reports about the Beneteau, but then I haven't particularly looked.
 
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I ve had a couple of stepped hulls. I think the fact that you dont get them on every single sportsboat hull tells you something ;).
Of course you often see them on hardcore racing boats,often multiple steps, but as always, you dont get something for nothing.
I'd go for the angle of deadrise over a step if its soft ride that's the focus, and any benefit in fuel consumption and top speed I suspect is marginal. I found they had a tendency to skip out in really hard turns, and, on a practical note, the step can make the boat a bit harder to launch off a trailer (or it needs modifying).
But I like the Flyer.. sensible bit of boat design. I d would keep looking for a larger, single engine though.
 
Nick_H said:
Not quite Blokatos, or at least not the full story

A stepped hull has one or more steps in the hull (get away), with a vertical section of hull between them, a few cms high. Where the water flows off one step, air is drawn in from the side, which reduces friction between the hull and the water, because some of the hull is actually riding on air, which has far lower coefficient of friction than water.

iirc, the Beneteau goes one stage further, and injects air into the step through holes in the hull, which is what they call the "air step"

edit: I should also mention that stepped hulls have some disadvantages, otherwise all boats would have them. They can be slower to plane, and need more speed to stay on the plane. They can be more sensitive to weight distribution, and less predictable in turns, poorer designs even falling off the plane in turns. Because they are notoriously difficult to design well, they can need a lot of development and trialling, which potentially means lots of mould modifications, which adds to the development time and cost.

I would definitely want an extended sea trial, especially with the weight of two outboards on the back, as the combination of stern weight and stepped hull could make for a very flighty boat. Also check; lowest planing speed, lots of turns at different speeds, move some weight around and see the effects etc. I've not heard any bad reports about the Beneteau, but then I haven't particularly looked.
Click to expand...

I believe the Benny actually has holes in the deck thru which air is drawn. Interesting ref disadvantages. I didn't appreciate that
 
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