I'm not saying I'm fat but....

FalconSteve

FalconSteve

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Had a lovely day out on the solent yesterday, ran a bit low on diesel so called in to yarmouth and brimmed both tanks (£1.38 per litre). We had 4 of us on board and shall I politely say we are all well fed. We had been able to plane on the way out of ocean village, but going back I was forced to stick to displacement speeds. This is the first time we have ever experienced anything like this and I went through all sorts in my mind. I checked both engines, props and even bilge leaks, nothing was amiss. Whilst I motored carefully back home, I started to think just how much weight we were carrying. Full diesel tanks (300 ltres), full fresh water tank (85 litres), 4 bodies (at least 60 stones). When we left ocean village we were reading just under 1/2 tanks.

I figured that my engines were feeling the strain as they total 260hp combined.

So now I either have to go on a diet, stop taking other fatties, or not run with full tanks. None of these options sound fun :(.

Given what I've just said, am I reasonable in thinkng this was purely down to overloading?
 
Depends how long the boat's been in the water. There's a chance of weed build-up on the hull, drives and props - the additional fuel may have been enough to break the camel's back, as it were.
 
carlton said:
Depends how long the boat's been in the water. There's a chance of weed build-up on the hull, drives and props - the additional fuel may have been enough to break the camel's back, as it were.
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I agree, give her a scrub off, first, then start chucking out all the things you don't need - anchor, water, that sort of stuff. Drink all the beer in bottles and move over to cans, but do keep the fridge... :)
 
Sounds a bit strange but not out of the question.

I remember with one of our boats we lost around 10 Kts when the boat had been in the water for few months!

It was mightly warm the weekend just gone but wouldnt expect that to make that sort of difference. did you play around with weight distribution and trim (drive trim or tabs) to try and get you over the hump?

extra fuel (say 150 Kgs ish) is about 2 people (give or take). did you notice on the way down if she struggled to get up on the plane at all?

Yarmouth to OV is a long way at displacement speed. least the sun was out!
 
Zippy- Tried the drive trim and tabs, weight distribution is a bit of a problem as I only have 2 seats in centre of boat, other 2 people were sat on the other seats right at the stern. She normally needs to ease onto the plane in normal operations, losing 10 knots would be enough to stop her in her tracks. I couldn't get past 9 knots with the throttles right open and I started to get cavitation and all sorts of vibrations. Engines wouldn't reach full rev's either. That's why I thought it might be mechanical at first. It took us about 3 hours to get back, but we were quite happy and as you say enjoyed the sun.

Carlton - I think you have a good point, she was scrubbed in April when we surveyed her prior to purchase. A good scrub might help her out but I'm reluctant to pay to lift her at this point in the season. Probably only going out 2 or 3 more times and will have fewer bodies on the trips. She will be lifted for anti fouling in the Autumn. If I can get by until then and get on the plane with just the 2 of us then I can live the extra fuel cost (assuming it isn't huge)

Spottydog - Out of your list I think the fresh water tanks wil be emptied first and the beer left until the very last option. I might consider rations if all else fails;)
 
FS,

My brand new fly by wire throttle quadrant decided to tell me that I only had one engine & fuel tank recently having been anchored in Sandown bay. 2 engines, 34kts WOT 3800rpm on both, 1 engine = 7kts max 2800 RPM. Wow when it happened I suddenly had to look up tidal flow charts & work out how many hours it was going to take me to get back to Port Solent, it nearly turned out to be my first night navigation.

I have Twin D3-170's . The power requirements to get it planing are high, once on the step you throttle back. I reckon that you need a botty clean, as with all that extra weight was enough to stop you getting on the step.

As you know at 9 knots the Falcon 27 does produce tidal waves of wash which is a large amount of drag
 
FalconSteve said:
...Carlton - I think you have a good point, she was scrubbed in April when we surveyed her prior to purchase. A good scrub might help her out but I'm reluctant to pay to lift her at this point in the season. Probably only going out 2 or 3 more times and will have fewer bodies on the trips. She will be lifted for anti fouling in the Autumn. If I can get by until then and get on the plane with just the 2 of us then I can live the extra fuel cost (assuming it isn't huge)
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I know it sounds a bit strange, but if you can persuade a couple of the er... larger passengers/crew to go right forward down below you should get up on the plane easier as there'll be less weight at the stern.

Did you trim the drives right in? I leave mine in that position permanently. (The drives - not the lard-arses.)
 
Carlton - 2 were elderly and 1 was seasick so the only one who could of done that would be me. I am still learning about the optimal balance of trim positions at various points, but as you say once on the plane I only ever have them in full down setting like you. On reflection I might try to move the load if it ever happens again, swmbo is a good skipper, so she could get her up on the plane while I push myself into the bow seat. Given that I'm a lard arse myself I might have an impact ;-)
ARA - yes absolutely, once I knew it wasn't going to happns for me, I throttled back to hold her at 6 knots and around 2000 rpm. The wake wasn't monsterous at that level.
 
what props have you got fitted Steve and have you ever taken the boat out successfully with similar loading in the past?... the rating of the engines originally in terms of HP may be somewhat less depending on the age / condition... smaller pitched props may be an idea to get you out the hole at the expense of cruising fuel consumption if you have no option but to have the extra weight on board.. can you swap them over easily with her in the water? one set of props for light loading and the other if you can't avoid the weight aspect.
 
have you considered that you might have picked something up on your prop.
i had this a couple of weeks ago coming back from the solent, i have twin props, but noticed the engines working harder when we got back to rye and dried out we had a big coil of rope between the prop and p bracket, it luckily dident cause any problems but did slow us down.
 
For that reason, I never cruise on full tanks of fuel or water or holding tank. On my boat we carry 2500litres of diesel + 800litres of water + 400litres of holding tank so thats about 3.7t of liquid that I could be carrying around and when everything is full, it makes an appreciable difference to speed and hence fuel consumption. So for me, I try not to cruise with more than 1/2 tanks of anything just to save fuel, even if that means filling up more often. I would think your problem is max loading + mid season growth on the hull
 
Deleted User said:
For that reason, I never cruise on full tanks of fuel or water or holding tank. On my boat we carry 2500litres of diesel + 800litres of water + 400litres of holding tank so thats about 3.7t of liquid that I could be carrying around and when everything is full, it makes an appreciable difference to speed and hence fuel consumption. So for me, I try not to cruise with more than 1/2 tanks of anything just to save fuel, even if that means filling up more often. I would think your problem is max loading + mid season growth on the hull
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All well & good Deleted User, but the Falcon only has small fuel tanks 300L of fuel & not a lot of fresh water that is 5hrs endurance & sufficient water to wash up the beer glasses. The 3.7 t of your liquid = the weight of FS & my boats.......No FS you are going on a diet & have to lose 1.2 t :)
 
Perhaps you came up with the tide, but were pushing against on way back. We went to Yarmouth this W/end, against the tide going 22knots, coming back before lunch today with tide 28 knots, spring tides make a big difference.
 
ARA said:
All well & good Deleted User, but the Falcon only has small fuel tanks 300L of fuel & not a lot of fresh water that is 5hrs endurance & sufficient water to wash up the beer glasses. The 3.7 t of your liquid = the weight of FS & my boats.......No FS you are going on a diet & have to lose 1.2 t :)
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That just leaves the OP and his crew losing weight then. 50kg a person should do it:)
 
Gary - I'm afraid I don't know the answer to the question regarding the type of props on Merlin. She came with 2 sets so it might be that they have different pitches. I am planning on taking her out to give her some tlc over the winter, I have never tried to change them, never even thought you could do it in the water. I've learnt something there. This is the first time I've taken 3 others (of any size) out on the boat, normally just me and swmbo. Luckily I don't think I'll have the problem again soon. Although I'm taking a couple of mates fishing next month, they're both a healthy weight as well :-).

Nick - that was the 100% duty price, I paid £366.47 less £52.21 on 60 / 40 declared. It was £1.38 a litre on the pump though :eek: I guess Yarmouth aren't known for theit competitative pricing policy then :-(

Dunmor - I did a visual inspection on the water as soon as I found the problem, didn't see anything but that doesn't say much as I don't really know what I'm looking at.

Mike - I can normally get on the plane ok with just me and swmbo on board and full tanks (water and fuel). Since this incident I am now thinking for 10 mins filling up at the berth each time, I might empty the water tanks (or at least the best part of them). I try and keep the fuel tanks full as I've heard so many horror stories of diesel bug on the forum. The mid season hull growth is very likely to be part of the problem, she was jet washed in April and I didn't anti foul her then (even though I was advised to, that's inexperience for you), I thought the engineers were trying to pump up the bill a little to get the most out of me :-I.

ARA - I think the water tanks are rated at 85 litres or something like it. So to lose 1.2t I will need to go on one hell of a diet, I always wondered why most boatie types were thin, it's the only way to get on the plane :p

Hector - You've got a point as well. Wind was behind us, but light. Tide was ebbing still, and as you say it was spring tides this weekend so the flow was quite high. You could see a proper bow wave on the marker bouys. At 6 knots all the way I had a really, really good look :D

Mike (agian) - that's almost an armful! :D
 
FalconSteve said:
Nick - that was the 100% duty price, I paid £366.47 less £52.21 on 60 / 40 declared. It was £1.38 a litre on the pump though :eek: I guess Yarmouth aren't known for theit competitative pricing policy then :-(
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Actually, my mental arithmetic let me down - that is the same price as in Lymington, before the quantity discounts are applied.
 
I can have the same problem when I take more people out than usual. The problem usually for me is having full water and fuel tanks which is a lot of weight on our 25footer. So I drain down the water tanks and leave about a 1/4 there and refill later on.

The problem gets worse for me as we move through the season, so I tend to anchor and swim under and clean, particularly the stern gear.

Tides were not in our favor last weekend and yesterday, so that doesn't help matters.

Assuming there are no problems with the engines or stern gear, empty you water tank, that might just be enough to get going.
 
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