Merry Fisher 855

Congratulations on your purchase. Wondered why you went for the twin option? I chose the 300hp Yamaha single on the grounds of better fuel consumption and reduced servicing costs. I feel the reliability of modern outboards is such as to offset the "get home on one engine" advantage. Either way you will enjoy the MF. We have and are off down to it in Cornwall a week Monday!
Happy boating.
 
Webby, I'm a reliability engineer by profession, so the redundancy enabled by having two engines, two fuel lines, two fuel filters and two batteries is worth having. Yes they still have a common fuel tank, but any contamination issues will be apparent when still near shore and for this occurance Seastart is my 'redundancy'. Heading off across Lyme Bay or over to the Channel Islands is when I will be happier with two engines.
Also, I have spoken to owners of 855's with twin engines and they confirm that the twin engines together with the bowthruster do mean very good manouverability.
And finally, the twin engines do look good!
 
Hi Chamaerops, You sound a bit more adventurous than me. My worry crossing to the channel Islands would be the boat standing up to a nasty sea. However good it is, it is still a planing hull. Be interested to hear of your voyages when you get going, it might encourage me to take the plunge and head off to the Scillies from where I am.
 
webby said:
Hi Chamaerops, You sound a bit more adventurous than me. My worry crossing to the channel Islands would be the boat standing up to a nasty sea. However good it is, it is still a planing hull. Be interested to hear of your voyages when you get going, it might encourage me to take the plunge and head off to the Scillies from where I am.
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Congratulations on deciding to buy an 855 Chamaerops and I agree with webby. You are a braver man than me! We do get a bit of a chop in Harwich bay with the tides fighting against each other and the wind. But the 855 will plod through it at 8 knots with wipers going and water crashing over the bow and roof, it just takes a time to get very far. It feels very safe though, tucked up inside in the dry with the patio doors closed :)

I have found that the twin engines do help with manoeuvring in the marina, as even though it has a bow thruster, it cannot cope with 15mph winds!

Look forward to hearing how you get on with the 855 and some pictures of course :encouragement:
 
Whitelighter said:
Has anyone got any long term fuel data for the 855 in either twin 150 or single 300 set up?
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Similar hull, same displ, same engines:

The figures on the Suzuki leanburn are in this months Motorboat owner at http://www.motorboatowner.co.uk/index.php


Test boat: Finnmaster 8 mtr, 3 mtr beam, 3 tons displ. Planing sports boat type hull:
Twin Suzuki 150 leanburn OBs:
3500 revs....15 kts.....51 ltr...... 1.3 mpg
4000 revs....18 kts.....56 ltrs.....1.5 mpg (UK )
4500 revs....29kts......73ltrs.....1.8 mpg
5000 revs.....32. .......93..........1.6 mpg
5500 revs.....35...,......103........1.55 mpg


In The high 4500 revs band and over the 'leanburn ' technology seems to work best.
 
Hi My Yamaha 300 burns 40 litres per hour at cruising speed of approx. 20knts. Our average over 30 hours of pottering and occasional blast is 2mpg. Have a look on the report I posted above.
 
webby said:
Hi My Yamaha 300 burns 40 litres per hour at cruising speed of approx. 20knts. Our average over 30 hours of pottering and occasional blast is 2mpg. Have a look on the report I posted above.
Click to expand...

16 ltr/hr extra is a lot to pay for twin engines, but if your single engine cuts out half way across the channel it might change the fuel consumption Vs twin/single debate.

I'd go with the single, and a tiddly standby engine.
 
Matt341 said:
We traded down from a 3.4 meter dinghy to a 2.3 meter round tail, we use the dinghy quite a lot so the dog can go ashore etc. I wasn't keen on the 2.3 roundtail as it was quite unstable with the outboard in use. So this season we changed to a 2.4 meter solid transom, huge difference in capabilities but it's still small enough to roll up in a small bag and store in the lazarette. As already mentioned, when using the boat regularly through the Summer I will often strap the dinghy to the roof, it takes 2 of us to lift it over the bow and then flip it onto the roof but it saves the hassle of deflating it and packing away.

Safe option with the hull colour, I must admit that I like a navy hull but having owned a navy hull boat for 15 years i'm now glad to have a (fairly) maintenance free white hull. There is a MF next to us in the marina with the navy hull and now 2 years old it's starting to go patchy. Nothing a good polish wouldn't solve but it all takes time!

Also like the addition of the transom door on the MF compared to the Antares.

Enjoy!

Ian
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Hi Ian,

I have had exactly the same experience with the round tail dinghy; hopeless with even a Torqeedo mounted. The other issue with the lightweight roundtails is the qua;ity, we purchased a Seago 230 for the low weight but even with very little use it is already showing signs of wear. As ever with boats the solution is to spend more money! We are buying a small 3.5m Rib to tow around for when we are pottering locally and want to go creek crawling etc. Will have to replace the roundtail inflatable for next year. Which make of 2.4 did you go for? Incidentally when we know we are going to use the inflatable we store it, rolled up on the starboard foredeck where I can unroll it and inflate it without having to lug it out from the lazerette.

Out of interest we had the blue option and yes you are right there is more maintenance but we had the hull treated by Shipshape, who are in Plymouth, with Gteq Nano soemthing! It makes a big difference. Great boats!
 
Our 855 is arriving in the UK next Thursday with handover to us probably on the 6th Nov after fitting the Yamaha 150's and electronics, so I'm getting rather excited. No doubt photos and video will follow.
We also purchased an Excel SD235 dinghy with Torqeedo 1003 at SIBS which will be stored in the lazarette. We've tried her in Southampton Water a couple of times and can get almost 5 knots and she easily takes three of us.
 
A couple of questions if anyone knows pls:

1. What speed does the MF855 achieve flat out with x2 150hp outboards?

2. What price roughly for the coppercoat, and how long does it take on a hull of a new boat?

3. Has anyone been out in any particularly choppy or rough waters with their MF855? I was curious about the handling and seaworthiness at sea (though I recognise that this is subjective).

Thanks
 
Garold said:
A couple of questions if anyone knows pls:

1. What speed does the MF855 achieve flat out with x2 150hp outboards?

2. What price roughly for the coppercoat, and how long does it take on a hull of a new boat?

3. Has anyone been out in any particularly choppy or rough waters with their MF855? I was curious about the handling and seaworthiness at sea (though I recognise that this is subjective).

Thanks
Click to expand...

I can answer the first two questions.
1) With twin yamaha 150hp outboards it will do 35 knots
2) i was considering keeping her in the water so I got a quote for coppercoat of £1485
 
Chamaerops said:
I can answer the first two questions.
1) With twin yamaha 150hp outboards it will do 35 knots
2) i was considering keeping her in the water so I got a quote for coppercoat of £1485
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Thanks for the swift response Cham.

We may see each other on the Hamble soon as our new Beneteau Antares 880 is due for handover to us on 2nd November.

We will have x2 Suzuki 150hp and so I believe that our performance should be similar to the MF855.

Garold
 
Hi, I have a single 300 and have seen 38 on the clock but also saw the fuel gauge so backed off! Why anti-foul if you are dry stacking? I keep mine on a dry contract and spend 2 - 3 weeks on board. As long as it is pressure washed before it goes into stack you should be ok. Choppy water it slams as bit, depends how brave you are. It is a planing hull. Suspect it will take more than you will though!
 
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webby said:
Hi, I have a single 300 and have seen 38 on the clock but also saw the fuel gauge so backed off! Why anti-foul if you are dry stacking? I keep mine on a dry contract and spend 2 - 3 weeks on board. As long as it is pressure washed before it goes into stack you should be ok. Choppy water it slams as bit, depends how brave you are. It is a planing hull. Suspect it will take more than you will though!
Click to expand...

I think that the single may be faster than the twin engine option.

I am sure that you are right about not benefitting enough from Coppercoat if on a dry stack, but I was just pondering the price and what happens if we are on the water for a few weeks in the summer. Or if we perhaps want to move elsewhere after a period on the drystack.

Garold
 
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