Nortech testing

[spannerman]

Heres a couple clips testing the Nortech on different days, sorry about the picture quality, I was out running the boat and rang the missus to grab the camera and try and film as I went past our house.

 

[z1ppy]

Do like the Nortechs. You look to live in a beautiful spot!!

 

[MapisM]

Wow, no worries about the quality, those are cool videos indeed, thanks for sharing them with us! :encouragement:
In the first video, where you testing some trim settings, by chance?
I though to see (in the first half) and also hear (in the second half) the boat porpoising a bit.
Unless there was more swell than it seems from the video, not sure...?
She seems to run more smoothly in the second video, anyway!

 

[spannerman]

I was testing it after a gearbox rebuild in the first video and the trim is used to control the speed. To get them going from rest you trim out some to allow the props to spin up, then as the revs climb you trim full in and you feel the boat gather speed but without any bow rise as it doesn't climb onto the plane, it just lifts evenly and goes faster. There is a rapid fore /aft oscillation around 50kts a bit like driving on cobblestones due to the multiple hull steps coming into effect.
It doesn't feel that fast until you look at the speedo and see you are doing 60kts+, you start to trim out and then the bow lifts as it catches the air, two things now happen, you feel like you've released the anchor as it really starts to gain speed as there is less hull drag and as it starts to fly it the ride gets very soft and floaty due to the tunnel working, you really are only running on the last few feet of hull and the props, which are now surfacing piercing and throwing up those fantastic rooster tails.
You go from max throttle at 70knts fully trimmed in to 120knts fully trimmed out without touching the throttles!
Yes in the video there was some swell, so you hear the engines loading up as it hits each wave, these boats don't really porpoise like a monohull, you are limited to around 1m swells as if you hit anything bigger than that at high speed you risk the bow pitching up too high and it can flip if it gets too much air under the hull as the tunnel section works like a wing. Turns have to be planned as it can't turn quickly above 80 knts, you need to get the speed down and if you turn too hard you feel the inside vertical hull grab the water and throw you sideways, it will swap ends in a heartbeat if you have too much speed on. Too be honest I found turning to be more nerve wracking than driving straight at 100kts+ as it can bite. You can easily get it airborne if you hit a wave and then you have to be quick to take off the power then back on again so the props don't act as brakes. I can only say it must be a bit like driving an F1 car or fighter jet, you have to mentally be several kilometres and 10-15 secs in front of it as you soon cover distance 4-5 times faster than most boats, but great fun.
I have tried to post photos from photobucket but only succeed in uploading my whole album and account instead of just the pics, if you know what I am doing wrong Mapism I'd appreciate any advice, I have the code but it includes all my log in/account details.

 

[MapisM]

Many thanks, your report brings back nice memories of when I had the opportunity to try a much smaller, but almost equally fast, air entrapment machine - with the additional bonus of 2 stroke Merc 2.5 EFI engine screaming at 8k+ rpm.
Don't get me wrong, I also love the sound of big blocks on straight exhaust, but that O/B was really something!
Anyway, I see exactly what you mean for all of that - as you can imagine, doing just about the same on a boat weighing much less than one ton makes everything even more hairy...

Re. Photobucket, there's nothing wrong in having uploaded your whole album, and you can always delete any images at any time, when you are logged in with your account.
But for sharing some single pics, you don't need to give your account to anybody, just do the following:
If you click on your album name in the left part of the initial screen, you should see in the central part of the screen a list of icons showing all your uploaded pics.
Under each of them, you should find the "IMG" line: you can just copy and paste it in any post you want to make here - that's all, job done.
In fact, that line includes both the image link and also the beginning and closing tags -

respectively - that allow the forum software to recognise what is in between as a link to an image, showing the image itself instead of the text line.

 

[spannerman]

I am struggling with photobucket, I followed your advice and when I open my album I have all the pics but with a box with a tick in it, I don't have individual IMG links, over on the right there is an email&img box with a code beginning with http etc photobucket but if I paste this you get the whole address and account line up on the thread. I want to just upload the 9 pics in the album preferably with one link, but maybe this is how I have to do it as I can't find individual links on each pic. I tried cutting off the account details and adding the tags but it didn't work unless I cut off the wrong bits.
Feel a bit frustrated as I can rebuild a Nortech driveline but can't figure out uploading! You were right Photobucket is not as user friendly as YT.

 

[MapisM]

when I open my album I have all the pics but with a box with a tick in it, I don't have individual IMG links

That's weird.
Actually, I half remember to have played a bit with the Photobucket settings in the past, so I can't rule out that the option of showing (right under each of those icons with the tick box) also the line is something that should be configured somewhere.
Anyway, if you click on one of those icons of your images, you should see only that pic, much larger than the icon alone, and on its right side you should see a line "SHARE THIS PHOTO", under which there is the [IMG] link - or at least, that's what I get in my account.

Hoping that some examples can make things clearer, I took a couple of screenshots of my Photobucket screen.
The one on top shows the icons list which I can see after selecting one album, while the one at the bottom is what I get after clicking on one of the icons.
As you can see, there are [IMG] links under each of the icons, but after clicking on one of them (In this case, I selected the "Floating.jpg" image), the system shows me its specific link on the right, under "SHARE THIS PHOTO", as I suggested above.

Otoh, if Photobucket behaves differently with your account, I'm afraid we must wait for someone who knows the website better than myself... :ambivalence:
[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b380/mapism/Various/PB.jpg

 

[spannerman]

Preflighting the Nortech. I managed to get 1 pic up but no success uploading album, so maybe will have to do them individually but don't want to create a huge long thread.

 

[Offshore57]

I went for a run in one of the Class One start boats in Dubai, a few years ago...they have an orange one and a yellow one of these gorgeous machines.......what a ride....got up to 104 mph....

 

[spannerman]

Ok I give up, I can't figure out how to list just the pics for upload as others seem to do, so the whole page is there, but the individual pics can be clicked on, I know I'm a media dunce!
http://s781.photobucket.com/user/sentinel113/library/Nortech

 

[MapisM]

Ooooh, that's some boat porn for good! :encouragement:
Thanks for sharing your pics, the beast indeed looks immaculate. She's normally sheltered, I suppose?
I'm also curious about the setup - in this pic, it looks like she's rigged to allow moving the steering wheel to stbd, leaving the port seat to the throttleman, correct?
And if so, did you ever tried her that way?

Re. posting the image links, actually I'm not aware of a way to include in a forum post a whole album with just one click.
What I normally do is copy and paste the link of each image I want to post, one at a time.
It's easier done than said though, because if you keep photobucket in one window and the forum in another, you just copy the link from the former and paste it in the latter.

What makes life a bit more complicated to you is that the page you linked doesn't seem to show the link under the icon of each image, so you should click one image at a time, copy its link, go back, and do the same for each pic.
I checked my photobucket page, and I think to have understood how you should change the configuration of yours.
You must be logged with your user/password to do the following of course, otherwise I could have done it for you:
1) If you go to the page you linked, there is a small "settings" icon (the gear icon) in the top right corner, click on it.
2) That should open a page with several settings (Personal, Albums, Privacy, Apps, Notifications, Mobile, Account).
3) Since you reached it from your album, you should see directly the "Albums" tag, but if you don't, just click the "Albums" tag.
4) Flag the tickbox "Turn on easy linking mode", that's what should add the link line under each of the icons in the previous page.
5) In the "Links" section, you can select which types of links to show. I left only the "IMG code" flagged, the others are useless (for me, at least).

Hope this helps!

 

[spannerman]

Thanks Mapism for your patience, I have now enabled easy links and all the img codes are visible so should be easier next time.
Yes you can swap the wheel over or have two wheels even, the boat normally lives in a boat house winched up out of the water Florida style. I only ever drove it as shown.
I have some more boat pics to post whem I get time.

 

[BruceK]

now that is boat porn :encouragement:





Want to swap for some beat up KAD42's?

 

[MapisM]

Doh! I'm only just noticing now, looking at the engine bay pics, that the exhausts are not going straight in those beautifully integrated openings visible in your first pic, on the upper part of the stern. Was the boat built to be CE compliant, with the underwater Merc X-haust system?
My understanding was that such exhaust is the only one CE approved for Merc Racing engines, but only up to the 662Sci, because none of the higher power blocks are CE approved.
Alas, didn't you mention in another thread that you were dealing with 1200 and 900 hp engines?
Regardless, imho it's a bit of a shame fitting u/w exhausts on a boat like that...

 

[jfm]

spannerman, many thanks, fantastic

Photbucket - try this. The ticks you see are not ticks. Click on the ticks and they change colour to blue. THEN you have ticked them. So do that to all 9 pictures. THEN click "links" at the bottom of the page. Then you see a box - click on the white box that contains the bbcode is the [img tags and [/img tags. It automatically copies ot clipboard. Then paste into a post on here, and all 9 pictures will show

You can do it one by one but ticking all 9 then clicking "link" is much easier

Thanks again

 

[MapisM]

Blimey, how some folks who design software can think of tick boxes that change colour instead of being flagged/unflagged, that's beyond belief.
But thanks for the hint! :encouragement:

 

[spannerman]

Thanks jfm for the tips I will try it with some other pics I have. Yes we had another Nortech with 1200hp engines but it wasn't as balanced and a lot harder to drive than the orange one I will post some pics. Yes the exhausts were underwater, although at high speed there was very little water in the vicinity of the outlet in the transom, so believe me no one in the area was in any doubt you were coming. The 700 engines were factory certified but the 1200 engines were built by an independent company in the US.
Here are some pics of an Artic Blue RIB with a V 10 700hp Ilmor engine derived from the Dodge Viper, it sounded great with the direct exhausts and did 65 knts on an IMCO drive with a 4 blade SS prop. My wife is pretty nervous on the water, but she loved driving it and she said she felt very safe as the boat had its own life jacket (pontoons).

 

[MapisM]

Aha, understood, thanks.
The 662Sci I previously mentioned is in fact just the EU version of the US 700Sci, slightly de-tuned to make it RCD compliant, but basically the same animal.
Looking forward to seeing also the 1200, because while the 662/700 already qualifies as boat porn, petrol big blocks with 4 digits output are firmly in the hardcore league...! :encouragement:

Edit: hey, hang on a second! I didn't see the last pics before writing this post, I guess you attached them in the meantime.
You didn't mention also Ilmor engines, I have a soft spot for them!
Naturally aspirated and with a sound to die for, I'd love to go for a ride with that RIB.
Can't tell for sure looking at the transom pic, is it also mated with the beautiful Indy outdrive?
Regardless, fantastic stuff, thanks again for sharing your pics!

PPS: what's the third throttle lever meant for?!?

 

[spannerman]

Here are the two 1200hp motors out for some maintenance. As you can see they are pretty tall units. You can see the black fuel gallery around the throttle bodies with 12 injectors feeding 8 cylinders, and on the bottom pic at the lower left you can see a row of 3 SS bends, that is the triple impellor seawater pump, on feeds the engine block, there is no circulation pump just constant seawater supply which then exits at the front and splits to the two risers another pump goes direct to the intercooler under the blower, and the 3rd feeds the oil coolers at the rear of the engine. Thanks for everyones help, I've got the hang off it now as you can see.

 

[BruceK]

I'll never be able to look at my own engines the same way again :disgust: