Re-powering a MacM from 70 HP up

[bastonjock]

I also preferr to sail/motorsail along at 5-6 knots,yes ive had her over at a hard heel once or thrice but i preferr to sit back and enjoy,my daughter calls heel "tippage" and my wife complains is she starts to spill her gin and tonic.I had an offer last year for 28% off of the retail price of any Suzuki engine,(dealers only get 23%) my wife does business with Suzuki UK.

Ive got 12 weeks to go before i get my back in the water.

[Highlander]

I also preferr to sail/motorsail along at 5-6 knots,yes ive had her over at a hard heel once or thrice but i preferr to sit back and enjoy,my daughter calls heel "tippage" and my wife complains is she starts to spill her gin and tonic.I had an offer last year for 28% off of the retail price of any Suzuki engine,(dealers only get 23%) my wife does business with Suzuki UK.

Ive got 12 weeks to go before i get my back in the water.

Thx alot I really needed to hear that
end of Feb I hope to get back into the Mod adventure again !
Hoping for an early start to the spring seeing as we had a really early start to this winter !!

J

[Octaman]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Hi everyone,

Prop arrived (3 x 14 x 17) - went straight on to Suzi - despite the bitter cold and imperfect conditions took the boat to the ramp today and initiated the break-in procedure with religious precision. The manual says 10 hours are necessary, I did two and a half today – following the sequence strictly as described by the manufacturer.

I can now run the engine up to 4.000 rpm. First impressions are extremely positive. The 100 HP Suzuki has a LOT of power and you can really feel the torque. There is absolutely no strain at all on the engine. The engine happily does what it is told to do. (Note: all trials with ballast empty)

The combination of the wedge and the greater torque have made the 26M perform in a totally different way. As you power up, the boat just lifts out of the water almost with no pitch, staying almost level; a sensational new feeling. I did not take any readings (speed etc) as I was totally focused on the engine and in any case I could not rev up as I wished to. So, numbers will come later. Prop feels about right or could be on the light side (may be able to take a higher pitch), but will find out only when I am able to power up to WOT.
At 3.700 rpm the boat felt it was doing the speed my old 70 did at 4.900 rpm. I may be a bit off here, but that was the feeling.
Suzi is very quiet; she has a compeletey different sound to my great old 70. So, now need to get used to a whole new package of sounds. She is certainly more silent (so far). I am very, very impressed with this new motor. And this is just the beginning!

Another observation: it was a windy day today and I was doing my trials off a weather shore, so there was wind but waves not equivalent to the wind – relatively flat – the Mac tracks much better than it previously did in similar conditions. With the wind on the beam even the autopilot too did a much better job of keeping a course.

Also, it seems that I am in for a dryer ride; I used to get more spray in the cockpit. Not sure what will happen when I go faster though. We shall see.

I am busy tomorrow and rain has been forecast for the next few days so I won’t be out on the water again soon. I shall keep you posted when things move on again, and have new info to report.

Happy Sailing!

Octaman

[beene]

All sounds great

Congrats so far

Cant wait to hear more

G

[Highlander]

Great review can't wait to hear more Yes the wedge kit does allow for a dryer ride by increasing your tilt level 5 % more & I suspect all that extra torq is just lifting the arse of that boat right outa the water
So that said & done I'm hoping that new prop of mine 13 / 1/4 / 17 pitch will be just the cats arse
can't wait to do a comparison with Beene's newer prop

Thx for the great info & update

J
PS my Merc is very quiet also but that intake shure roars like hull when all that Torq ! kicks in sweet music to my deaf ears !!

[Octaman]

Hi guys, went out on the water again and can now definitely say:

MacM + 1950cc = HUGE success

We had a few days of really bad weather with rain and wind blowing up to force 9, so we were restricted to port (and to home). Now the sun is back again and winds have dropped down to force 5. So I grabbed the opportunity and went out on our MacM again to log break-in hours.
I am now past the point where I can go above 4000 rpm and only briefly touch WOT. I am the type of guy that likes to be on the plus side of engine break-in hours and give the outboard a more than adequate time to smoothly break-in. So, I am not in a hurry to go flat out but at the same time have all the curiosity in the world to see how the new engine will perform with the MacM.
Now that I have touched on WOT I can definitely say the MacM + 1950cc is a HUGE success (Victor, this is your line ).
It seems that the 3x14x17 prop may be just right; perhaps a little light now that the boat is on the light side but will wait till I have all my equipment back on board (summer cruising mode) to objectively evaluate the prop's performance. I am not sure if later on I shall need to try out an appropriate four blade; we shall see.
In any case, yesterday I went out with a hefty friend so I had 100 extra kilos on board (that is equivalent to the Admiral plus daughter plus some carry on belongings) and I tell you, Suzi did not in the least feel the difference; no sweat!
Once again a weather shore, so we had some wind but no significant waves - going against the wind (0 degrees) versus going dead downwind I had a difference in speed of approx. 1 knot - upwind engine trim all the way down worked best, downwind, a touch of trim up was required. We had a small handheld GPS with us and took some readings, but did not again take careful exact measurements nor record them on paper (this will come later) but I can tell you that in the high end rpm range we hit 20 knots with ease!!! (1 knot = 1 nautical mile per hour - not to be confused with the statute mile) (20 knots= approx. 23 miles per hour). And there is room for more - Suzi has a LOT of power.

As Road Soldier would say, I "chickened out" when I hit 5.500 rpm (with ease) for a second or two and throttled back.

Highlander, the deep roar of the motor, like your Merc, is a melody to my ears. Very sweet!!!
However, I am experiencing an echo effect in a certain rpm range when the motor is trimmed all the way down (touching the stern). The working vibration of the motor echoes through the boat like a speaker. Here I am with an engine that has acceptable decibel levels and I am annoyed by the echo effect. Maybe when mattresses and all my stuff goes back into the boat, it will help dampen the sound. Has anyone else with the bigger engines experienced this?

Beene, as my M was sliding on the water, it felt just like your video on ‘glass’ (and I had far from perfect conditions). Really cool!
Once again all trials without ballast.

As for fuel consumption, it is hard to gauge when you are starting and stopping all the time and continuously varying your engine revs but by following the rate at which my 25 litre tank emptied, I can say things look pretty promising. When I make one of my regular trips to one of the nearby islands I shall be able to make an objective evaluation by comparing what I used to burn with my previous 70. That will come soon.
I am now convinced that increasing engine volume is the way to go with the MacM!!!

That’s it for now, hope you find my report enlightening.

Happy sailing

Octaman

[vkmaynard]

Outstanding report! Thanks for sharing.

Any thought of trying a 4 blade prop?

Can't wait to hear your final Speed numbers and RPMs after break-in.

We had no idea how much improvement of control over our environment on our Mac was until we took a ride on
Billy's 140 X. The X definitely performs as advertised with a 90 and the M with a 100+.

Ready to sell you new motor and put a 10 Hp kicker on the back??

Victor

[Octaman]

MacM + 1950cc = HUGE success

Thanks for the post Victor.
I have benefitted a lot from this site, especially in the early days of mac-ownership, and prior to that, and I am always willing to contribute and share when I have a new experience. That's what this site is all about.
I have been thinking of the four blade prop and certainly have not rejected it. I think I will eventually end up trying one but not right now. One step at a time, for me.
I have the feeling that when I do try a four blade it'll be on of those 'why the heck didn't I try it earlier?' things
For the moment, the three blade seems to be doing a great job. and my concern is to log break-in hours and familiarize with the new motor and new behaviour and acquire a better feel and understanding of what is going on.

So today was another glorious day here in Athens, with the sun shining and high temperature (unusual for this time of the year) and I could not resist the temptation to sneak away again in the afternoon to put in another hour or so on the motor. Only this time I did not cruise up and down the coast. I made a small passage to the nearby island of Salamina to a bay that is just 7 nautical miles from home port. Regretfully, in my haste, I left behind the GPS, but I do wear a watch (Ha!). I covered the 7 nautical miles in 20 minutes, cruising on an average at 4.500 rpm. That means I was doing around 21 knots (just over 24 miles per hour) !!! COMFORTABLY - This is way, way beyong my expectations.
The good news is I only chewed up one third of the 25 litre fuel tank (this is approximate but not far off), so that is about 8.3 litres which means I was doing an estimated 1.2 litres per nautical mile (or 0.28 gallons per statute mile) - which I think is not bad at all. Comments???

One more thing; I am definitely gettting a much dryer ride. The higher speed is preventing the spray from reaching the cockpit. In today's conditions, with my previous 70 I would have gotten a bit wet. I returned completely dry!! For me, this is a very important secondary consequence of the bigger engine.


Octaman

[Octaman]

MacM + 1950cc = HUGE success

Took two interesting photos today; one is without ballast, the other with ballast. Suzuki DF100 hanging off the stern. Check out the waterline:

Ballast OUT


Ballast IN


Octaman

[DaveB]

Looks to me, you are setting in at even waterline length with Ballest in . Adding two persons (Weight 400 lbs) in cocpit will bring the waterline much like the first picture with empty ballest.
This looks very good to me but still need total weight for 5 day cruise.
Dave

MacM + 1950cc = HUGE success

Took two interesting photos today; one is without ballast, the other with ballast. Suzuki DF100 hanging off the stern. Check out the waterline:

Ballast OUT


Ballast IN


Octaman

[ROAD Soldier]

Looks to me, you are setting in at even waterline length with Ballest in . Adding two persons (Weight 400 lbs) in cocpit will bring the waterline much like the first picture with empty ballest.
This looks very good to me but still need total weight for 5 day cruise.
Dave

Or just add Dave Or me

[beene]

I am experiencing an echo effect in a certain rpm range when the motor is trimmed all the way down (touching the stern). The working vibration of the motor echoes through the boat like a speaker. Here I am with an engine that has acceptable decibel levels and I am annoyed by the echo effect. Maybe when mattresses and all my stuff goes back into the boat, it will help dampen the sound. Has anyone else with the bigger engines experienced this?

Beene, as my M was sliding on the water, it felt just like your video on ‘glass’ (and I had far from perfect conditions). Really cool!
Once again all trials without ballast.

I always trim all the way in, then tap the up trim. This way the engine is not touching the stern other than the mounting bolts. All for the same reasons you mentioned. I am a musician, and can hear, feel, etc all sounds and vibrations to the extreme. It is really quite annoying. Did you hear that?........... shhhhh...... there it is again...... PITA!

Glad you upgraded to the bigger motor. Don't think you can go wrong, especially with the Suzi. They make nice toys.
Here are my twins.....



G

[Octaman]

MacM + 1950cc = HUGE success

Dave - You're right I think I need to shoot those pictures again when all my summer stuff goes back into the boat.

Road Soldier - Actually, when the Admiral and our girl are on board and we're doing a crossing, they like to be below decks, lying on the seating either side. Their weight could not be better placed as it is low down and in the centre. I guess that is a bonus for me. Other people get seasick just by the thought of going below.

Beene - Great twins. Love those bikes. Yeah, although not a musician myself, do have a musical background and and have developed a sensitive ear, which is the cause of 'frustration' at times. Sometimes I say to myself I could be better off if I was a little 'deaf' to those sensitive delicate sound changes

Okay guys, I'm working on a video - will put it up very soon once I figure out how to get it right. Coming soon . . .

Octaman

[Catigale]

Thanks for the update Octaman ...and the pix...I usually only see the blue hulls looking at the bow...

[Octaman]

Thanks for the update Octaman ...and the pix...I usually only see the blue hulls looking at the bow...

That's because you can see them comin', then they just disappear . . . .