22 foot Cruiser speed.

H

Hat

New member
I just bought a 22' C-Dory cruiser with twin Evinrude Etec 50's on it. The last owner said cruising speed was around 17 mph with top speed aroune 21 mph. A friend of mine has the identical boat with twin Suzuki 50's and has a top speed of 30. Is this a normal top speed? I was wondering if the prop pitch on the Etecs need changed to get more speed. Just wondering what the norm is out there since I am a new C-Dory owner. High speed isn't that important but it would be nice to get it when I did need it.
 
I have older twin honda 35's on my 1996 and on a good day at sea level I can squeak out 30. Your rpm is suspect if that is all the speed you can get. My top rpm is 5600 and if I hit that I am right at 30. You are either overpropped or confusing the terminology related to "top cruising speed" versus top speed. My "top cruising speed" I consider at the speed which I am on plane, comfortable, with rpm low enough to give me some economy.
 
Make sure you're not confusing kts for mph. I cruise at 17 kts (~20 mph) with a top speed of about 25 kts in perfect conditions. That's pretty close to 31 mph.
 
C-Dawg":2ug5ofha said:
Make sure you're not confusing kts for mph. I cruise at 17 kts (~20 mph) with a top speed of about 25 kts in perfect conditions. That's pretty close to 31 mph.
Click to expand...
25 kts = 28.8 mph. (1 kt = 1.15mph)

With twin Honda 40's on my previous 22 I would get around 25-26 kts wide open an lightly loaded and perhaps a knot or two more prior to putting on the permatrims.
 
C-Dawg":2hh90u9o said:
Oops, I was using 1.51 instead of 1.151. That's why I don't work at Mission Control.
Click to expand...

1.51 * 25 = 37.75... (not 31)

Yet another reason to not work at Mission Control... :lol:
(sorry couldn't resist....) BTW - take a look at the Neah Bay thread. Maybe you and Shirley want to join up for a fishing trip this year...
 
No confusion, my indication is in MPH. And "cruising" speed according to the latest owner was 17 mph with top speed at 21 mph as I stated. I have only had it out once since the purchase and it was in rough seas and I only reached 12 mph before turning around and coming back in. I will check it out this time home from work.
 
Don't think we're the norm, but do run near the same max speeds as you with our Honda 40's & the RPM tops out at about 5300. Am limited to the lower speed due to running very heavy on our extended cruises & the high altitude where we do most of our local cruising at Yellowstone Lake. Think if you normally run more near medium loads considering a prop change is in order.

Jay
 
Hat - with properly propped twin 50's you should wind up with top speeds in the 26-30MPH range on nearly flat water unless the boat is very heavily loaded.
 
Hi when my 22 was brand new with half fuel and full water with only safety gear and bedding aboard I got 30 mph out of her. With a full cruise payload I now can get 27 mph in flat conditions. I only can stay at this speed for about a minute just for fun. It is way too fast for happy cruising. It isn't at all "squirrelly " at this speed, it's just that stuff is coming up too fast. I find I run at around 4000 rpm and 14 to 15 knots. Much better to cruise at. I find 8 knots is really a great speed also. These boats are not "go fast" type boats. George
 
What size props do you have?

One of the things with the E-Tecs is that they will run up to their rev limiter, and not hiccup or burp to let you know you've hit it.

I think you may need larger pitch props, but knowing what size you have now would be a starting point.
 
Hi Hat,

You probably already considered this but the performance of my CD 25, especially top speed, is significantly impacted by the condition of the bottom.

Thanks, Dick
 
ghone":2sswjfup said:
Hi when my 22 was brand new with half fuel and full water with only safety gear and bedding aboard I got 30 mph out of her. With a full cruise payload I now can get 27 mph in flat conditions. I only can stay at this speed for about a minute just for fun. It is way too fast for happy cruising. It isn't at all "squirrelly " at this speed, it's just that stuff is coming up too fast. I find I run at around 4000 rpm and 14 to 15 knots. Much better to cruise at. I find 8 knots is really a great speed also. These boats are not "go fast" type boats. George
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George, sure agree the 22 cruisers are not go fast boats & we even prefer to go slower then you. Most of our on plane cruising is between 11 & 13 knots or displacement speed at 6 or less & it wouldn't change if we had more power. I too like the 8 knot cruising, but have found it not very economical due to it being in the transitionary phase between displacement & being on plane. Also agree with the correlation of increased speed way enhancing collision of boat with debris. Many times we just missed debris that most likely would have been hit if going much faster. Many of us aren't just trying to get from point A to B as fast as possible, but more interested in the experience in between. I have trouble understanding why some folks even purchase these boats when there obvious desire is to do just that. There's many other boats more adapt at going fast in comfort if that is ones desire. My target goal for prop pitch & size is to achieve the most economical use of the boat with the least wear on the motor when cruising at the speeds we prefer. All that said, I still agree with Hat, that on the rare times speed is needed wouldn't mind having it available and with the set up he describes it should be

Jay
 
You should be able to cruise comfortably in the low 20's and top speed at 30 mph. As the C Dory goes much over 30, the handling gets a bit squirley--but they do very well in the mid 20's. (statuate miles per hour--only used because much of boat boating has been both at Lake Powell and on the ICW--both of which use statuate mph, rather than nautical miles per hour in their bouyage systems.

As Matt suggests, you are under propped most likely--need a bit more pitch in the props. Or there is something dramatically wrong with the boat. This would include a very dirty bottom if the boat is kept in the water all of the time.
 
My old 1983 Classic, brand new, totally empty except for me and 6 gal. of gas, 115 hp Johnson.....top speed of 35 mph on Big Lake.
It was exciting until the prop torque overcame the boat stability and it flopped on it's side at 35 mph. Believe me the seat got real "greasy". I never did that again.
Loaded with all the normal stuff and people it cruised at 20 mph. in 1-3' comfortably. 15 mph. was much better.
You have prop problems or your anchor is dragging.
 
Honda 90 (2003), tops out at 5600 rpm, 27-28 mph. Tabs and motor trim help at top end, not that it really matters much. But, we might do a little better now. The mechanic noticed the thermostat was stuck open and the motor was not likely reaching full operating temp.

One thing about these boats - there is not a great deal of difference in fuel economy between 4000 rpm and 4700 rpm or so. 4000 rpm is probably 15 mph or so on my boat. Even as low as 10 mph, on plane, it does about the same as my normal cruise at 4400 rpm - which was about 20 mph last weekend. Fresh bottom paint helped over last year's barnacle encrusted mess, to be sure!

Last weekend, we were making between 4.5 - 4.7 mpg. I even saw it peak at 5.05 mpg for a minute or two! Much better than last summer's 3.8mpg. These are 4400 rpm numbers.

Mike
 
Previous owner of the craft in question here - sorry if I caused any confusion to the new owner. We cruised comfortably at 17 knots (not mph). I recall having the boat up to 22-23 knots in optimal conditions (not quite at full throttle though) and it was too fast for comfort. 17 knots was our sweet spot in calm/semi-bumpy conditions. The twin 50 E-tecs had plenty of power to get it up to top speed.
 
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