Buying the Merlin

Thanks Ed
I sent you a PM

We arrived in Skagway after a 3 day drive from home in La Center. Some of you may know that the road in to Skagway is very very steep and quite long. It is absolutely beautiful. But it is so steep that I decided to change my return ferry ticket to Haines as I don't yet know the weight of Merlin on it's trailer and we will be near max capacity with the 2006 duramax and slide in camper in the bed.

We had 20 bear sightings on the drive through BC including a momma grizzly with three cubs.

I will have to post pics of the trip when I return as it is just too difficult to do on my iphone.
 
Well, we’ve had a few very busy days. We inspected and made some minor repairs and so forth to make Merlin usable for the trip. We’ve had three days in Auke Bay and the boat has performed wonderfully. It is a joy to drive compared to Hammerhead which is woefully underpowered in my opinion. It’s got a 300 hp Volvo penta duo prop and a cruises at about 20kts at 3000 rpm which is faster than Hammerheads top speed. The ride is great too with a medium vee at the stern and a pretty sharp vee up front. The only thing that has really surprised me so far is the v-berth is definitely smaller than the 22. I think it’s due to the shape of the bow. It is much different than the typical cdory. The back deck is 10-1/2’ x 7-1/2’.
We’ve got 5 nice halibut to the boat with my some catching the lions share. We have 1 more day of fishing then will be packing up and heading to the ferry with a 63’ long rig.
 
`14K????? you stole that boat. The outdrive is twice that to buy. Congrats. I think that bench seat are is going to make a great kitchen and maybe room for a head.
 
We have made it to Fort Nelson BC. We bagged 9 halibut total including a 60 pounder that Josie reeled in. The trailer tows great and the truck tows the whole package a lot better than I thought it would. We are 63’ long and unknown weight.

I paid 16k for the boat which at this point I do agree it was a steal. The previous owner was very honest and a great person to deal with. He owned the boat approximately 20 years and repowered it twice already. The current Volvo is a 2014.
 
I haven’t pushed it beyond 3000rpm yet because I didn’t want to risk anything with a unproven boat but it sure seems to run fine. I’ll feel more comfortable pushing it when I get to my home waters. At 3k it runs through 1-2’ chop easy at 24 mph. I don’t know the fuel burn but we only used about 25 gallons over 4 days.
 
My 27 flat hull with a 225 honda at 24mph burns 10 gal. a hour. or 2.25 to 2.4 mpg Sounds like you got hat beat. if your trailering thru marysville let me have a peak. Hell you can stay the night if things line up
 
Made it home last night. Had a nice visit with Tom and Susan on the way down.

Merlin is now a SW washington boat. I've got big plans for this boat but not sure when to start. I think I'll get it all cleaned up today and take to the river on sunday and try to get some performance and fuel burn numbers.
 
Had a good run in the river today. Didn’t get fuel burn yet because I didn’t refuel the boat on the way home. But performance was great. Cruise at 3600rpm is 30mph and wot is 4800rpm and 40mph. I believe redline should be 5800 so I might be able to gain some more speed with a different prop but really there is no need for more speed and it has ss duoprops so I imagine they are spendy. Even at 40 it felt stable and tracked good but doesn’t really want to turn.
 
I think you are propped correctly. Running at 3000 RPM getting 24 seems good for that combination of outdrive and engine. I would run it there, or maybe up to 3400 RPM. Much better fuel economy in that RPM range. Easier on the engine=longivity.
 
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