new C-Brat

K

KickerDRB

New member
All,

Well it is official we are now a C-Brat family. We have wanted to get a small family cruiser to explore south central Alaska for years. After a ton of research we narrowed in on a C-Dory. We started looking for a 22ft Cruiser this winter. It took a few months but we found Joy, 2005 22ft cruiser, on the C-Brat sight. I was on it within hours of the posting. I had Puget Marina in Olympia give it a once over for me and I bought it sight unseen. Then I started looking for a ride for Joy to Alaska. Again, C-Brats to the rescue. I exchanged a few e-mails with Jack in Alaska, he had an empty trailer ball heading North that fit my timeframe. I can’t say enough good things about Jack. He was great to deal with, tons of updates, even a few pictures of the trip. And a rock solid recommendation on getting the boat shrink wrapped for shipment. Kevin at PacificShrinkWrap got it ready for a ride to Alaska. He also did a great job. Jack rolled into town just before Easter. It was like Christmas morning at my house. We got it unwrapped and attacked the boat with a scrub brush. An un-naming ceremony was performed. I will follow up with pictures once I figure out how to build an album.

We took it out for a maiden voyage last Sunday. Seas flat as can be, light breeze, no swells. 6" wind chop in the late evening.

Ran a total of 70nm burning 25.6gallons with a 2005 90hp Suzuki (3x14x17) The sweet spot seemed to be 15-16knts at 4,300-4,400 rpm burning 5.8 gph. 2.7nm/gal average. WOT is 5,200RPM at 22knts. I was loaded very light on a day trip only, full fuel and water tanks with minimal gear. It seemed to run best with the outboard trimmed all the way down and the trim tabs also all the way down. I plan on adding a permatrim. Hopefully that will give me back some plane adjustment other than full down on everything...

Anyway does this seem reasonable performance? I was honestly expecting a little better performance on cruise speed and fuel burn. I am definitely going to need more fuel. (2) 20 gallon tanks will not cut it on anything but a day trip. Any feedback on performance or adding additional fuel capacity would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave
 
If the seas were flat, I'm surprised you felt better with everything trimmed full down. Generally, you shouldn't need the trim tabs at all in the conditions you described. The boat should do closer to 28-30kts light loaded with a 90HP engine and trim tabs full up. It will "skitter" a little across the water at those speeds. At lower RPM's with tabs up, and doing 16kts, I'd expect you'd get closer to 3.5nmpg. My guess is that you are losing a lot of fuel economy by running with the tabs down to get a feel that is more similar to what you experience in a V-hull boat.

Oh and by the way - congrats on the new to you boat. I'm sure you'll get many years of enjoyment out of it.
 
Congrats on the "new" boat. C-Dancer has the exact same set-up and your figures sound very close to ours. Love the Suzu 90hp. I added the Permatrim and think that's a great addition, you really don't need the trim tabs much except for lateral trim. In that respect, Roger is right in that the boat will handle nicely without the trim tabs down. We can also achieve near 30 knots at WOT in flat water. We also have the motor with the PT trimmed almost all the way down for the best ride. So what you've said pretty much jibes with what we experience.

Enjoy the boat this summer. We love ours!
 
Congrats on the "New to You" C-Dory. Great find and great family here. Enjoy.

I, too, was surprised at running with everything trimmed full down. SleepyC is an 05, with twin 40's and trim tabs, (no permatrims) and generally run with a very little bit of up trim on the motors and no down on the tabs unless the water is rough. Then down to cut the waves some, less bumpy.

Looking forward to teh photos.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

JC_Lately_SleepyC_Flat_Blue_070.thumb.jpg
 
I would say that the fuel mileage is low for flat water. Generally one comes to cruising speed, and then works the trim on the engine to get the highest RPM at that throttle setting. Trim all of the way down, with both trim tabs and engine may be giving you less mpg. Certainly you should get over 3 to 3.5 miles per gallon, especially with a 4 stroke.

WOT should be over 5500, and top speed should be in the 30 mph range. With a 90 2 stroke we were going better than you are.

Trim the boat to see what the WOT is max--that is what you need to be concerned with. You are over trimming, and if you get in a following sea that could be dangerous. You want to trim the bow down to "cut" into the chop with more "V" when going into the waves only. Smooth water or beam seas, down wind/seas, then trim bow up more.
 
thataway":3j0c0xhm said:
I would say that the fuel mileage is low for flat water. Generally one comes to cruising speed, and then works the trim on the engine to get the highest RPM at that throttle setting. Trim all of the way down, with both trim tabs and engine may be giving you less mpg. Certainly you should get over 3 to 3.5 miles per gallon, especially with a 4 stroke.

WOT should be over 5500, and top speed should be in the 30 mph range. With a 90 2 stroke we were going better than you are.

Trim the boat to see what the WOT is max--that is what you need to be concerned with. You are over trimming, and if you get in a following sea that could be dangerous. You want to trim the bow down to "cut" into the chop with more "V" when going into the waves only. Smooth water or beam seas, down wind/seas, then trim bow up more.
Click to expand...

Bob,

He is in fact getting over 3 mpg. He initially reported 70 nautical miles and burned 25.6 gallons which would calculate to roughtly 80.5 statue miles divided by 25.6 gallons = 3.15 mpg. I agree that he should be going faster than 22 knots at WOT, the operating range at WOT for a Suzuki DF90 is 5200-5600. So he's at the low range.

Also, I erred in my prior post. I stated we achieve 30 knots at WOT. It's actually 30 mph or 26 knots.
 
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