[jzimmer]

Need advice on repower of my 43' steel hull roamer. I currently have twin 678 CI Toro-flow diesel engines with 2:1 BW gears. One of which is shot. I'm considering a repower with something used but easier to get parts for. I was originally thinking about 300 hp 8.2 detroits. I've never had this boat running with both engines so am not sure what to expect. Any thoughts?

On another note:

What speed was this hull designed to run at?

With the price of fuel and the fact that it's all I need for a boat I've also been considering just running it as a displacement hull. I think I'd be happy to get 9 knots. Can anyone make recommendations as to horsepower? Naturally I'm trying to do this as affordably as possible.

Thanks in advance.

Jim Zimmer

[JimBauer]

Jim,

I'm a little slow in catching up on these forums so what I'm saying may already be known to you. My last boat, a 40 Mainship DC, had a pair of 8.2 Detroits by Johnson & Towers. I was very happy with these engines, they ran well and were quite efficent having been designed during our last energy crisis. The base engines were 220 and 260 (I've got the manual in front of me) I'm not aware of a 300 HP model unless someone made it up themselves with more cooling, bigger blowers and homebuilt injectors. The J & T mechanics kept telling me to be happy with my 220's as they were bullet proof in that configuration.

Bad news and good news. Ford was the major customer for the 8.2 and when they went to the PowerStroke series, DD discontinued buiding new engines. Good news there will be parts, new engines and factory rebuilts available for a long time to come.

Let me know if you need dimensions, weights etc.

Jim Bauer
San Ramon, CA

[roamer46]

I have a 46' 1964 Roamer with twin 4-107 Perkins 35 H.P. engines. It runs at 8-9 knots at full throttle and 6.5 at an easy cruise. My hull is 46' at the water line and 13.5' at the widest beam and has a flat aft section. It would make a great steel speedster except it costs so much more to go just twice as fast. I'm on an inland lake, so, I don't have to contend with many high winds and swift currents. Maybe after I hit the lottery I'll repower with some larger modern diesels.

If you just want to get through the water as efficiently as possible, then get a couple of 100 H.P. or less engines. It doesn't take much to get these boats to displacement hull speeds.

boatdiesel.com has calculators that tell you how many horsepower you need to go a certain speed.

Good luck and post what you end up doing.

[Darryl Tedford]

I also have a 43' steel hulled roamer Bel Canto, but mine is powered with a couple of either 431 or 426 Chryslers labeled at 290 hp each. She easily will cruise all day at 13-15 knots and I have run it at 22mph according to my gps and my nav system. it just depends how much fuel you want to go thru in a day. One day I went thru 235 gallons.