repowering 1978 hunter 27

[Glen McQuigg]

Is it possible to upgrade the HP from Yanmar 8HP to something larger. This boat seems to be under powered. Would a three bladed prop help? Folding or feathering? Thanks glen McQuigg

 

[Gordon Torresen]

8 HP

The 8 HP engine in your Hunter 27 is considered marginal to many. It is certainly adequate if all the HP is used properly. If you have low, or bad, batteries, some HP is useed on the alternator. If the shaft is grossly misaligned, more wasted HP. If the boat's bottom is badly fouled, the drag must be overcome by more HP. Wrong prop, bad fuel, mechanical problems, slipping clutch and probably many other things could be contributing to loss of apparent HP. If you want to overcome all these problems with brute force, the 2GM20F will do it, at a cost of about $7000.00.

 

[David Foster]

What do we expect from the diesel?

I've got the same engine in Lady Lillie, '77 h27. She'll do 5 knots without a problem, and did just under 4 knots into 3-5 foot waves and 15-20 knot winds leaving Sandusky bay last summer. I cruise it at about 4.5 knots for long hauls. Oh yes, there is the prop walk on start-up, but it seems most of us have figured out how to neutralize that, or make it work for us. All of this is with a hull speed of 6.2 knots.I wonder what we should expect?David