Hey All I found a nice 1988 Hunter-33.5 but I think it's a bit underpowered. It only has a 16 HP Diesel. I've never had a Hunter before but it looks like the new 33.5's have almost double the HP. I want to head up the coast from Oregon to Washington and need something that has a bit more power...I think....Any ideas? Is there a motor with more HP that will fit where the 16 is?
UNDER POWERED MOTOR
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backward thinking
It would be wrong to think of the older boats as being underpowered when in fact the newer boats are overpowered. It's something of a marketplace phenomenon: Manufacturer A claims that their boats are better than the others because, among other things, their engines are more powerful. We make the mistake of buying those boats, and Manufacturer B, in turn, puts a slightly larger engine in their boats of the same size than Manufacturer A had. And so it goes. Not only do bigger engines weigh more, they suck up more fuel, requiring larger tanks. The extra fuel is where the weight penalty really kicks in. The result is that the overpowered boat sails poorly, meaning it will spend less time under sail and more time under power. Bottom line: 16 horses are plenty enough to pull a vessel that displaces five tons. Count yourself lucky to have purchased a boat that was designed and powered in the pre-SUV era.
It would be wrong to think of the older boats as being underpowered when in fact the newer boats are overpowered. It's something of a marketplace phenomenon: Manufacturer A claims that their boats are better than the others because, among other things, their engines are more powerful. We make the mistake of buying those boats, and Manufacturer B, in turn, puts a slightly larger engine in their boats of the same size than Manufacturer A had. And so it goes. Not only do bigger engines weigh more, they suck up more fuel, requiring larger tanks. The extra fuel is where the weight penalty really kicks in. The result is that the overpowered boat sails poorly, meaning it will spend less time under sail and more time under power. Bottom line: 16 horses are plenty enough to pull a vessel that displaces five tons. Count yourself lucky to have purchased a boat that was designed and powered in the pre-SUV era.
The 3gm30
My 93 H33.5 came with a 3gm30, has plenty of horsepower, did a 3 blade feathering prop and moves along at 3000 rmp very nicely. It might fit right in, call the factory and ask.
My 93 H33.5 came with a 3gm30, has plenty of horsepower, did a 3 blade feathering prop and moves along at 3000 rmp very nicely. It might fit right in, call the factory and ask.
The hull speed...
...of a 33.5 is 7.2 kts which can easily be reached given a clean bottom. My 35.5 has the same engine and displaces 13,000 lbs. It hits its hull speed of 7.3 kts at 2900 rpm's with no worries. IMHO they could both use lesser hp engines. The only way to know if a 16hp engine will be sufficient is to take it on a sea trial. With a clean bottom and correctly sized prop, max hull speed should be no problem.
...of a 33.5 is 7.2 kts which can easily be reached given a clean bottom. My 35.5 has the same engine and displaces 13,000 lbs. It hits its hull speed of 7.3 kts at 2900 rpm's with no worries. IMHO they could both use lesser hp engines. The only way to know if a 16hp engine will be sufficient is to take it on a sea trial. With a clean bottom and correctly sized prop, max hull speed should be no problem.
They changed in...
'90 or '91 to the larger yanmar and the small diesel is one of the few complaints I've read on the earlier 33.5. Don't know if I'd let it be a deal breaker though. Read through all the owners reviews on this site for some perspective. It is a "sail" boat after all
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'90 or '91 to the larger yanmar and the small diesel is one of the few complaints I've read on the earlier 33.5. Don't know if I'd let it be a deal breaker though. Read through all the owners reviews on this site for some perspective. It is a "sail" boat after all
!
Agree with John F almost
I agree with John that the manufacturers are in a HP war but there is a trend in boating that is invisibly driving the HP increases. A lot of sailors (if you can call them that) don't understand how to sail and give up when the wind pipes up. They refuse to learn how to go to windward and are scared to death of going down wind with full sail up. If the boat gets more than 5 degrees of heel on a beam reach they don't know how to handle the boat or trim the sails. The result is they sail only in perfect conditions and resort to the iron spinnaker more often. Using the engine in strong winds (this is a sail boat right???) requires a more powerful motor. IMHO a motor is used primarily for when there is no wind when the conditions will be "waves flat" or close to it. You really don't need that big an engine in these conditions. But you certainly need to know how to tack off a lee shore as in a blow your safety factor is your skill and sail inventory not your engine. Clearly the rank and file of this forum don't fit into this category as even the very voyeur end of participation at least is trying to learn something and become a better sailor.
I agree with John that the manufacturers are in a HP war but there is a trend in boating that is invisibly driving the HP increases. A lot of sailors (if you can call them that) don't understand how to sail and give up when the wind pipes up. They refuse to learn how to go to windward and are scared to death of going down wind with full sail up. If the boat gets more than 5 degrees of heel on a beam reach they don't know how to handle the boat or trim the sails. The result is they sail only in perfect conditions and resort to the iron spinnaker more often. Using the engine in strong winds (this is a sail boat right???) requires a more powerful motor. IMHO a motor is used primarily for when there is no wind when the conditions will be "waves flat" or close to it. You really don't need that big an engine in these conditions. But you certainly need to know how to tack off a lee shore as in a blow your safety factor is your skill and sail inventory not your engine. Clearly the rank and file of this forum don't fit into this category as even the very voyeur end of participation at least is trying to learn something and become a better sailor.
hull speed
Hull speed is a sticky wicket. My boat's hull speed is 9 knots, but it takes twice the fuel, measured in gallons per hour, to go nine knots than to go eight knots, even in flat seas. Twice the fuel means half the range, an important consideration for a cruiser. Therefore, rather than ask whether an engine will drive the boat at hull speed (given a clean bottom, an efficient prop and flat seas) it might be a better measure of adequate horsepower to ask whether a boat will travel at 80% of theoretical hull speed at 80% of max sustainable RPMs. That, after all, is the range where most cruisers want an engine to perform.
Hull speed is a sticky wicket. My boat's hull speed is 9 knots, but it takes twice the fuel, measured in gallons per hour, to go nine knots than to go eight knots, even in flat seas. Twice the fuel means half the range, an important consideration for a cruiser. Therefore, rather than ask whether an engine will drive the boat at hull speed (given a clean bottom, an efficient prop and flat seas) it might be a better measure of adequate horsepower to ask whether a boat will travel at 80% of theoretical hull speed at 80% of max sustainable RPMs. That, after all, is the range where most cruisers want an engine to perform.
Aux power
I have a 1988 33.5 (actually it's 333) and it will do 7 kn on flat water with no headwind at 2800 rpm. Add in a stiff headwind and chop and it will knock it down to about 5 kn. So is the boat underpowered? Not on smooth water. And it uses less fuel than a 3GM30. And it's lighter. Your call.
I have a 1988 33.5 (actually it's 333) and it will do 7 kn on flat water with no headwind at 2800 rpm. Add in a stiff headwind and chop and it will knock it down to about 5 kn. So is the boat underpowered? Not on smooth water. And it uses less fuel than a 3GM30. And it's lighter. Your call.
bang for the buck
If the concern is how to get the boat up the coast from Oregon to Washington, keep the 16 horse and invest in a three-blade folding prop. On a boat that size you should be able to get something like a flex-o-fold for somewhere between $1,000 and $1,500, which is a fraction of what it will cost to repower. A good 3-blade prop goes a long way at keeping you from losing speed in choppy water. It's important to realize, however, that we all lose speed in less-than-ideal motoring conditions, even the overpowered boats. If you want to be relatively unfazed motoring into wind chop, the solution is a bigger boat, not just a bigger engine. I recently moved from a 10 ton displacement boat with a 51 horse diesel to 15 tons displacement with a 76 horse turbo. Unfortunately, I went from .63 gph at 80% WOT to 2 gph. This means less range with the 100 gallon fuel tank on the new boat than I had with the 50 gallon tank on the old. They say every boat's a compromise. So is every engine.
If the concern is how to get the boat up the coast from Oregon to Washington, keep the 16 horse and invest in a three-blade folding prop. On a boat that size you should be able to get something like a flex-o-fold for somewhere between $1,000 and $1,500, which is a fraction of what it will cost to repower. A good 3-blade prop goes a long way at keeping you from losing speed in choppy water. It's important to realize, however, that we all lose speed in less-than-ideal motoring conditions, even the overpowered boats. If you want to be relatively unfazed motoring into wind chop, the solution is a bigger boat, not just a bigger engine. I recently moved from a 10 ton displacement boat with a 51 horse diesel to 15 tons displacement with a 76 horse turbo. Unfortunately, I went from .63 gph at 80% WOT to 2 gph. This means less range with the 100 gallon fuel tank on the new boat than I had with the 50 gallon tank on the old. They say every boat's a compromise. So is every engine.
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