Westerbeke 10 Two & its prop

[31seahorse]

Hello Members,

Thanks for responses to my other posts! I enjoy your comments and hope to learn from them.

Here's the background info: We have owned two other Odays.....a 30 and a 34 with a Yanmar 2GM20 and a Universal M25 respectively. I believe they both handled very well in reverse and moved through the water at 5 to 5.5 knots without stressing the engines. Our 272LE is powered by a Westerbeke 10 Two and seems to be a bit underpowered although it is a much lighter boat. I confess I do not remember the size and pitch of the two-blade prop that is on the 1 inch shaft. If I can not find that info in my paperwork I will dive to read it off the prop. ( I saw the info stamped on the prop when I was cleaning and painting the bottom, but I did not write it down. Bad choice.)

I have noticed that I can only power up to about 4 knots at about 2600RPM and I have found that the engine and prop will not easily overcome sternway when I need to move forward and turn to starboard after backing out of our slip. I recently did an unintentional 360 with the help of sternway and wind on the bow!

Questions: (1) What props do you use successfully? (2) Do you find your 272 underpowered? (3) Do you think the backing and then having difficulty in moving forward is a function of too much speed in backing to begin with? (In my own defense I only move about two boat lengths astern, and I am backing toward a shallow area about four boat lengths from the end of our slip.) The boat does handle well in reverse.

Respectfully, Phil

 

[cbourne200]

Phil - hope that OB on the stern is for the tender...!

My '87 272 has Westerbeke Ten-2 also. 2 Blade prop, but not sure of pitch... Seems to power fine, but since tach is not functioning properly, don't know RPM. According to GPS, have had it at about 7 kts and still had room for more power. I back out of my slip, then turn to starboard to enter fairway out of marina, and do not have a problem. Interesting thing happened the other day (single handing of course)... Backed out after only a short 'warm up period', and may have had too much sternway on. Motor died when shifting from Rev to Forward. Tried to crank it (3 times), to which it would die each time when I put it into forward... Finally started it in forward, and had no other problems. Guess temp was not sufficient to operate at lower temps. It did maintain more way in reverse than I thought it would...

Charles

 

[31seahorse]

Hi Charles,

This evening I talked with a friend who is familiar with diesel engines, and he said that I should not be afraid to run the engine faster than 2600 RPM. He mentioned checking the torque curve of that engine. I have seen some of that information on line, but do not clearly remember it. I thought that is how I arrived at the 2600 figure.

Yes, the blue OB is for the dink that is folded on the foredeck. We don't keep the dink there, but I do keep the motor chained to the stern rail.

Regarding engine horsepower: Maybe I could get a few more "horses" from the cowboy standing on the dock! I cringe when I see myself in pictures.......the old knees sure aren't what they used to be.

Phil

 

[jibes138]

10 HP should be plenty for a 27. I had a 25 with a 9.8 outboard and changed to an 8 HP and I never ran it anywhere near full throttle.
I am no expert on you engine but is it possible that the clutch in your transmission is slipping? Since your RPM's are taken off the engine maybe you aren't transmitting all the power to the prop, if the clutch was slipping you'd be losing power. Just a thought.

 

[cbourne200]

Phil - here is a brochure showing power curve for the Ten-2.

Charles

 

[Pat]

I think they are a little underpowered but typically, I let it warm up...slip it into reverse...get going pretty well backing to the starboard side....then give it a pretty good push in forward missing the Erickson 32 beside me to starboard. It seems to me that you have to back and go forward w/gusto when when in breezy close quarters such as in a slip lane. Where I have a problem with forward speed is coming down our lake into the S.W. wind which can be blowing well beyond 30 knots while trying to get back to the slips, running thru the mooring area. I have the prop information in my 272 manual if you need to know... A surprising number of our members have folding props and I can't tell you how that would be on a 272.

 

[31seahorse]

Hello Charles and Pat,

Thanks for the power curve info. I did see that earlier and used it to justify the 2200 cruising RPMs thinking of fuel economy and torque. When I looked at it again I decided that 2800 RPMs seemed OK due to more Hp and not much change in fuel consumption. As I motor at 2800 I will watch the temp gauge and the exhaust. I think the most important "curve" will turn out to be the "learning curve".

I'll experiment with different speeds in reverse. There is plenty of room to avoid docked boats, but there is some thin water across a narrow channel behind the boat.

Phil