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454s Not Enough

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herdbull2

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I own a 1985 Trojan 10 Meter Express with Crusader 454s. The boat is a DAWWWGGGG. I have tolerated the 18 MPH cruise for 4 or 5 years now but I need to go faster for fishing tournaments. I am trying to decide if I should sell her and buy a new boat, re-power with different engines, or try and get better performance out of the existing 454's.

If I wanted to beef up the existing engines, what are my possibilities? I think the current horse power output is supposed to be 350 hp per engine. What type of horse power could I get if I have the write mechanic spend some of his time and my money on making these existing motors give me more power. I want to run 40 mph. Right now I can do almost 20 mph. Is this a possibility? Or, a crazy dream without new motors?

Also, the last thing I want is super high performance motors that aren't reliable and have to be played with constantly to keep them running right. So, if my dream of going 40 is possible with engine modifications but I loose reliability, forget it, I will start looking for a new boat.

I appreciate your input. Thanks

HERDBULL
 
Glug. Lemme 'splain this one more time. A boat sits in a hole that is surrounded by water. You can design a boat that pushes the hole around with it (displacement) or you design it so it can drive it up out of the hole and skim on top of the water (planing). A planing hull is always pushing up hill. The faster you try to go the more resistance there is. There's a small issue of the props. These can only be so big. There comes a point where the props just won't take any more or push the boat any more no matter how much HP you put to them. You can try props with more pitch, but you'll hit that power/torque/cavitation/slip/hull shape wall at some point no matter what.
You need to go buy a boat that is designed to go 40.
A trojan 10 meter going 40 will not be very pleasant under the best circumstances.
 
That's a very nice but also very heavy boat! You'd need several thousand hp to push her that fast, and she would be a handful.


Time for another boat if you need speed that badly.

Jeff
 
Physics says you have to quadruple the HP to double the speed. Even an extra 50 hp per side won't add but 2-3 mph. Time to look for a new boat.
 
Another vote for getting the FOR SALE sign on the Trojan. You wanna go 40+...Jupiter 38' with a SeaVee a close second. If you are well off ($$-wise), just call Jimmy Weaver and tell him how fast you want to go.
 
Thanks everyone. I figured that was going to be the answer. Tell me more about the SeaVee. I have heard bits and pieces of conversations about the SeaVee but I am not that familiar.

One last question. How fast will a stock Fountain 38' TE run with triple 225s on it?
 
My cousin John in Miami has a Fountain 38 Sport. He frequently cruises out in the open ocean at 45 to 50 kts. I am reasonably sure there is more headroom there as well. His Bahama trips are faster than the airport between the ride there, security and the flight :)
 
Again... Thanks everyone for the advice. You have convinced me not to alter the Trojan.

So if Ididn't want to give up my cruiser and decided to just buy a walkaround or a center consoule fishing boat what would you buy? Meaning, I I maybe I will keep my Trojan cruiser for days when I don't have to run 50 or more miles. But, on the days I need to get up and go, I would like to have a second boat that hauls A@#. I am not wealthy. I am not talking about a brand new Fountain TE with tripples 350s on it. I would be more looking for the absolute fastest boat I can buy for under 25K. I don't care about the year. I was looking at older Scarabs for example. I think they were 31 center consoule sport editions. Anyone have any advice on which boat and which motors? Now that we aren't talking about a cruiser anymore, I am looking for a lot better than 40 MPH. Any thoughts?
 
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