Bad Kitty

It's not about the money. I want reliability, the boat is very well maintained, but the SD40's need the cone clutches lapping, sometimes after 200 hours, sometimes after 50. That's not an acceptable situation for me. I'd rather spend the money up front, and not have to worry that it won't last the xmas period.

Hiya Fogg, I've heard of issues with the SD60's also, at very low hours too. And my big issue is that Yanmar NZ have proven that they won't stand by their product, so that's the deal breaker for me.

Thanks Fish, that's great,

Yep SD 20’s are fine, everything bigger from Yanmar is junk. And yes, changing the drive system is somewhat involved. But I know what’s involved, I’ve run the crap SD40’s for 14 years, and I’m happy to spend the money. Wheels I don’t see any diesel over electric systems that offer an advantage over more conventional drives at present. Thanks for the input all, I do appreciate it.

Thanks everyone, this is great info, and just what I'm looking for. IT I'll give you a call re the Nanni/Beta comparison, interesting. Thanks, keep it coming, really helpful

Ok open the popcorn. we’re changing the 40hp Yanmars in Bad Kitty. I want similar horsepower, but we’re going V drives & shafts. what experience has any of you had, good or bad, with various engines? I really like the Yanmar engines, their sail drives are sh*t & the won’t stand by them, but the engines are great. So they are probably the front runners. But it’s a chance to look around though, and see what options we have. Lombardinis are a lot lighter, but I don’t know much about them? and with the greatest of respect, if you don’t have genuine techn

I'd talk to Henleys. henleyspropellers.com

3 suggestions, get a survey, get a survey, and lastly, get a survey. No matter how good it looks, no matter how many receipts he's got, etc. etc.

Imagine that, sharks in the ocean! Why don't they fcuk off back home, wherever that is?

Don't think so, but I've got a pretty short attention span, so that's me. I'm happy that what we've got works, & that wouldn't for us. Happy Xmas

OK NZ's 2nd race not so slick! Problems early on with the boat maybe?

I'm more worried about engines full of salt water every time we sail over 15 knots to be honest. Which is a lot. In 15 years & 30,000miles we've had exactly zero power failures to the ignition circuit. Which doesn't mean it won't happen, but you can only have so many redundancies & fail safes built in?

But I'm definitely not a marine engineer, I'm more on the accelerated wear testing side of the picture.

I don't think an exhaust riser will stop it. Why will an exhaust riser stop water pressure filling the exhaust manifold & flowing into the engine? It's coming in the raw water side, not the exhaust side.

Anti siphon loop won't stop it. We have electric shut offs between the saildrive & the raw water pump that close & stop raw water flow when the key is off. It's not siphoning, its pressure pushing the water past the impeller, and filling the engine. Slow cruising cats won't do it, but it seems that somewhere above 12-15 knots sailing there's just too much water pressure and you end up hydraulicing engines. We did it several times before we fitted the shut offs, luckily Yanmars seem to love salt water. Not very pleasant though in a seaway removing injectors, cranking things over,

Well that was slick, NZ looked pretty good. Those speeds are crazy!

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Thanks Carpe Diem

No, they won't wash your boat either Tom. Richard again!

Head out of the Harbour & turn left. Fair winds & all that stuff. Oh, there will be 2 weeks in quarantine when you arrive there, like everywhere else in the world at present, so maybe take a book?

Anyone up on how to watch the practice races? And before any trolls tell me I'm too lazy to search myself, that's all well established thanks.

Yep, great isn't it? Means that we are in a totally different situation to most of the world. And shortly you will be enjoying that freedom behind the very same borders you're currently bitching about. Happy Xmas!

Do you want to push off a lee shore in 35 knots or go as fast as you can on flat water? High thrust does the former better, & IMHO that's when you really want something that works.

Yes good stuff, not a trip to be taken lightly, that West Coast has tripped up a lot of boaties over the years.

Haha too funny, and too true.