Willard 730 Diesel Repower Project

[clloyd]

+1 yes it is!! Really glad i was there. Big morale booster to hear it.

[Bigtalljv]

Very nice!

that's a big engine...

[jyasaki]

Congrats, Clloyd!

Lovely sound.

jky

[clloyd]

Thx everyone.

So today we FINISHED!!! I even had ncp on this forum stop by for a visit.

It was not easy especially at the end. Yesterday literally everything went wrong. I am out of time and yesterday I didn't think the boat would even go.

1. Starter kept disengaging. Mag switch was fried from jumping it when we tested it out of the boat. But that took hours to figure out.

2. After that. Engine would crank but wouldn't start in the boat. We finally traced it down to the key switch which was basically cranking the engine while shutting it down at the same time. Using the wrong accessory lead. My fault and particular problem with electronic engines. Since nothing went wrong as far as engine was concerned, no Fault codes either.

3. First prop wasn't clearing drive housing on Konrad 560. We think they forgot a final machining step on that prop. That was finally resolved today by machining a relief on the outside forward edge of prop housing.

That's a high level of the majors with tons of minor issues in between. But in the end, everything works. The quality of the work done is impeccable, so the final result is what matters. Nice when the prop problem happened, the shop is capable enough to machine the prop correctly in < 1 hr.

Sea trial is next and fingers crossed.

Some shots.

[ncp]

You'd better charge that gopro for the sea trial on Friday!!!

[Bigtalljv]

Looks fantastic!

When are you heading home, you live way up north don't you? Let me know I'd you come up the 101 past SLO.

I can feel your pain, I'm two weeks away from being done and am not sure ill ever get any closer.

Jason

[clloyd]

Gopro is charged. Now i need to figure out how to use it.

I am headed north this weekend but stopping in tahoe (winterization needed). Then carrying on up 87 to Hood River and over many mountain passes. The way down was very cold and stormy. Hopefully not so bad on the way up.

[clloyd]

Alright well we finished on Weds last week. I took a lay day on Thurs and we seatrialed on Fri.

Here's the scoop. Seastate was fairly lumpy and confused ocean swell which it was hard to do top speed for long before we chickened out. Boat was jumping the swell ie. under control and smooth.

Boat is off the hook now, completely different than before. At 1800 rpm we are doing mid 24kts. This is incredibly quiet and smooth and we could have a conversation in a normal voice, the turbo hasn't spooled up much yet.

At 2200 rpm we are doing 30kts and still very civil.

When we gunned it WOT we hit 38.5 kts into the swell which BTW was exactly the predicted top speed. I only held it for a few secs before backing off. My crew not being used to fast boats was literally hands shaking after a few WOT runs and asked for mercy.

Going with the swell we saw 39kts. The boat was intentionally underpropped at top end to give better bottom end acceleration. The acceleration is eye popping and instant.

The Konrad twin prop is a completely different beast than the 520. It's a full 4" shorter which gives it less drag. It's unbelievably grippy with absolutely 0 hesitation and 0 cavitation. It doesn't torque the boat to one side like the 520 either.

The drivetrain was so quiet and smooth. The boat also feels like it is gliding better in the water whereas with the 520 you really felt the drag of the drive.

I'm gushing but really I was surprised at the difference.

Now as far as go pro. I FORGOT to bring IT!!! Whoops.

We tried the iPhone method and got some unsteady video at 25kts but after that, my film crew needed to hold on and the iPhone wasn't happening.

I'll try again when I am back home and update the thread.

Here's the shaky iPhone vid

Seatrial Willard 730 RIB with Cummins QSB 330 - YouTube

Heading Home....Beautiful Day near Mammoth

[Bigtalljv]

yeah it's been ugly out there. That thing sounds freaking amazing!!

[clloyd]

I'm still a bit bitter that only got to use the boat for a quick seatrial while I was down there. Will be back next year to check out the Channel Islands.

[Bigtalljv]

Aren't you going by Tahoe? Give it a whirl up there. It should handle the altitude. I went up there with a carbureted Honda OB last year and was rapidly introduced to the effects if the thin air. Tahoe is the most amazing water I have ever been on. Head to south shore and you can go play with the powerboat boys. Also looks for the big yellow inflatable at the marinas in the south shore, that's my old boat, :snif:

Of course you have to pay a hefty fee and have the boat inspected for mussels but I'm of the opinion they should close the lake to outside boats, not worth the risk of ever getting mussels in there but it's a heck of a place to go fast.

[clloyd]

That would be really cool. Don't have time though as taking next weekend to drive rest of way. I'm in SF this week.

However, our friends have a dock in the Tahoe Keys, so will be down for 4th of July week and able to do it then. Everyone will think we are the cops, which is always worth a laugh.

[ncp]

Originally Posted by clloyd

We tried the iPhone method and got some unsteady video at 25kts but after that, my film crew needed to hold on and the iPhone wasn't happening.

I'll try again when I am back home and update the thread.

Here's the shaky iPhone vid

I just got a chance to watch that - that looks like a pretty calm day for that channel if you ask me!!!

Looking good an smooth (love the idea of little sound) - I'm gladd it seems to all have worked out!

[clloyd]

Yeah it wasn't rough at all, just ocean swell coming from different directions (no chop) and lots of air at the higher speeds. Guy with me from yard had never gone that fast in a boat before and he wasn't really that stable holding on either so couldn't really give her for long.

[clloyd]

Boat is back home and I did run her briefly over the weekend. She felt great, but I did get an ECM yellow warning light on the idiot panel and throttled back and went in. Unfortunately, I don't yet have the gauge installed that lets me read the actual fault code. A lot of the yellow warnings are for minor things. Red light means imminent danger.

So now I need to wait for this gauge to arrive so I can verify that it's something hopefully minor. These electronic engines are so much more complicated to monitor.

Not going to risk it. So a bit more delay.

The final setup is interesting so I hope to do a video tour / explanation when it's done.

[clloyd]

Here is a proper video.

Seatrial of the Ex-Navy Willard Seaforce 730 Rib.
Cummins QSB 330
Konrad 560 TwinProp
BAM Cyborg Tranny (aka BW 72C beefed up)
Suredrive 1350 coupler
Repower Courtesey of Seaboard Marine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkCO...ature=youtu.be

Vimeo version is better


https://vimeo.com/91584534

[ynp]

Thanks for the video. Nice ride.

[ncp]

Awesome

Wake looks cleaner too. What did the new tank take on the first fill up? Still 39 knots WOT?

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by clloyd

However, our friends have a dock in the Tahoe Keys, so will be down for 4th of July week and able to do it then. Everyone will think we are the cops, which is always worth a laugh.

Wear khaki; you'll have people tossing fish overboard all over the place.

Nice video, congrats on getting it in the water.

jky

[clloyd]

@ynp thx

@ncp Actually don't know tank capacity yet. Put in 40 gallons and about half full. I need to burn it down to empty now and then fill and calibrate the sender.

@jyasaki lol...yeah for sure...a lot of spilt beer and floating fish. I could grab dinner fairly easily I imagine.

In the forward looking bow sequence, you can see how stable she is going through the chop, then I slow down off a plate and you can see how steep the chop actually is. That always blows me away about these hulls, she likes to cut through it all right.