Ocean performance

[sharffj]

Ran my 31' TE (new to me in Jan) with twin up from Portland Or. to Anacortes Wa. over the weekend. When left the mouth of the Columbia River Friday at first light, the ocean was up as the NW wind blew all night. Small Craft Warning were posted for the AM. Turned into the NW wind and steep 4+ foot chop with caps. The Albin handled it beautifully. No problem. Had to drop down from 20kts to 15 kts for comfort, but the boat gave a smooth ride. Was lucky the ocean laid down off Grays Harbor. Great ocean boat at least into the seas. Now am curious to see how she handles running with the swell.
Jeff S

[joe.baar]

Jeff,
Amazing trip. Any photos? I see Anthony1013 has done similar voyages out of Ilwaco and Lake Union. If you don't mind my asking, I'm really curious what your previous maritime experience has been, this sounds almost second nature the way you describe it. Northwest Coast is sure a different animal from everything I hear about the Northeast in this group.

[sharffj]

Joe,
Photos are all on a friends camera. The coastline above Destruction Island is gorgeous. Lots of rocks off the surf and cliff bands. Most of it is in the Olympic
National Park so is wild and undeveloped.
Have been running boats on the ocean for over 40 years. Commercial fished in the 70's and now sportfish for salmon and tuna off the Columbia River or Tillamook Bay. Have done some cruising in the San Juan, Gulf Islands and Desolation Sound and two years ago ran a barebones charter up from Bellingham to Juneau through the inland passage.
Have been looking for a boat that could do both cruising and offshore fishing. Want to explore more of the area north of Vancouver Island and SE Alaska, but also want a boat to cross the Columbia River bar and chase tuna or salmon. Therefore settled on the 31 TE. Two of us can live fairly comfortably for weeks on the boat (as long as we can get off periodically to shower as she only holds 73 gallons) but the boat is seaworthy enough and fast enough to chase tuna. A trawler style like a Grand Banks would be more comfortable to cruise, but are slow and not built for offshore fishing. Thought about converting an old salmon troller, but the time, energy and cost needed just seemed too much. Also would not have the speed of the TE and I must admit it is nice to be able to do 20 kts which leaves more time for fishing, exploring, relaxing or whatever. Do burn the diesel which is the price you pay for speed.
Jeff S

[Anthony1013]

It's a great trip if you are blessed with good weather.... glad to hear everything went smooth for you Jeff!

Anthony

[fairtide]

Jeff S:
You sound like the owner that can provide an answer to an age-old question about running marine diesels. It is often said that these engines need to be run at about 80% of maximum load for most of the time that they are in operation. The promoters of this advice believe that if the engines are not worked pretty hard, they develop problems that are serious.
Long range trawlers may have relatively small engines, but they need to run at relaxed levels to be able to go long distances without refueling. Sport fishing often requires hours at trolling speed, sometimes not available even at idle without trolling valves. I have not read of problems with diesels when they are used for long times at much reduced outputs.
There are suggestions to run the engines harder for at least several minutes after prolonged slow operation.
Any comments about any of the ideas that I've mentioned here?

[Russell]

I heard the common story about running diesels hard but this article by Tony Athens cautions that running a recreational diesel too hard will shorten its life: http://sbmar.com/main/articles/continuo ... rspective/ The line about the sportsfisherman running full tilt to the fishing grounds 60 miles out struck me because that is what we have to do to reach the Gulf Stream. I cruise at 2200 RPM which is at the torque peak and below the 2600 RPM rated for max HP, so I hope that should be safe.

[sharffj]

Have been told and also have read that the Yanmars are high performance diesels that run well at 80% of max rpm. Not like the old 671 Detroit diesel that would run forever at low rpm. If you are running the Yanmars at low rpm then prior to shutting down should run the engine up for a few minutes so as not to get carbon build up. Also have been told that the fuel injectors open somewhere above 2200 rpm and should not run for prolonged periods in the 1800-2200 range. How true that is I'm not sure. At idle rpm with the twins the boat still does about 3 knots. Too fast for salmon. Will work for tuna where we're trolling 7-8 knots. Have another boat will use for inshore salmon
or could put a 25-40 hp outboard on the swim step (which have reinforced) to salmon troll. Likely cheaper than trolling valves.

[GulfTex]

Hi Jeff, Now that you've had the boat for a bit, how does it perform with following or quartering seas? Great info, appreciate the post. Zach

[sharffj]

Gulftex,
Just saw your post. Does great with following and/or quartering sea. Ran her up last May from Ilwaco (Columbia River) to Anacortes again. This time got southerlies off LaPush of 20-30 knots. Built up a following sea fairly quickly. Boat did great. Tracked well and never felt like we were surfing. Drop the stern with the trimtabs so the stern sits down in the water and adjust the speed accordingly. Also a couple of years ago we came across the Straits of Georgia from Pender Harbor to Nanaimo with strong wind warnings up. This set up a steep short chop of 6-8 feet that was quartering our starboard, Boat did fine. We did not enjoy it at all and it was a slow ride. With that we got new respect when the Canadians had up strong wind warnings, and decided that with strong wind warnings we would lay over until they dropped. Again the boat was fine

[GulfTex]

Thanks Jeff.....really appreciate the feedback. Zach