How is your A27 powered

[eseyoung]

To piggy back on this if you have the LD28...Nissan. You can find parts on Rockauto.com (or anyother autoparts store) by looking up a 1983 Nissan Maxima and selecting the 2.8 diesel engine option.

[coolchange]

lookin like I have the only Isuzu (157 no turbo)...it has a 190 hours and runs like a top...starts instantly and burns about 2gph at 10 knots.

I'm taking it up to the Braughtons at the end of the summer to look for whales and bears.

[eseyoung]

2gph isn't bat at all when we are talking about boats but i kinda thought you'd do better. We use less than 1gph in ours. granted we go a little slower, comfortable cruise speed is in the 7kts range. With the Nissan i am more or less limited to short bursts at or slightly above 10kts.

[Binford]

As I research the Albin 27FC, I am surprised by the wide variation of engines available, even from the factory (as opposed to an owner re-power choice). It seems they are trying to force more speed into these boats than they really should have. I mean, these aren't planing boats. They really ought to be run at V/L 1.1 or 1.2 (speed-to-length ratio), or at "hull speed" (V/L 1.34) of 6.66 knots at most. That requires surprisingly little horsepower. I haven't seen the specs for the A27, but it can't take more than 5 to 8 hp to run them at 6 knots. Figuring a fuel burn of 0.06gph per horsepower, it should take 0.5 gph to move it along at that speed. That's what it's designed for, and I believe the engine should be designed around that fact.

Now, trying to get up to 10 or that mystical 13-knot number takes exponentially greater horsepower. Yeah, with the semi-displacement hull, it can exceed "hull speed." But I don't understand why you'd want to take one of these boats to that speed. I mean, the extra fuel cost is just nuts merely to go a couple knots faster.

More importantly (since my PNW Albin friends have chided me to stop focusing on fuel costs as it's actually a small percentage of the cost of owning a boat!), if the hull is designed for a 6-knot cruise, which takes maybe 10 hp to reach in normal sea & weather conditions we'd want to be cruising in, you're more than fine with an engine like the old Lehman 4D61. It may put out 61 hp, but that's at a screaming 4000 RPM maximum. It can't be run like that for long. The manual doesn't mention a continuous duty hp, but it's probably close to 50 hp (80% of maximum).

So running it all day long at, say, 10 to 15 hp, to go the 6 to 6.5 knots the hull is designed to go, I'd be giving the Lehman enough of a workout with a bit of load on it (30% of its continuous duty ability) to keep it running warm and happy. But if I've got the 157hp Isuzu engine, figuring 80% of that for a continuous duty hp of 125hp, it's still only going to take 15hp to move the boat along at 6-6.5 knots, but that's only running the engine at 12%. You'd almost have to run the boat regularly at 8 to 10 knots just to keep the engine operating within its designed efficiency range. But the added cost in fuel consumption is exponentially greater.

My point is, rather than the fuel cost thing, the smaller, less powerful engine, is a better fit for what the boat is designed to do--cruise all day long at 6 to 6.5 knots.

Anyway, that's just my opinion, and a fairly uneducated one at that. I'm still working on making sense of all this, but one concern I do have is making sure the boat I want has a properly-sized engine for what I'd be doing with it. And pushing a bunch of water around at 10knots isn't it!

[eseyoung]

Agreed. Have been running mine at about 7-7.5 knts to cruise. She will do 10knts in short bursts but lets face it the nissan is 18 years old. It makes my hair stand on end to hear that old gal screaming like that. I am running a bit above the theoretical hull speed but the motor seems happy at the rpm and it (sounds) like a sweet spot for her. I haven't ran a whole lot of fuel through but my basic calculations put it at about .8GPH at that speed.

All that being said. There are times when your hull speed is 10knts+ but your SOG may only be 6 or 7knts. throw in a wind with that tide and it works the 78hp works.

I do hear she rides nice once you get slightly over 11knts. even if i wanted (and i don't) i am not sure the nissan would push her 11+

[obertra9]

I have the Isuzu 157hp and typically cruise at 6mph. Over of the past 3 years I have added 600 engine hours and have averaged 0.65gph. I would prefer a smaller engine, but the boat now has 2000 engine hours on it and runs very well. For the last 10 minutes of every cruise I run at 8 to 9 mph to blow it out a little. The differnece in engine noise between those 2 speeds is considerable.
Roger Obert
1990 A27 SC
Solitude II
Cincinnati, Ohio

[coolchange]

Somewhere and somehow it's said that you "dance with who you brought to the party"...or leave with them...whatever...this is a really fun boat, does what I want and has a freshly rebuilt 6bd1pw and like obertra9 I would prefer an engine perfectly matched to the hull but will pay a bit more for fuel and run the engine to it's sweetspot...in this case about 1950rpm (per Isuzu) and hits about 8-10. Considering my last boat with a big block merc which on a good day would get 1 mile per gallon I'm happy.

[don123]

It may put out 61 hp, but that's at a screaming 4000 RPM maximum. It can't be run like that for long. The manual doesn't mention a continuous duty hp, but it's probably close to 50 hp (80% of maximum).

In the car, the engine was rated at 65 HP at 4500 RPM. They sold millions of cars with these engines and they weren't known to be fragile. The car's top speed was 85 mph and they would run 80 mph down the Autobahn all day long. Not sure what the RPM's would be at 80 mph, but I'll bet it was 4,000 or maybe even a bit more. 61 HP at 4,000 is a pretty conservative rating for this engine and I think they could certainly be run there indefinitely

For comparison, my 100 HP turbo/intercooled Yanmar is a smaller, lighter engine (1995cc's vs the 2116 for the Peugeot) and my published continuous RPM is only 100 RPM's shy of the maximum recommended RPM

Don

[Binford]

Thanks, Don. I didn't see anything other than "max RPM 4000" in the online manual and figured that would not be a continuous duty maximum. Overall a pretty good engine from what I hear, eh?

[coolchange]

I have the Isuzu 157hp and typically cruise at 6mph. Over of the past 3 years I have added 600 engine hours and have averaged 0.65gph. I would prefer a smaller engine, but the boat now has 2000 engine hours on it and runs very well. For the last 10 minutes of every cruise I run at 8 to 9 mph to blow it out a little. The differnece in engine noise between those 2 speeds is considerable.
Roger Obert
1990 A27 SC
Solitude II
Cincinnati, Ohio

[/quote]
What kind of RPM are you running at to accomplish this?

[stagalv]

How about the 100 Westerbeke? I see that some 27s have this engine?

[eseyoung]

I have only ever read of the Nissan, Lehman and Isuzu being offered from the factory. I have seen some Westers too but my guess that was a repower of boats that came with the Lehman. Many owners felt that this was just not enough engine.

[flawler]

Has anyone seen or considered repowering with a Volkswagen diesel?

My Peugeot seems to be OK, but it is 30 years old.

Frank L

[eseyoung]

VW is a great diesel engine. I am not aware of any marinization parts for any vws though.

[don123]

The Pathfinder line of VW Marine Diesels has been around since the 1980's and they were factory installed in many sailboats - It's a FWC marinized VW Rabbit 1.6 liter pick-up truck diesel engine made in Germany. They are usually sold as 50 HP, which might be a bit small for a 27 . . . . but OK if you aren't in a hurry I suppose

http://www.brighthubengineering.com/mar ... ne-engine/

Don