FWC: Hours since rebuild

[edwardc]

Select the number of hours you currently have on your Fresh Water Cooled A4, or total hours if it's never been rebuilt.

There's a separate poll for RWC engines.

[joe_db]

I probably have around 100 hours after my FWC conversion, but I have not the slightest clue about the total hours on the engine. I bought it used and it was "refreshed", not a total rebuild, maybe 400-500 hours ago at this point.

[Mo]

I have no idea Ed. I put an hour meter in about 10 years ago and it was in the 700's when I changed it out. I think it was the original engine from 1976 and who knows what the hours were. Current engine... I've had this engine a couple of years. No idea of the initial hour on it but it's a good runner and come out of Lake Ontario....however, I'm getting older, I use it more....now showing 942 on the same meter.

The original.... a beautiful running engine until it rusted and developed a crack along the head bolts. Never burned a drop of oil to speak of, I'd had it 13 years and it was likely original from 1976 fresh water cooled. Ran it FWC with no T-stat.

Now I have a couple of engines in the background ready to go, but this baby was golden. I sent a couple of pic to Dave Neptune, wondering about the cracks around the bolt heads. Dave set me straight and since I had alternative...but I was hesitant and giving up on " OLD FAITHFUL" .
I changed engines, on Dave's advice,.....to a lake ontario freshwater cooled / raw water cooled. Runs as good as "OLD FAITHFULL" ever did.

Now, with that installed, I have a perfectly running Moyer Marine with everything including electronic ignition, alternator etc....ready to go....just sitting in my garage.

I have another freshwater cooled from lake ontario in my garage, which I serviced for the previous owner...mine now because the guys gave up on the boat and had it scrapped...they gave me the engine. I have one more rebuilt by Nova Automotive that never was run in a boat...I have 3 more that I rotated with acetone and transimission fluid (no idea of history)....and a 4th that wouldn't turn over after my concoction and I think the crank might be yukered in that.

After all that, I think I have a grip on things for now...and for my sons. My boat is a 76 C&C 30...she's 47 years old and this summer I sailed her 1267 nm so far this year...and only about 1/16 of those miles were easy....either seas, fog, rain, crew attitude, or auto pilot on the fritze...all about the same. Good thing we had goslings rum aboard. They are talking about Hurrican Lee tonight...Odyssey said *** is Lee... I could GF....that's my girl.

Onward...my boys can take her over and sail her on...she's built to live on.

PS: The old girl weathered the storm sitting steady. We had wind from the beach to the dock...about 200 feet. I had 14 lines on the old girl...winds were actually 20 to 40 knots although folks were outside themselves watching the weather girls ramp it up. The docks didn't even have swell and they were talking about banning people from checking their boats. I've sailed in 48 kts, recorded...not my best day but I think I can check a boat on the dock. The world is gone for Sh.t. Poor Muffins.

[edwardc]

Mo,

I started this poll (and the RWC one) six years ago in the hope of learning what life I should expect out of my 2010 rebuild.

After two trips down the ICW, I now have over 1900 hrs on her and she’s still going strong.

[Dave Neptune]

Edward, that's really great. I have 2 questions, how much fuel do you carry and how much of that does the boat hold.

Dave Neptune

[edwardc]

Dave,

I have a 30 gal. OEM monel tank. In addition, I carry an additional 25 gal in jerry jugs on-deck when out for extended periods.
The boat, a 1977 Pearson 323, has a dry weight of 12,800 lb, and a hull speed of just a hair over 7 kts.
I normally motor at -5kts and 2200 RPM (2:1 v-drive). If I throttle down to around 1800, I have gotten as good as 0.75gal/hr. Conversely, when I’m pushing to -6 kts @ 2600 (like all of southern FL, trying to make the next bridge opening), I see about 1.1 gal/hr. In general, I count on about a gallon per hour average for planning purposes.