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Author Topic:   It's a go - '71 Nauset gets an E-TEC 50

penningtonjeff posted 03-16-2007 04:35 PM ET (US)
So I went with a good deal on a leftover 2006 E-TEC 50 for our Nauset. I'm comfortable with this after digesting all the opinions here, seeing the neck-snapping torque and chine-walking speed of a friend's 15 with the E-TEC 60, and realizing that even at 20 knots, our home waters (St. Lawrence River) are going to be a rough ride most of the time.
CW member elealap's reports of his experience in and around SF Bay with the Yamaha high-thrust were probably the most convincing argument for the lower power motor. As a former San Fran resident and Dolphin Club swimmer, I know that water well. While we won't be going 'out the gate' into 6 foot rollers, our swath of the river often has a steep chop coming off the lake, similar to that of the bay and the ocean.
I hope to keep this boat around for my girls (4 and 2) to bomb around in. A 50 will be well-suited to that purpose.
The motor is on the boat, final rigging is under way and the marina is hoping to put her in the water in the next week or so to start trying out props. I'll make sure to update with some hard numbers - load, speed, etc.
John from Madison CT posted 03-16-2007 07:27 PM ET (US)
It's moments like these that I wish this website allowed photo posting. I would love to see pics of your boat here.
Binkie posted 03-20-2007 05:14 PM ET (US)
Sometimes when you are in rough water with windy conditions, You are going to wish you had more power, especially if you have some passengers with you. Personally I think you are underpowered, with a 50. A 90 would be my minimum. I hope they set you up with a low pitch prop.What you wound up doing is a far cry from your original plan.
BTW what kind of top end does that boat have with a 50, and what are the rpms.
Rich
bloller posted 03-20-2007 05:51 PM ET (US)
I am sure that most would prefer the 90 if there were more lower cost light weight 90HP engines available today. I am seeing more and more older 16'7" Whalers repowered with 50HP and 60HP four strokes than any other engine. In my opinion, modern 90HP engines are just to expensive for the modest gain in performance and/or too heavy for these older hulls. Good thing Yamaha still makes its midrange two strokes at least for now anyway. Mercury 90HP two strokes engines are still available too but they seem to be going for more than they did a few years ago.
Roswell posted 03-23-2007 11:28 AM ET (US)
i agree with Rich, i think if you have more than three people on the boat you'll have trouble.. and i wouldn't compare your boat to a 15, they may look similar, but at high speeds they are designed to act differently, your boat has lots of drag, where a 15 is designed to have a very small patch of the hull on the water, resulting in much less friction. the weight is biased toward the rear of a 15.
I bet you'll end up with a 4 blade prop, giving you more torque to get you out of the hole. but it should perform well with a light load. I bought a 75hp E-tech for my 15, but i use it for waterskiing... and going 45 in a little boat is priceless.
penningtonjeff posted 03-23-2007 12:13 PM ET (US)
Thanks for your comments, looking forward to seeing and sharing actual performance. I hope for a sea trial in the next two weeks. Figure the marina is motivated to get this project finished before the spring commissioning rush. If they string me along, that's ok after subjecting them to excessive waffling and foot-dragging on a decision.
Besides elealap's Yam hi-thrust reports, one other bit of info that helped us decide was our rental last summer of a Triumph 17 with a Yamaha 50 four stroke. The boat was more than adequate for us, ran over 35mph WOT with just me on board, and cruised at 4500rpms at just over 20mph with me, my wife, little girls, dog, cooler, and our 225lb burly FDNY buddy and HIS cooler. It isn't a Nauset, but the Triumph has 17degree deadrise at the stern and weighs 1100lbs dry. That would seem to be a bit heavier and have less of a planing surface than the Nauset.
penningtonjeff posted 03-23-2007 01:18 PM ET (US)
Here's why we don't want to go so fast:
Maryjane
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t203/penningtonjeff/shorties/ IMG_1525.jpg
and her sister Toby:
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t203/penningtonjeff/shorties/ IMG_1529.jpg
Both love boats and have difficulty staying in one place. In about 10 years, Maryjane could probably be trusted with 90hp/45+mph. However, Toby is already an adrenaline junky* and 50hp will be quite enough for her.
*E.g. at 18 months she runs to the edge and jumps into the pool laughing all the way, at 11 months, she was going down big kid slides at the playground, again cackling the whole time.
brisboats posted 03-23-2007 08:48 PM ET (US)
No worries Jeff your beautiful daughters will love the sensation of flying no matter what the top speed. Please post some numbers when you have them. The pre smirk hull lightly loaded will plane with about 30 hp, a modern 50 hp should be an adequate performer.
Brian
penningtonjeff posted 04-08-2007 05:47 PM ET (US)
The final rig is done. After some trial and error, they propped her with a 13.5 x 15 three blade BRP aluminum prop. Idle at 600rpm, WOT at 5700. Programmed for XD-100.
I was able to sea trial her on Friday morning. No speedometer or GPS (yet), but I'll relate my experience.
Chris (the gent who did all the rigging and repair work) joined me as we launched her from the marina ramp and idled out into the creek. Temp was just above freezing. Spring? What spring? A stiff breeze was blowing, no chop, just some ripples from the wind.
At idle, the motor behaved consistently with what I've read you get with a just-breaking-in E-TEC: a puff of smoke at startup, and a bit of extra vibration at idle. Nice and quiet. I throttled up to about 3000, and the bow went WAY up in the air and she started plowing water. I thought "Sugar! 50 doesn't do it."
After initial panic, I realized the motor was still trimmed way up from launching. This was the first time I'd launched a boat from a trailer, so lesson learned. As I trimmed it down, she came onto plane and the bow dropped. I throttled up to about 4000, and we cruised up the creek at what I consider a comfortable cruising speed. I didn't open it up, as it's a small creek and, well... baby steps. Throttled back to just under 3000, she stayed on plane. I took her back to idle to turn around. Heading back, she popped right up on plane, bow dropped immediately, no porpoising at all. Nice smooth acceleration, cruised back at about 4000, playing with the trim a bit, but not enough to notice any change in speed.
Before I knew it, we were at the marina. Chris and I were both underdressed and getting cold, so I turned in and we hauled her.
I towed her back to Philadelphia, where she's sitting on her trailer for final tinkering before going up to the St. Lawrence for the summer.
So far so good. Dad has a handheld gps, I'll post speed numbers when I get out with him.
penningtonjeff posted 04-17-2007 03:17 PM ET (US)
No GPS yet, read on for more subjective, anecdotal performance.
Launched into the Schuylkill in Gladwyn, current was at a walking pace, probably 2 or 3 knot.
On board were three adults and my 4 year old, plus anchor, and full tank of gas. Same prop - 13.5 x 15 BRP aluminum.
Idled pretty rough, with a lot of vibration and a bit of smoke while warming up. Smoke diminished after warmup, but the vibration continued, hoping this'll go away as break-in progresses.
Trimmed all the way in, and floored it heading upstream. She accelerated surprisingly quickly, popped right up on plane. My daughters bag of graham crackers and sippy cup flew out of her hands, and she started crying. The acceleration was definitely suprising to her.
We topped out at 5500-5600 trimmed all the way in. I tried unsuccessfully to play with the trim to get rpms up, but wasn't comfortable multi-tasking on a stretch of water I'd never been on before.
Throttled back to 4000, cruised along at a good clip, Backed off to see where she'd plane, bow came up and wake got real big at just over 3000rpms.
Ran back and forth a bit checking out all the funky houses built in the flood plane on this stretch of river (between Manayunk and Conshohocken). She bopped along at a nice 'sightseeing' pace at 2000 rpms, pretty small wake, flat attitude.

rtk posted 04-17-2007 08:26 PM ET (US)
Very nice Jeff, sounds like a good match for the boat and your use.
Good luck with it.
Rich
Slippery Eel posted 04-18-2007 09:18 AM ET (US)
Jeff,
I see you are in Philly. I am in Media. Just curious where did you get your E-Tec from? Stripers are biting now in the Delaware river. You should take the nauset out on the big D for a real sea trial. That should set you up nicely for the St. Lawrence.
Hutch
penningtonjeff posted 04-18-2007 12:01 PM ET (US)
Hutch, sent you email re. my E-TEC dealer.
I'm hatching a plan to launch into the Big D in three weeks. Possibly to head up to a friends house on Neshaminy creek, if I can figure out navigability (is that a word?).
Looks like there's a boat ramp a bit north of the Betsy Ross, and one down in Chester. Hopefully the nor'easter surge will have flushed out all the logs by then.
--Jeff

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Author	Topic: It's a go - '71 Nauset gets an E-TEC 50
penningtonjeff	posted 03-16-2007 04:35 PM ET (US) So I went with a good deal on a leftover 2006 E-TEC 50 for our Nauset. I'm comfortable with this after digesting all the opinions here, seeing the neck-snapping torque and chine-walking speed of a friend's 15 with the E-TEC 60, and realizing that even at 20 knots, our home waters (St. Lawrence River) are going to be a rough ride most of the time. CW member elealap's reports of his experience in and around SF Bay with the Yamaha high-thrust were probably the most convincing argument for the lower power motor. As a former San Fran resident and Dolphin Club swimmer, I know that water well. While we won't be going 'out the gate' into 6 foot rollers, our swath of the river often has a steep chop coming off the lake, similar to that of the bay and the ocean. I hope to keep this boat around for my girls (4 and 2) to bomb around in. A 50 will be well-suited to that purpose. The motor is on the boat, final rigging is under way and the marina is hoping to put her in the water in the next week or so to start trying out props. I'll make sure to update with some hard numbers - load, speed, etc.
John from Madison CT	posted 03-16-2007 07:27 PM ET (US) It's moments like these that I wish this website allowed photo posting. I would love to see pics of your boat here.
Binkie	posted 03-20-2007 05:14 PM ET (US) Sometimes when you are in rough water with windy conditions, You are going to wish you had more power, especially if you have some passengers with you. Personally I think you are underpowered, with a 50. A 90 would be my minimum. I hope they set you up with a low pitch prop.What you wound up doing is a far cry from your original plan. BTW what kind of top end does that boat have with a 50, and what are the rpms. Rich
bloller	posted 03-20-2007 05:51 PM ET (US) I am sure that most would prefer the 90 if there were more lower cost light weight 90HP engines available today. I am seeing more and more older 16'7" Whalers repowered with 50HP and 60HP four strokes than any other engine. In my opinion, modern 90HP engines are just to expensive for the modest gain in performance and/or too heavy for these older hulls. Good thing Yamaha still makes its midrange two strokes at least for now anyway. Mercury 90HP two strokes engines are still available too but they seem to be going for more than they did a few years ago.
Roswell	posted 03-23-2007 11:28 AM ET (US) i agree with Rich, i think if you have more than three people on the boat you'll have trouble.. and i wouldn't compare your boat to a 15, they may look similar, but at high speeds they are designed to act differently, your boat has lots of drag, where a 15 is designed to have a very small patch of the hull on the water, resulting in much less friction. the weight is biased toward the rear of a 15. I bet you'll end up with a 4 blade prop, giving you more torque to get you out of the hole. but it should perform well with a light load. I bought a 75hp E-tech for my 15, but i use it for waterskiing... and going 45 in a little boat is priceless.
penningtonjeff	posted 03-23-2007 12:13 PM ET (US) Thanks for your comments, looking forward to seeing and sharing actual performance. I hope for a sea trial in the next two weeks. Figure the marina is motivated to get this project finished before the spring commissioning rush. If they string me along, that's ok after subjecting them to excessive waffling and foot-dragging on a decision. Besides elealap's Yam hi-thrust reports, one other bit of info that helped us decide was our rental last summer of a Triumph 17 with a Yamaha 50 four stroke. The boat was more than adequate for us, ran over 35mph WOT with just me on board, and cruised at 4500rpms at just over 20mph with me, my wife, little girls, dog, cooler, and our 225lb burly FDNY buddy and HIS cooler. It isn't a Nauset, but the Triumph has 17degree deadrise at the stern and weighs 1100lbs dry. That would seem to be a bit heavier and have less of a planing surface than the Nauset.
penningtonjeff	posted 03-23-2007 01:18 PM ET (US) Here's why we don't want to go so fast: Maryjane http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t203/penningtonjeff/shorties/ IMG_1525.jpg and her sister Toby: http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t203/penningtonjeff/shorties/ IMG_1529.jpg Both love boats and have difficulty staying in one place. In about 10 years, Maryjane could probably be trusted with 90hp/45+mph. However, Toby is already an adrenaline junky* and 50hp will be quite enough for her. *E.g. at 18 months she runs to the edge and jumps into the pool laughing all the way, at 11 months, she was going down big kid slides at the playground, again cackling the whole time.
brisboats	posted 03-23-2007 08:48 PM ET (US) No worries Jeff your beautiful daughters will love the sensation of flying no matter what the top speed. Please post some numbers when you have them. The pre smirk hull lightly loaded will plane with about 30 hp, a modern 50 hp should be an adequate performer. Brian
penningtonjeff	posted 04-08-2007 05:47 PM ET (US) The final rig is done. After some trial and error, they propped her with a 13.5 x 15 three blade BRP aluminum prop. Idle at 600rpm, WOT at 5700. Programmed for XD-100. I was able to sea trial her on Friday morning. No speedometer or GPS (yet), but I'll relate my experience. Chris (the gent who did all the rigging and repair work) joined me as we launched her from the marina ramp and idled out into the creek. Temp was just above freezing. Spring? What spring? A stiff breeze was blowing, no chop, just some ripples from the wind. At idle, the motor behaved consistently with what I've read you get with a just-breaking-in E-TEC: a puff of smoke at startup, and a bit of extra vibration at idle. Nice and quiet. I throttled up to about 3000, and the bow went WAY up in the air and she started plowing water. I thought "Sugar! 50 doesn't do it." After initial panic, I realized the motor was still trimmed way up from launching. This was the first time I'd launched a boat from a trailer, so lesson learned. As I trimmed it down, she came onto plane and the bow dropped. I throttled up to about 4000, and we cruised up the creek at what I consider a comfortable cruising speed. I didn't open it up, as it's a small creek and, well... baby steps. Throttled back to just under 3000, she stayed on plane. I took her back to idle to turn around. Heading back, she popped right up on plane, bow dropped immediately, no porpoising at all. Nice smooth acceleration, cruised back at about 4000, playing with the trim a bit, but not enough to notice any change in speed. Before I knew it, we were at the marina. Chris and I were both underdressed and getting cold, so I turned in and we hauled her. I towed her back to Philadelphia, where she's sitting on her trailer for final tinkering before going up to the St. Lawrence for the summer. So far so good. Dad has a handheld gps, I'll post speed numbers when I get out with him.
penningtonjeff	posted 04-17-2007 03:17 PM ET (US) No GPS yet, read on for more subjective, anecdotal performance. Launched into the Schuylkill in Gladwyn, current was at a walking pace, probably 2 or 3 knot. On board were three adults and my 4 year old, plus anchor, and full tank of gas. Same prop - 13.5 x 15 BRP aluminum. Idled pretty rough, with a lot of vibration and a bit of smoke while warming up. Smoke diminished after warmup, but the vibration continued, hoping this'll go away as break-in progresses. Trimmed all the way in, and floored it heading upstream. She accelerated surprisingly quickly, popped right up on plane. My daughters bag of graham crackers and sippy cup flew out of her hands, and she started crying. The acceleration was definitely suprising to her. We topped out at 5500-5600 trimmed all the way in. I tried unsuccessfully to play with the trim to get rpms up, but wasn't comfortable multi-tasking on a stretch of water I'd never been on before. Throttled back to 4000, cruised along at a good clip, Backed off to see where she'd plane, bow came up and wake got real big at just over 3000rpms. Ran back and forth a bit checking out all the funky houses built in the flood plane on this stretch of river (between Manayunk and Conshohocken). She bopped along at a nice 'sightseeing' pace at 2000 rpms, pretty small wake, flat attitude.
rtk	posted 04-17-2007 08:26 PM ET (US) Very nice Jeff, sounds like a good match for the boat and your use. Good luck with it. Rich
Slippery Eel	posted 04-18-2007 09:18 AM ET (US) Jeff, I see you are in Philly. I am in Media. Just curious where did you get your E-Tec from? Stripers are biting now in the Delaware river. You should take the nauset out on the big D for a real sea trial. That should set you up nicely for the St. Lawrence. Hutch
penningtonjeff	posted 04-18-2007 12:01 PM ET (US) Hutch, sent you email re. my E-TEC dealer. I'm hatching a plan to launch into the Big D in three weeks. Possibly to head up to a friends house on Neshaminy creek, if I can figure out navigability (is that a word?). Looks like there's a boat ramp a bit north of the Betsy Ross, and one down in Chester. Hopefully the nor'easter surge will have flushed out all the logs by then. --Jeff