Twin 150F Yamahas on RibCat

smitty477

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Dec 25, 2009
Messages
44
About a month ago I posted asking for help and advice on a new to me used boat that I was buying. Well it took a good deal longer than expected to get it back home and then a while to ?fix? a number of things before we got to try it out. Here is the original post with some edits for the boats correct data:

?I have just purchased a large used RIB with existing props that we sea trialed a couple of weeks ago. I am now in need of selecting other props and would like to ask what choices may make sense for my application. I have read a bunch about props so I likely know just enough information to get myself in trouble here but I will give it a shot anyway. My goal is to select reasonably priced SS props for all around use to include cruising, and towing skiers with 2-6 people on board.
Boat is a 2010 Nautica RIB , Catamaran (shallow hulls), 23' long, 8" 6" beam (tube to tube), total weight rigged to is 3,250#'s, (hull 1,790, engines 960, fuel etc 500). The hulls are 24? apart at the bow and shallow along the length, they are asymmetric.

Current props are ?stock? Yamaha black painted SS, 3 blade 19? pitch.

Motors ? Twin 2009 Yamaha F150 4 stroke, 2.00 lower, counter rotating, in good condition, tachs are Yamaha digital. WOT range is 5,000 - 6,000.

Mounting - Mounted with jack plates that are 5? adjustable set at 3rd hole down from top on the jack plates. There are no dole fins, trim tabs, or other 'things' back there.?

On the one day that we were able to test it here we unfortunately had pretty heavy wind and 2-3 foot mixed and choppy seas the entire time. There are too many variables which are completely new to me which is making the ?tuning in? of any adjustments much more complicated. I have never had twin outboards, never had jack plates, and never had a catamaran hull before either.

Given the time and conditions we had with the boat so far we have recorded these numbers (jack plates down with trim fully in):
2900 rpm 21 mph 19% slip calc
3400 rpm 28 mph 10%
4000rpm 33mph 8%
4400rpm 37mph 8%

Hit 5,400 only briefly as it was a bit rough and bow steer was an issue as well. I do not think there was much throttle left as the bow was pretty much buried by the trim well ?in?. Trim was all the way in as the boat began porpoising above the 30 mph mark and it grew with speed. A few things showed up at that test which I have now fixed including a problem with side to side weight loading and a ?loose? steering situation that certainly complicated the tests. We did get a chance to do a few WOT starts from a dead stop and video recorded the gages on one run that I will soon get some time to review but generally the acceleration is very fast and it hits near 30 knots within a few seconds. I would rather not go about this in an unorganized fashion but as I posted above many of these things are new to me so that is the reason for asking for help in planning the next tests

Some of my questions/concerns include:

1. Boat is very stable up to about 35 mph but is prone to porpoising above that speed. I have read that raising the engine is one method used to help this (there is one hole left) but I have also read that lowering an engine which is ventilating will also help that trait (there are two holes left). It is interesting to note that it appears the engines were originally mounted lower down by the two holes based upon marks that are left in the brackets. Since I do not have a specific ?keel? and one blade on each prop is still shadowed by the outer hull even in the lowest position how do you determine which way to go to help porpoising?

2. Currently with the jack plates all the way down there is about 3? height of ?shadow? from a corner of the leading hull below the ant ventilation plates. How do you determine if this is causing any issues at varying speeds?

3. What props if any are better at controlling porpoising and for this type of boat?

4. Do you adjust the jack plates 1st or the trim?

5. Can you take someone along and just try and ?look down? at the motors to see if the vent plates are covered with water?

6. When mounting twin outboards should the engine both face exactly forward or is there a reason to tow them either ?in? or ?out??

I will likely not be able to test things out again for another week and I was hoping to get some ideas that will let me make a plan ahead of time. It would be great if that plan led me to making further adjustments to the engines height, potential prop selection and eventually to key up top speed and reduce the porpoising.

Thank you
 

Dhadley

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Feb 4, 2001
Messages
16,978
Re: Twin 150F Yamahas on RibCat

Typically we toe the motors in 1/16 to 3/16". Experiment with trim angles on every test run regardless of motor height. Don't be afraid to try the
Counter gearcase on the starboard motor.
 

smitty477

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Dec 25, 2009
Messages
44
Re: Twin 150F Yamahas on RibCat

Thank you Dhadley,

I appreciate the input as we have no background on twins.

"Typically we toe the motors in 1/16 to 3/16". "

How and where do you measure the 1/16-3/16 number?
What does this prevent or help? Or better said - what tends to happen if you don't toe in?

"Don't be afraid to try the Counter gearcase on the starboard motor"

Wow ...that is something I never would have even considered. The engines are XL's and I would then assume that you mean it is possible to swap them side to side with no other changes. What would this tend to do change with the boats response?

I had planned to eventually purchase 4 blade SS props for this boat (Solas Titan 21") after we get some of this worked out.
Since I do not know yet what the these trials will show it is too early to tell if that is the best direction to take.

Thanks again....
 

smitty477

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Dec 25, 2009
Messages
44
Re: Twin 150F Yamahas on RibCat

Since the last post up top I have made a few changes to the boat which has helped out the proposing as well as overall cruising and top speed. Before these changes I needed to mostly run with the trim full ‘in’ which resulted in a disturbing bow steer and limited top speed to avoid heavy porpoising. I am still struggling with some issues and still confused as to the best props to eventually buy to complete the boat.

These items were done since the initial post :
- Steering gear tightened which assisting bow wander greatly
- Confirmed twin engines are toed in 1/8" plus
- Side to side weight balance fixed
- Smart tabs added to the stern
- Steering and smart tabs allow a greater ‘up’ trim which results in greater speeds overall and top
- Overall handling has improved in acceleration and cruising

Current observations….
- The hole shot is exceptionally good, bow rise not an issue
-I still have some annoying porpoising that begins at about 30 mph but will normally flatten out a bit above 40 mph.
- Speeds from 20-30 mph can now be run with some up tab which makes it a much better and more efficient ride.
- Top speed is now at 51-52 mph 2 way tested at 6,000-6,100 rpm’s with about 2/3rds to full up trim. There appears to be some throttle left at 6,100 but the extra rpm’s are definitely coming from the higher engine positions and the higher trim.
- I have been able to run the engines higher (jack plates) by about 1“since the changes were made. As I try and go higher than that the props begin to blow out.

In general the boat seems to like it as I raise the engines, and add the smart tabs. The hole shot is more than necessary as is the 0-30 mph times. The Yamaha painted stainless 19” pitch props I have on now are stock in decent shape but certainly not new condition.

I would really like to buy 4 blade props which will complement the improvements I have seen so far. I was looking at SS Solas Titan 4’s in the past with a 21” pitch based mostly on the prop formulas.

Please let me know of any advice you can supply given what I have tried to explain here. I am not sure of the type or pitch of props I should be looking at based upon what I have posted.

Thank you, Ron
 

Dhadley

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Feb 4, 2001
Messages
16,978
Re: Twin 150F Yamahas on RibCat

I still know where a set of Turbo 4 blade 21s are. Can get you more info if you like.
 

smitty477

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Dec 25, 2009
Messages
44
Re: Twin 150F Yamahas on RibCat

View attachment 153655

Thank you dhadley - at this stage I am attempting to utlilize this great site to educate myself enough to make some reasonable choices.
While I am not a complete newbie to boating all of my experiences to date are with inboards and much slower boats.
This is a very unusual application where I am new to outboards as well as catamaran hulls , jack plates and the like.

while I have made some headway with steering, weight distribution and the smart tabs it does not appear that I have learned enough to make a jump to purchase or even know which props to 'test' next. There appears to be numerous props of every kind and even if we were to reduce that to only considering 4 blades and one make (say Turbo) the choices in type and pitch remain many.
Hopefully the attached picture will come through so that folks can visualize that things like 'height above keel' are not nearluy as clear with this aplication.
Thank you for your inputs as I work through this 'new to me' boat.
 

smitty477

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Dec 25, 2009
Messages
44
Re: Twin 150F Yamahas on RibCat

Summary - Nautica Rib cat hull, 3,300#?s, 2 - 150F Yamaha outboards on hyd jack plates, smart tabs (SX 9510), stock Yamaha painted SS 3 blade 19?props.

After a couple of weeks of really poor weather here we have has a break on the rain and wind. That has provided that ability to dial in the ?smart tabs? that I installed and continue to work one variable at a time as suggested in posts here . By using 2 different ?smart tab? strut pressures and the adjustment holes on the tabs the original porpoising has been minimized but not eliminated. Another benefit of the tabs has been earlier to plane speeds and a quicker hole shot.

FWIW ? Smart tab has been a great company to work with and the product has helped us with our boat.
With the smart tabs installed and the steering, trim angle, and engine height test/adjustments completed I think it is time to figure out the best props for the boat.

Our goals for changing to new props continue to be the following in this order:
1. Minimize/eliminate porpoising between 30-40 mph
2. Maintain ability to tow skiers and toys
3. Allow increased engine height and trim with less blowout (adding top speed)

Over 2 days of testing we have collected these figures?..

Day one was a day where we had a smaller area to water ski but not nearly enough flat water to do any speed runs. This day was 85 degrees with low humidity and less than 6? chop in a very confined area. We were using the boat with 7/8th tank of fuel and with 5 adults on board (820#?s) pulling a 6th adult on a slalom ski at times.

Results - We were very satisfied with the ability to pull slalom skiers as well as various water toys and found it necessary to ?regulate? the throttles when starting as opposed to just firewalling them.

Day two of testing was mostly flat water?..

Day two we had more room to try for WOT runs but the weather was 97 degrees with a very heavy humidity and a chop of 1? or less most of the time. Most all runs included full to 7/8th tank of fuel and 3 adults on board with 2 way averages taken by GPS and loosely checked a couple of times with a measured ? mile a this location.

Results numbers-
? 20 mph or less to plane at 2,600 rpms
? 16-17 to stay on plane
? 33-34 mph at 4,000 rpm (34 at best trim)
? 43-44 mph at 5,000
? 50-51 mph at 6,000
? At WOT and trim full ?in? rpms were limited to about 5,700 (very hard to drive)

Results observations-
? Still some porpoising mostly between 30 -40 mph
? Trim in at slower speeds removes porpoising
? Trim out at any speeds adds rpm and speed
? Motors higher add rpm and speed and reduces proposing a bit
? Trim and motor height limited by prop blowout not by adjustment range
? Speed runs above 40 mph have a slight ?squirrely? feel getting worse near 50
? Squirrely feel may be coming from the bow being too low and causing bow steer (a guess)
? At WOT it did not feel as if there was much rpm left with this set up on this day

Do you think any additional testing will help in choosing the best props? Given these numbers would you suggest a 4 blade SS prop of a specific design? Given that rpm?s were recorded at 97 degrees and loaded and limited by height and trim would pitch need to go up to 20? , even at 19? or go down to 18? with the new 4 blade props?

Thank you for any of your help and ideas
 
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