R-27 Performance

[charlie&juliesboat]

Charlie's Jewel will be commissioned in March and she has the Volvo Penta 200 hp diesel. From you experienced cruisers what is the top end speed of the R-27?

Thank you
Charlie

 

[knotflying]

We have the 180 Yanmar and fully loaded with fuel, water, clothes and everything else you can bring with you while cruising and we get about 15 KTS. WOT and burn 1.9 mm per gallon. At 2,150 RPM we get about 3.2 nm per gallon. At constant speed of 3,600 RPM we get 2.0 nm per gallon.

 

[The Masons]

We have a 2013 R27 with the Volvo D3-200. When we sea-trialed the boat she had no bottom paint and the drinking water tanks were empty, plus we only had about 20 gallons of fuel on board. She ran about 18kts wide open in smooth water. In a real-world setting this is what we have experienced in the past three months since moving aboard fulltime: with bottom paint and some normal growth from the lake water we started in, plus full provisioning with the addition of a Portland Pudgy dinghy on back of the swim platform and adding four additional solid core fenders (she now sits with most of the waterline at the rear of the boat covered - not sure of the total weight) we can run about 13kts WOT at about 3800 RPM. Most of our cruising has been between 6kts and 8.5kts with burn rates ranging from 1.2 gal per hour up to 3.9 gals per hour at the higher end. Fuel burn goes up dramaticallywith higher speed, but it somewhat balances out by the fact you cover a lot more distance in a shorter time. Its nice to have the ability to kick up your heels if necessary (or if you're just in a hurry), but for us life on the water is most enjoyed at a leisurely pace with the engine noise at a minimum and the scenery passing by where you can really see it. Conditions you will experience will make a huge difference in performance. Coming down the Tennessee River and going against the strong current made a great difference in fuel economy (8.5 kts @ 3000 RPM burning over 4 gals per hour against strong current coming up on Pickwick Dam, whereas on the the Tombigbee River on other side of the dams on we ran the same 8.5kts at 2000 RPM burning 1.6 gph). What make only take 1 to 1.5 gallons at a given speed in one setting may take twice as much fuel if the wind is strong and/or the current. I can't complain about our boat's performance since we have put alot of weight on her back, plus coming from a sailboat I always feel like I'm flying!

 

[aussie]

Hi all when we took delivery of our R27 its was anti fouled,full fuel,and cruised from Perth (Western Australia) to Dawesville Approx 50km we got the boat to 23knts WOT in a slight swell and no wind.We still can get around 19 knts WOT and haven't had the bottom cleaned as yet.🙂

Cheers
Peter and Ronie B

 

[charlie&juliesboat]

Thanks to all of you for responding...it is greatly appreciated. The info gives us a few more tools to use in planning our future cruises starting March 20 th!
Charlie & Julie

 

[downey]

At sea trial we had her opened up at 22 kts for a very short time, since then we almost always ran at 6 kts burning 1 gal per hour. The other day we did open it up to 4000 rpms and throttled back to 3600 and with full tanks and we attained 23 kts burning 10 gals per hour. We ran at this for about 25 minutes.
When starting on cool mornings (2-5 degrees Celsius or 35 - 41 Fahrenheit) it was pretty smokey, so we were hoping to clear out some carbon.
I have also ran at 14 kts burning 7 gals per hour, now we do this every other trip to burn out the carbon.
This with the Volvo D3 200 HP.

Mark

 

[PhilR]

My 2011 with 2 people and half tank of fuel will do 20 knts on flat water.

 

[Jake]

Quite the spread in WOT even with just this small sample. Too many variables I guess.

Jake

 

[Hydraulicjump]

Tugnacious, with its Yanmar 180, matches Tugalong (20 kts) for WOT speed (3950-4000 rpm) when things are juuuuuust right, which is rare in San Francisco and the crud-filled marina I live in. Usually I am lucky to get 19 kts at WOT at slack tide with glassy calm and perfect trim.

But generally, when we are in a hurry to get somewhere (think crossing Georgia Straits), we cruise at 3600 rpm, 15-16 kts, 2 to 2.2 nm/gal, 191 degrees F, passing Nordhavns, Flemings, Defevers, Krogens and other sensible craft, when we need to. Although we cruise slow most of the time, having the ability to go fast when you want is really nice.

 

[PhilR]

Forgot to mention.....20 knts at 4,000 rpms.

 

[coreychamness]

Y'all are getting better WOT performance than I do with my R-31. I hit 22 kts on my original trip after picking up the boat but now can reach only 18. I plan to haul boat and repaint bottom in spring so we will see what happens after the green fuzz is removed. I am on mostly fresh - but slightly brackish water on Potomac River.

Corey