Today my son and I spent 2 hours with Andrew who gave us an excellent tour of the R-23 Auburn factory assembly areas. It was very informative and learned quite a lot. Andrew is such a friendly person willing to answer all my questions and concerns.
The first thing we came across was a new R-* on a trailer and from the size of it to me I was sure it was the new 2018 R-27.... but no, it WAS an R-23 outboard model. It looks so much bigger out of the water and on on a trailer.
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I posted some 70 photos here
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0iGI9HKKGHWW1S and hopefully they are self explanatory. If not let me know.
The one photo that does need some explanation is one that simply shows a round hole. This photo was taken to show how thick the transom has been made for attaching the Yamaha outboard's pod to. The thickness must be close to 3" and does taper off in lower & upper areas.
The hull is really beefed up with about 1" more buildup which can be seen as rectangular sections in some of the photos. I walk along the hull's side and push hard and found no deflections at all. Faster boats require sufficient strength as forces increase with velocity squared ( expressed as in v**2).
Also note the change for attaching the kicker motor. The ~$300 welded steel bracket is no longer employed. The swim platform now has a built-in detent which is filled with a piece of starboard held by four screws from the underside. Now when installing the kicker motor all that needs doing is for the starboard cover plate removal and attaching a sturdy molded component that the kicker motor can be bolted to, and then replacing the starboard cover plate to fill the detent again - making for a smooth surface on this area of the swim platform. Thus, for boats without the kicker motor chosen optionally at purchase time, but wanting the option to have it later can be done without having to order the previous $300 steel bracket.
Another snippet from Andrew was that the V-berth cushions are now one more in number than before. The large sleeping sections were one piece including the wrapped bow portion. The bow section is now a separate piece so removing the sleeping side cushions to access the under storage area has made things a lot easier.
Not sure if this is a new feature, but the trim tab pistons are driven electrically and not hydraulically. No more hydraulic fluid tank required along with no tubes being needed etc. Time will tell about the longevity of the electric motor driven pistons vs. the hydraulic ones. With seals breaking down and water getting to the motors over time should be something to watch out for.
Andrew and I chatted about having a cockpit table. One idea that surfaced was to simply place a pedestal pole bracket identical to what the table pedestal pole uses in the V-berth on the center cockpit hatch. Thus, all that now would be needed when wanting a cockpit table would be to remove the table in the V-berth and install it in/on the cockpit floor. The shape may be a little off, but nonetheless, you obtain the cockpit table option for a mere few dollars for the extra pole bracket.
The underwater lighting feature had me a bit puzzled prior to seeing how it was achieved in the factory. The lights are positioned on the ends of the trim tabs and face aft and slightly down. I would assume they make for a cool look into the water at nighttime for seeing the fish and critters moving about, as well as providing some safety for people taking midnight dips around the boat's stern in warm waters. I wonder if the lights can be made to flicker and/or change colors periodically.
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A useful feature is provided for the Yamaha outboard 200HP for flushing fresh water through the engine when returning from salt water to the dock/slip. With the engine raised, there's a connection on the port side that can be simply disconnected and a fresh water hose attached to flush the engine with fresh water... Andrew indicated this takes but a mere 5 mins of time. It's this type of attention given by Yamaha that makes the outboard attractive from a maintenance aspect.
I'm guessing the Yamaha outboard's cooling is provided by raw water circulation and with additional air cooling. I say this as the raw water outlet on the starboard side of the engine is all of 1/8" in diameter. Not too much water flow can be achieved with such a small orifice, so I'm thinking substantial engine cooling has to be provided by air circulation.
I tried my best to capture as much wiring as was possible between chats with Andrew, which as you can imagine was ongoing for 2 solid hours.
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There are several photos I captured showing the Webasto diesel heater installation. The 3 gallon fuel tank is the bright shiny aluminium custom welded tank with a small copper tube running down to the heater box. Fresh air is drawn into the heater and heated air exits in large black pipes to the cabin and V-bert areas. The tank does not have a level indicator. The red covered pipe is for the heater's exhaust fumes. There's a coiled copper pipe that is teed to the heater's exhaust pipe which is for collecting condensate from the exhaust line.
