Got out on a 3-day shakedown very bare-bones cruise. Boat is basically just a functional shell, still not outfitted to shrimp or fish and nowhere to even hang a towel or a sock on the boat yet, so it's spartan to say the least. I consider the build still underway, thus I'm still posting in the build thread, as I learned a lot that will probably be useful to other builders
1. I raised the deck 3" above the stringers, and with no load on the back deck, the scuppers are right at 5" above the waterline, maybe 5 1/4" at best. The deck remains reliably dry. Will post an update when loaded for shrimp/skiing, etc.
2. Boat's best planing speed seems to be right at 22 knots as Brian designed, 3500 rpm, 3.25 nmpg, 6.8 gal/hr with the Suzi 250 with a Solas Lexor Plus 16 x 19 stainless prop. I was hoping to burn 6 gal/hr or a bit less at cruise, so I suspect trying a few different props would be worthwhile. My goal is to get maximum fuel economy in the 20-25 knot range and still be able to reliably go 35 knots even loaded. Could care less about acceleration or hole shot, and anything over 35 knots is unrealistic for a variety of reasons. My 3 mpg point was reached at 28 knots around 4000-4100 rpm. I figure the boat weight on the water on this trip was 5200 lb, and that will go up to 6500 lb fully loaded for a long trip. Any prop suggestions from other users?
3. As expected, with all the wiring, house battery, kicker, helm, etc. she lists to SB a few degrees, so the trim tabs were useful right away. I think they should be standard issue on such a light boat - the boat handles noticeably better when running dead on vs that few degrees of list.
4. I need another access hatch in the aft end of the keel compartment just forward of the fuel tank beneath the cabin. All these compartments down the centerline of the boat have limber holes in each bulkhead, so a bit of fuel smell was detectable in the cabin. It wasn't much, but since I plan to camp a lot in the boat, I plan to put a plug in the aft end of this storage locker, and just remember to check the locker for moisture occasionally, and probably just towel it out. That will eliminate fuel vapors from migrating from the fuel tanks into the cabin.
5. The autopilot is excessively useful and convenient and remarkably accurate - much better than any other autopilot I've used. It's native to the Simrad main display and it just works. Unless you've run these and really like to try to keep the boat tracking straight through the slop, I'd recommend giving them strong consideration. It frees me up to monitor other things, and allows me to stretch and relax. I love it.
6. Given that I achieved the boat's design planing speed at around 3500 rpm, I cannot imagine this boat with a 200 hp engine - it would be revved up awfully high just to get to cruise, and have little left for heavy loads or a bit of additional speed, and I would think fuel economy would suffer. Seems like 250 is perfect for the 28.
7. I ran the boat straight through Port Wells at 22 knot cruise on autopilot in the typical 3+ ft slop with frequent whitecaps, wave direction be damned. This is a notorious stretch of cross-seas, with katabatic winds from the north off the glaciers of College Fjord and easterly or westerly winds down Passage Canal mixing. The boat rolled smoothly and predictably with the northerly swells, and pounded softly on the backs of the easterlies occasionally. I was pleasantly impressed, the boat handles nicely!
8. The windshield wipers were very handy on several occasions, even in the light mist. I can't imagine being without them. That said I either need to drive them all individually or get the synchronizing box, as my attempt to run the port/SB wipers off the same switch is a failure. They get out of synch after a few cycles and then never turn off......so I have to turn them off with the breaker to reset things. Back to the drawing board on this one.
9. I slept athwartships happily, and I'm 6'-2" tall.
10. Notice! Building the bunk tops parallel to the stringers predictably yields the aft end of the bunks lower than the forward end. I wanted to put the bunk in at a slant of 2" above parallel at aft end and 2" below parallel at the forward end, and dearly wish I hadn't allowed myself to be talked out of it. It's a big deal when you spend a lot of time sleeping on the boat as I intend to do. Am I really considering tearing this out and re-doing it?? Sigh.....
11. The 22 lb claw anchor and 40-ft of 5/16" chain is a pretty weighty pull, so I would not want to go with more weight than that. Maybe 30-ft of chain would have been plenty!
The pictures of the main display were taken in a foot and a half to two foot light chop.
That's about all, ask any questions if this raises any issues!
