HELP Diesel or not

[brianhayes1]

really don’t know were to begin, I hope you guys can help. My story starts with good old EBAY, some moths ago I purchased a power boat project deep V hull. 34 ft by 8 ft 8 inches approx 3 ton, the hull no is FL 5576 CE, the nearest that I can find in appearance is the 33 Power play 2000-T500. This boat so the story goes, was a one off build for a racer in the US who raced it for one season, then sold it to go down the cat route, it was brought by smugglers who then dumped her at sea after they had no more use for her, the little lady by the way her name is Coyote floated across the Atlantic and was seized by UK coastguard who then sold it as salvage to the guy I brought it from, so far so good ,by the look of Coyote she had outboards on her. My problem is I have acquired a Detroit diesel Marine engine V6 supper charged 240 BHP at 2800 rpm it was used on a north sea 28FT rescue RIB if I want to achieve the max speed from this engine hull combination do I use an out drive or jet or straight prop what would be my cursing speed what would be top speed and more important how much fuel will she use per hour or should I try getting some big outboards. Also is there a device that will allow this engine to drive two drives at once. Cheers Brian

[woodboat]

That isn't really very much power. My small block 350 Chevy is rated at 275 HP. I believe surface drives usually offer the highest speed if the hull is correct. Second would be outdrives. Inboards in my opinion are the most reliable so I prefer them. I believe this is the wrong application for a jet drive.

[brianhayes1]

Thanks Wood boat I understand that these boats have huge power plants, but I am not going for brake neck speeds problem to scary. What I would like to do is get her on a plain and go as fast as this engine will allow, sorry from the UK. What is a surface drive is that direct shaft to propeller how would I connect a V drive system and to my question what speed would be possible using this hull engine combination and thanks for your advise Brian.

[woodboat]

Here are some surface drives.
http://www.seafury.com/
http://www.pulsedrive.net/

It would be hard to guess the speed. You need one of the designers here to run the numbers. Purely guessing My 28 ft Aluminum semi V with a single inboard 250 HP Gas engine ran 29 MPH WOT. V hulls use a bit more power, yours is heavier and longer but slightly less beam and probably more lifting strakes. Diesel and Gasoline are slightly different real world VS BHP So..... I would "guess" 33 Mph WOT. These boats usually run twin 500 Bhp engines. If you could find another detroit I bet it would achieve respectable speeds.