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| Repower Articles |
| Orion - Repower of a 32 Ft Radon (From the owners perspective) |
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On March 8 2001, I brought my 32x10 Radon to Seaboard Marine for a re-power.
Tony suggested I replace my gas guzzling twin 454 bravo 2 package with a
single 400-hp Cummins C series and a remotely mounted ZF 302vld transmission.
The first things you notice at Tony's facility is that
you are at a professional yard. The shop is clean and equipped with every
tool and marine part you could possibly need. Every part I needed from a
new autopilot to custom-machined bearings was in stock. |
| Tony agreed to let me do as much of the re-power work
as I felt comfortable doing. Since I'm a commercial fisherman and would
be out of work until the project was completed, I took full advantage of
this opportunity. Every morning Tony advised me on the job at hand. When
I needed welding or machining done his shop completed it ASAP. Tony provided
all the technical advice from fiberglass lay up to shaft angle and alignment
techniques. |
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| Old twin Bravo II's.... |
The engine room was "Wall to Wall"
twin 454's |
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| Cutting this stuff was a messy and very
itchy job !!!! |
Cutting out the old integral gasoline
fuel tank |
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By March 20, the hull was prepared and ready for the
transmission installation. The custom transmission mounts Tony builds are
superior to anything I have ever seen. They are simple, strong and allow
for easy shaft alignment adjustments. A week later we installed the strut
a two-inch shaft and glassed in the shaft log. By the middle of April, the
engine was securely mounted to the new 9.5x 1.75 microlam stringers. After
installing a new electrical and fuel system, we started the engine and I
could tell right away that I purchased a real power plant. On April 30,
we moved the boat to Ventura harbor, mounted the 26x30 four-blade propeller,
and pumped 200 gallons of $1.27/ gallon diesel into the tanks. I asked the
attendant the price of gasoline and was told $2.45/ gallon.
The prep work for the stringer install (exact width, etc.) was paramount
in allowing the use of the of the power train /v-drive mounts from the "Raptor"
which was also going thru a repower at the same time. Basically, the Raptor
was upgrading from a Cummins 400 C/ remote V-drive to a Cummins 635 HP QSM-11
with a ZF 350 V-drive(that need for speed again), and the Orion was going
to install his complete drive train that was 4 yrs old w/ 6500 hrs on it. Even
w/6500 hrs on the on the V-drive, shaft, strut, etc, everything was in like
new condition and had proven to be 100% reliable. |
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| New "Microllam" stringers.....
Unbelievably strong, straight, and light. Also, they glass exceptionally well! |
New Stringers run from the transom to
the "V-Drive" bulkhead (about 10 1/2 ft) forming a very stiff engine
room/drive train area. |
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| Quite dusty here... |
Finally mounting of the equipment. IRM
302 VLD with 6500+ trouble free hrs that was removed from the Raptor. |
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| New (4 yrs old) 400C Cummins that was
purchased from a now defunct distributor. This engine was purchased for
about 2/3 of it's original cost in 1996 and came with a full factory warranty.
Good deal.. |
'Ringfeder' self supported
cardan shaft torsional coupling and view of bell housing end of 400C. |
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| Sea trials are the true test of a successful re-power.
Tony warned me that my 1989 32 foot Washington build fiberglass radon was
heavier than the newer radons so I may not go as fast as some of his other
Radon re-powers. The 454s gave me 18 knots @ 3500 rpm with 1000 lbs. of
crab on deck. The Cummins 400 gives me 20 knots @ 2200 rpm with the same
load. With both live wells flooded (550 gallons) the boat still cruses at
15 knots. I use 60 gallons of diesel to pull the same amount of traps that
previously required 140 gallons of gasoline. With this performance, I have
reduced my fuel cost by 75%. |
Thank you Seaboard Marine
Chris Hoeflinger
(805) 498-9343 |
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Orion - 32' Radon (From the owners perspective) |
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