25 Contender twin 200 HPDIs - Plane on one engine? - The Hull Truth

FreeByrd · 08-18-2003, 02:44 PM

I have a 2003 25 Contender with twin 200 HPDIs. 185 Gallon Fuel Tank.

Should I be able to get the boat on plane with one engine? Tried it two weekends ago and was surprised that I couldn't. I only got around 15mph and was not on plane. I put my crew of 3 guys up front. Had approximately 100 gallons of fuel onboard.

I am running this in freshwater on Lake Erie. I suspect the difference in bouyancy of freshwater compared to salt, may be enough of a difference that maybe it just won't be possible? I assume you can get this boat on plane with one engine in saltwater?

Thanks,
Steve

Dan Hicks · 08-18-2003, 02:52 PM

My 27 will plane with one, 150 gallons of fuel and 3 people in the bow. twin hpdi 200's

kbarker · 08-18-2003, 02:55 PM

Props make a HUGE difference.Dan what pitch props??

FreeByrd · 08-18-2003, 03:04 PM

quote:Originally posted by kbarker:
Props make a HUGE difference.Dan what pitch props??

I have the standard Yamaha Stainless Saltwater Series props. I believe they are 21 pitch. I will verify this coming weekend when I pick the boat up.
Steve

Tailwalker · 08-18-2003, 03:39 PM

This surprises me. My local dealer has a 25 Contender with a single 225 hpdi on it and it will run low 40's. I can't believe the extra weight of that engine and your crew would not let this thing get on plane with a 200.

You might want to try 19's.

richmondfishing · 08-18-2003, 03:55 PM

Did you have the dead engine tilted up? I would think dragging a dead lower unit would cause a LOT of drag. What do you all think?

Sailor · 08-18-2003, 03:58 PM

no expeirence with contendor's but the old mako 25 with 150 Yam's that I used to run would plane on one engine. I would think that your boat would as well. Do you have trim tabs? Did you bow down as much as possible? The engine should have been trimmed down all the way and the other engine at least half way up or all the way if possible.

dubbs · 08-18-2003, 06:13 PM

I had a 1999 25 contender with twin 200 efi and could not plane on one engine. If you change props you could probably do it.

horseradish · 08-18-2003, 06:28 PM

My 25' Pursuit with two 150's won't plane on one. Tried everything too..motor up, trim down..nada.

Pursuit 2470, Twin Yam 150's

Blackfin 25 · 08-18-2003, 06:54 PM

Its all in the propping,2 engines = higher pitch for wot spec.If you carry a spare left and right 15 pitch prop,all the boats mentioned here will plane.This is another good reason to pitch motors to the max rpm spec on wot,then if one dies you you have a chance of planing if your light enough.
My sister inlaws 25ft mako would plane with 5 people using one of the 2 150 yamahas.The motor sounded like it wanted to explode though,and rpms were way below spec,im sure if i was offshore and had to run this way,i would idle in or be pre-paired for a very short engine life.

slacker · 08-18-2003, 06:57 PM

My 25 G-W with 200 Johnsons will not plain on one either. Thats with a modified v you guys with the deep vee it does become much harder.

bow to the cow and bleed the blue

rayos · 08-18-2003, 07:14 PM

My Grady White 268 Islander with twin 200 hpdis ( new engines - boat is a '95) will plain with one engine. 17 inch props.

slacker · 08-18-2003, 07:33 PM

Rayos- Is the Islander the 8,6 beam? Mine is a 9,6 beam and adds about 1200lbs to the boat. I'm not sure about the props but at 4000 rpm I cruise at 29knots. WOTis 5600 at about 40 knots.

bow to the cow and bleed the blue

Mumblerone · 08-19-2003, 06:13 AM

Mine will not plane on one motor either, nor did I expect it to! 14 1/4" x 21" props. Becareful of putting too much of a load on that one motor; you could blow it. You could change props to a 19" pitch but then your WOT RPMs will not be correct.

Boston Whaler, "MUMBLER", 24' Outrage, twin 175 HP Evinrude Ocean Pros.

Snowball, the cat...

GradySailfish25 · 08-19-2003, 06:51 AM

My 25 Grady will do it....Turn down sea/down wind, get it moving pretty good and then punch it....

chorn24 · 08-19-2003, 09:36 AM

Mine will with 200 Merc EFI's you do have to trim the other engine up though, 38 MPH 21p Merc 4-blades, I want to buy a set of 17p-counter composites so I wont lug the engine on a long run though.

jettycricket · 08-19-2003, 09:52 AM

Freebyrd,
What pitch props are you running and how many RPMs @ WOT. you may be propped wrong to begin with. I ran a Triton 2895cc with twin Yamaha 225 4-strokes and it planed off on one. It didn't like it, but it did. We had 19 pitch wheels.
Considering the 2895cc is much heavier than your contender with only a little more HP, I would think it should plane off on one.

FreeByrd · 08-19-2003, 09:52 AM

Thanks for all the replies. I did have the "dead" engine trimmed out of the water and tried various combinations of trim on the running motor and my tabs, starting with both full down. I will take this into consideration in buying spare props although unless it was pretty nice out and in the summer I likely would just run in at 12-15 mph rather than mess with changing a prop on the water. Most of our trips are max 20 miles and most are shorter than that unless we are fishing a tournament.

I will have to investigate the pros / cons of 19 props compared to the 21s that I have. Any good reference material you can point me to in terms of propping. This is something I should know - but don't.

I have the 21 pitch props that came standard with the 200 HPDIs. Now I don't know if that was Yamaha's choice of prop, or more likely Contender's choice of prop for that boat / motor combination? With engines trimmed probally 3/4 up and running WOT I've seen 5300 RPM. Max speed I've seen is 53 MPH. This is in Freshwater with a painted bottom. The 24.5 degree deadrise will surely make it harder to plane on one engine off center, but I would think it is possible - and probally is with different props, but I don't know enough about the tradeoffs of going to different props yet. I don't want to have the optimum prop for hopefully 1% of my running time and sacrifice performance for the other 99% of my running time

Thanks,
Steve

[This message was edited by FreeByrd on 08-19-03 at 12:31 PM.]

Dragoon · 08-19-2003, 12:12 PM

Which holes are your motors mounted on? They may be bolted on a little too deep. You might want to think about adding some transom wedges and checking the engine height. The wedges will give you more negative trim without dragging the tabs.

Saltdog · 08-19-2003, 12:24 PM

Steve, you have stated the problem very well. There is a big tradeoff with a hard-to-plane boat. My 32 Regulator can barely plane on one of its 250 HPDIs if the load is light and the seas are smooth. With a 17 pitch prop, I am sure I could easily run on plane at 20-25 knots with one engine. But I would also give up my very efficient 32 knot cruise at 4200 rpms that I have with 19s. It just isn't worth it to me to sacrifice performance 95% of the time to get home a little quicker if I ever have one engine fail. The 19s give me 5200 WOT fully loaded, which is right on the money.

While I have had Yamahas not run properly, I have never had one actually refuse to run in 10 years with various models.

Given your circumstances, it sounds as though you should just accept a slow run home if one engine fails. That's the choice I and many other owners of hard to plane boats have made.