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Sea-Dog
12-11-2009, 07:36 PM
I have a 60Hp, 4 - Stroke Yamaha tiller steer outboard that was due for its 100 Hour service.

This was only the second scheduled service on the motor. The first service was done at 20 Hours/3 Months.

The first service cost was $324, and was done where I bought the boat - Stones Corner Marine.

At 12 Months/94 Hours I decided to do a bit of price checking.

Stones Corner wanted $600

Wynnum Marine wanted $500

Yatala Yamaha wanted $400

I rung Stones corner back to see if they would negotiate on price. "No" was the answer.

I booked the boat in for service the next week at Yatala.

Yatala Yamaha were willing to let me watch the entire servicing process if I wanted to. Unfortunately I had other stuff I had to do.

When I arrived back at Yatala, they had done a computer printout from the diagnostic program.

They even re-connected the computer so that I could see the diagnostic program in action.

The technician told me of a fault code from when the motor was 0.1 hours running time, that had not been previously cancelled. (I wonder if the other guys had ever connected the motor to a computer for diagnosis.)

He also suggested that the 13" pitch propeller was a bit too large for the boat and that it should be running 12" or less.

This was confirmed by the computer diagnosis that the motor had never exceeded 5,000 revs, and that the motor would not produce 60Hp until the revs neared 6,000.

Also, on the water there was no difference in revs between half throttle and full throttle. So I always kept it under half throttle. (just to be on the safe side)

I was told that a new prop would cost $200 or more, but they could have my prop re-pitched for around $75

When I first bought the boat, I queried the prop pitch but was told that the 13" would be fine for my setup.

Anyway, Yatala took my 13" prop for re-pitching and gave me a spare prop to keep me on the water in case I wanted to use the boat this weekend.

Bloody good service and pricing.

The total bill came to $403.85 (including GST) - only $3.85 over the quoted amount.

I won't be going back to the opposition....

Contact details if you're interested:

Yatala Yamaha
Unit 1/11 Christensen St Stapylton/Yatala
(07) 3807 8299

Cheers, Sea-Dog

Razgo-
13-11-2009, 07:39 AM
wow, thats good service and price! you have convinced me :)

PADDLES
13-11-2009, 07:44 AM
yep, you can't complain about that. good to hear another happy story instead of the bad ones.

Jarrah Jack
13-11-2009, 01:44 PM
And let you watch the process if you if you wanted. That really is something and they must have a good insurance company as well.

gav73
13-11-2009, 03:36 PM
That's the go SeaDog its money in your pocket and the sounds like they had a real mechanic working on your engine. Ya don't mind paying for a good job if it's done correctly. It's a pain in the neck when ya buy a boat and after you hand over your cash they don't give a shit or like you say sting ya for a basic service which sounds like you didn't get much of that at the first place.Good stuff name the places that try to rip ya.

bennyboy
13-11-2009, 04:01 PM
Sea Dog, what size boat do you have?

I'm just curious about the figures from the prop. With too large a prop you will get an increase in speed all the way through to WOT, with too small a prop you will get to a certain point where it just won't go any faster. This is more than likley the case if you aren't getting any increase from half throttle.
I know on a 4.8 Centre console with a F60 it will spin a 14" and get 6000RPM (on a tacho gauge not the computer report)

If it's only getting to 5000 rpm going down a pitch will get you between 100 to 200 rpm increase. You would need to put a maximum 9 inch prop (probably less) to get to 6000RPM which doesn't seem right at all unless you are pushing a barge.

I would be thinking you need to go up an inch in pitch not down

bennyboy
13-11-2009, 04:15 PM
Check this out a 485 Streaker with a 13" prop on it pulling 5900RPM and it's 1000kg of boat and motor.

I would be careful of hitting the rev limiter on a lighter boat with a smaller prop

http://www.yamaha-motor.com.au/pdf/marine/power_reports/Streaker_Fisherman_485_F60.pdf

Sea-Dog
13-11-2009, 08:19 PM
My boat is a 4.85M Sea-Jay Territory, tiller steer with flat floor, casting deck and I usually carry too much crap including my 127L Tropical esky half full of ice. (I know, I'm a dreamer thinking I can use half of that space for fish.) 50 L of fuel etc. I mostly have 2 - 3 people and gear on board. So the motor does have a little bit of weight to push.

The anti-ventilation plate on the motor is approx level with the bottom of the hull. She does suck a bit of air on moderate turns at high speed regardless of trim settings. I don't think the motor is mounted low enough to cause excessive drag.

It sounds like I will have to use my optical tacho to determine exactly what revs she is reaching. (It means running the motor with the cowling off so the laser can measure reflected light off the flywheel)

I have plugged some figures into a prop calculator that I found a link to on ausfish with the following results:


Boat speed at 6,000 rpm with 1.85:1 ratio gearbox (F60) @ 8% slip.
14" = 34.38 Kn
13" = 31.92 Kn
12" = 29.46 Kn

at 5,000 rpm
14" = 28.65 Kn
13" = 26.60 Kn
12" = 24.55 Kn

I measured top speed on my GPS at half-throttle as between 26 & 27 Knots from memory.

13" at 26.5 Kn = 4,981 rpm

I will measure actual rpm at max revs and see what we have.

Ideal WOT revs = 5,500 - 6,000

Using the calculator to get those revs and speed would require a prop pitched at 11.3"

12" would get me 28.24 Kn

I'm not fussed about speed, I just want the revs in the right range.

Time for the tacho to see the results.

Now I just need time and suitable weather to do the testing.

Cheers.