6.1 Barcrusher V 600 Cruisecraft Explorer

[Heath]

Had a fairly busy weekend fishing & testing boats. The 2 rigs that we felt were best suited to our needs were the 6.1 Barcrusher (alloy) & the Cruiscraft 600 Explorer (fibreglass).

We took the Barcrusher out on Friday afternoon to the end of the Seaway where conditions were shocking. This is where we put theBarcrusher through its paces. The ride is everything that has been previously said about the Barcrusher. It was devoid of the crashing & bashing so long associated with alloy boats. We braced ourselves for a hard landing, only to be stunned with a smooth sure footed re-entry. The turning on these thing is amazing, it turns on a 10c piece without cavitation or lose of grip. On a following sea the boat tracked continually straight & actually felt weird tracking straight when we expected it to move either left or right. We did find however that holeshots & top end speed lacking. It was powered by a Honda 130hp 4 stroke which could have used a different prop such as a 4 blade as my mate has on his Honda 130. With the standard prop the motor didn't reach its full potential. The checkerplate floor is extremly slippery & in rain or rough conditions could make staying on your feed difficult, along with the fact that it would get red hot in the sun. The boat does deflect water away from the craft however with the wind, water was still being sprayed into the boat. Steering was a night mare, it was very heavy using the standard cable steering, this could be improved greatly by using hydrolic steering, we also found that 3 people accross the dash is a bit squeezy.

On saturday we took a Cruisecraft 600 Explorer for a test run on Moreton bay. Conditions were bad as well. Infact conditions were PERFECT for boat testing

The boat peformed faltlessly with a much drier ride than the Barcrusher. Water was pushed away from the craft, no matter which way we pushed it we only managed the odd spray. The craft turned very securly without loss of grip or cavitation and with the heavy fibreglass hull absoluty ate the ordinary conditions. Hole shots were magical with the 175 Yamaha popping the boat on the plane in a split second, and reaching speed not long after that. The boat planed at under 2500 rpm & I feel it would still plane at a slower RPM except for the conditions. At approx 4500rpm we were doing 70km/hr, in ordinary conditions& the boat was still comfortable. We did notice that again the steering was heavy with the cable type steering. It was a lot better than the Honda, but still heavy.

So all in all the Cruiscraft won the day. It is everything we want in a boat & performance to match. We will be getting hydrolic steering on the craft.
A bit more haggling to do early in the week & plan to put a deposit on one by Wednesday.

Thanks to everyone for your input to my questions on motors.

The Quinnie is officially up for sale & can be veiwed on my website.

[mackmauler]

Thats the best boat test ive read in ages, who needs F@b. Just one thing Heath, the 70 ks the Cruiscraft managed and still comfortable was that offshore, if it was, your one tough customer ;) ;D

Cheers

[Kerry]

Obviously sales people push this speed thing but at 4500 at 70 km/h (37 odd knots) tends to point to a bit more power than required.

That tends to indicate that down around the 20-25 knot mark, which is probably no more than any vessel of this size can handle in a reasonable sea the revs just wouldn't be making the grade for a 2S.

Cheers, Kerry.

[Heath]

Thats the best boat test ive read in ages, who needs F@b. #Just one thing Heath, the 70 ks the Cruiscraft managed and still comfortable was that offshore, if it was, your one tough customer ;) ;D

Cheers
That was in moreton bay. At 70km/h in the conditions we were in the boat was getting a hiding, but it was still a comfortable ride.

Thats what we set out to try, we wanted to see how far we could push it before it became uncomfortable.

[Heath]

Obviously sales people push this speed thing but at 4500 at 70 km/h (37 odd knots) tends to point to a bit more power than required.

That tends to indicate that down around the 20-25 knot mark, which is probably no more than any vessel of this size can handle in a reasonable sea the revs just wouldn't be making the grade for a 2S.

Cheers, Kerry.

The boat we tested apparently has a top speed of 50kts plus, however we didn't get to quantify that due to the conditions. The donk is plenty for the hull & our most attention is towards the holeshot & planing performance, not top end. I have spoken with several owners of yamaha 175's & between 3500 - 4500 rpm the thing drinks approx 20L / hour. Thats pretty darn good.

I think that doing speeds in the 20 - 25kt range will be fairly economical for this engine.

[Smithy]

"I have spoken with several owners of yamaha 175's & between 3500 - 4500 rpm the thing drinks approx 20L / hour. Thats pretty darn good."

I agree! A mates 5.5m plate boat is fitted with a Navman fuel flow meter which is calibrated accurately enought so we are only ever out by about 5 litres on a 100 litre trip. By the Navman he was getting consumption figures of around 28 litres an hour fitted with a 4 cylinder 2 stroke Suzuki 115 doing about 4200-4600 and with a 4 stroke 115 Yamaha it is returning about 21 litres an hour at about 4500 RPM for about 20 knots with a 17" prop. It never returns figures down to 16-19 litres an hour as I have seen in some fishing and boating magazines for a good full clean plane. The setup of the boat just won't let you run in the economical 3500-4000 RPM range but that is just the unique setup of that hull, motor, prop combo.

From all of this and heaps of magazine articles, I find it hard to believe a 175 can deliver 20 l/h at cruise. The only sure way to know is to order Yamaha Smart Gauges or get a Navman fuel computer.

[Kerry]

Heath, no it's not the top end I would be concerned about either but the general everyday running revs and really that should be in a 2S's power band. If one had to run that motor at 3500 (or even less than 4000) as standard then I see that as undesirable in 2S terms.

2S's don't like that.

I'd also be sceptical of a 175 2S on a hull like that burning only 20l/h ??? at those types of revs.

Cheers, Kerry.

[Big_Kev]

Kerry can you tell me what the every day running revs of a four stroke should be as I want to choose a prop for my boat that will suit how I drive it . As I am the sort of driver that just pokes along steady and want an honest answer from someone in the know .
Cheers Reel

[Lucky_Phill]

Hey Heath, was that Yammie a HPDI, and if so, those fuel figures will get better.

Bill Corten's 625 Crusiecraft with the 175HPDI returns 18.4L/H during bar crossings and fishing trips offshore.

The 625 with a Opitmax 175 does a little better ( one trip 100litres for 158 kilometers )

Our Sportfish ( 6.2 ) with the Honda 130 returned 16L/H on her first run. But we are still having trouble getting the prop right. Not getting a good result for planing speed or top end and we are using ( and have been trying ) 4 blader's.

I tested the Sportfish and tested the 625 Cruisei and my boat of choice would be the Cruisecraft. For the sheer ability to take on the rough offshore and bay waters and eat them up like it was a sunday breakfast. Having said that, the Sportfish ( superVee Hull ) is a very , very dry boat and does a brilliant job.

Straight out of the factory the Cruisecarft is better balanced, whereas the Sporty, has to be tuned !

[clutter]

Phil,
Do you have a foil fitted to your Honda? The reason I ask is that a friend has a 6M Freedom with the 130 Honda. When new she handled like a pig and was very hard to keep on the plane at lower revs/cruising speed. He fitted a foil to it and it is a totally different boat. Gets on the plane quickly and cruises easily and pretty econimically. Its only fitted with the standard 3 blade prop but don't know the size and pitch off hand.

Cheers, Clutter.

[Kerry]

Kerry can you tell me what the every day running revs of a four stroke should be as I want to choose a prop for my boat that will suit how I drive it . As I am the sort of driver that just pokes along steady and want an honest answer from someone in the know.

Reel, certainly not in the know but how I see things is any outboard (4S or 2S) must rev to the WOT specifications and that's not really related to how any particular person drives them but propped under normal load/setup etc.

Generally running 2S's and 4S's are probably a little different as 2S's can handle revs probably better than a 4S?. Outboard 4S's are basically car engines and if one run their car flat everywhere/everyday it would probably have a limited life. It would be worse if one run their car everywhere in 5th gear, which is basically what an outboard has to do.

On the other hand if one makes a 2S labour (low revs based on being over proped etc) then that can limit a 2S's life.

You might like to check your 4S outboard manual (maybe the fine print ???) and see if there's a warning about running more than 80% revs for any length of time. That maximum length of time is generally no more than 5 minutes from what I understand?.

For mine I would be propping it to get the top end of the WOT rev range then running less than 80% throttle to whatever suits the your requirements.

If it was a 2S then it's still propped to WOT spec and if the boat/engine combo is suited then a 2S will run best in the power band (around that general magic 4000-4500 area).

Cheers, Kerry.

[mackmauler]

Kerry, took a look at the honda book here regards the wot and 5 min running etc, and to quote it, for the initial 10hrs avoid continuous full throttle operation for more than 5 minutes, couldn't find any other stuff about this.

Cheers

[Heath]

Hey Heath, was that Yammie a HPDI, and if so, those fuel figures will get better.

Bill Corten's 625 Crusiecraft with the 175HPDI returns 18.4L/H during bar crossings and fishing trips offshore.



I rang Bill before taking the boat out to discuss how his performs.
i don't remember him saying his 175 was the HPDI..... I could be wrong :-/

[Kerry]

Kerry, took a look at the honda book here regards the wot and 5 min running etc, and to quote it, for the initial 10hrs avoid continuous full throttle operation for more than 5 minutes, couldn't find any other stuff about this.

Mack, that principle of varying the speed when running in and not running at any particular revs for any real period of time should apply to any engine be it outboard, truck, bus or motor scooter.

I'm going to have to try and recall just where I saw that comment as at the time it made some sense as the amount of moving parts in a 4S don't really like going flat out all the time. #

Cheers, Kerry.

[mackmauler]

Kerry, My honda is on a fairly heavy boat for hp size, and has done at least 180 hrs at wot or close to it, camping trips when the boat is full, at least 10 times its done 2hrs of wot non stop, the mechanic tells me everything is fine, as i see it the engine has done some good work, total hrs is approx 490 so far, might be nothing by commercial standards but some feedback anyhow.

Cheers

[Smithy]

Heath,

what did you get? You had something about spending a substantial sum of money with Springwood Marine on the main page. Was that just for chandlery?

[Heath]

Yeah Smithy,

That was just the goodies to go inside the new rig. ;D

The new rig ( Cruise Craft Explorer 600 ) should arrive in approx 7 weeks time :'( :'( :'( :D 8)

[Smithy]

And with a 175 2 stroke Yammie? What sort of trailer?

[Heath]

Yeah, we got the 175 Yammie.

we went for the Tinka trailer. The Redco is only 8 inches off the ground at the rear, which was too low to get up the gutter.

[Ron_Collins]

Hi Heath

Just noticed you're getting into a new CruiseCraft. You won't be disappointed.

BNB Fishing has been flogging CruiseCrafts from the old 580 Outsider at Fraser and Straddie comps for more than 10 years now as part of the genuine offshore R&D that Nichols Bros now put into their fishing boats.

You're a fair way down the purchasing track now, but still make sure you let the dealership and factory know that you're part of BNB Fishing as they may be able to add some extras. At least some FOC signage, ie, CruiseCraft Fishing Team, BNB Fishing etc. Kevin at the factory would be best to speak with about signage.

I also liked your comparision report. When the new one is on the water, perhaps you'd like to come up with a final version which we'll also publish in BNB Fishing? Let me know. Ron.

[Heath]

Hi Heath

Just noticed you're getting into a new CruiseCraft. You won't be disappointed.

BNB Fishing has been flogging CruiseCrafts from the old 580 Outsider at Fraser and Straddie comps for more than 10 years now as part of the genuine offshore R&D that Nichols Bros now put into their fishing boats.

You're a fair way down the purchasing track now, but still make sure you let the dealership and factory know that you're part of BNB Fishing as they may be able to add some extras. At least some FOC signage, ie, CruiseCraft Fishing Team, BNB Fishing etc. Kevin at the factory would be best to speak with about signage.

I also liked your comparision report. When the new one is on the water, perhaps you'd like to come up with a final version which we'll also publish in BNB Fishing? Let me know. Ron.

Ron, you read my mind ;)

George from Wynnum Marine looked after us ;D