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| Repower Articles |
| Raptor - Repower of a custom 36 Ft "New Wave" commercial dive
boat |
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| The Raptor was originally built new at
our facility about 6 years ago as a custom 36 Ft "New Wave" commercial
sea urchin dive boat. When first conceived on the drawing board the owner
knew at that time that he'd like to have a single 600 HP machine that would
outperform all of his competition but his budget at that time could only
allow for this new boat to go together with a 400 hp power train. Well,
after 6 great years of performance and making lots of $$, the owner (Ron
Rector) decided it was time to turn the Raptor into what it was originally
designed for........One mean machine, The RAPTOR II. |
We got together and hit the drawing board to figure
out the best way to accomplish this repower, and do it within a budget and
time frame that would work for him..We got lucky and found another commercial
fisherman that wanted his boat to perform like the Raptor so we were able
to sell the entire drive train to the owner of a 32Ft Radon ( ORION ). This
helped the budget part, so now all we had to do was do the right engineering
by figuring out the best engine/v-drive combo that would allow the optimum
fit, power, economy, and most important allow for adaption to all of the
hydraulic power requirements of the vessel.. The vessel uses hydraulic power
(about 15+ hp) to drive two compressors and two winches. The hydraulic power
must come from the main engine and be able to operate at all engine speeds
(from a idle to full rpm) and deliver the needed flow rates without being
affected by the variable speeds of the main engine.. In this operation,
the main engine never shuts down during the course of a normal work day.
It came down to a Cummins QSM-11 rated 635 HP @ 2300 rpm and a ZF 350 remote
V-drive optioned w/ a trolling valve and a SAE C pad power take-off (PTO)
that would allow us to mount one large pressure compensated (SMART) hydraulic
pump..Because the main engine never shuts down, the hydraulic pump is always
running as it's driven off the input shaft to the V- Drive..This makes for
a simple but very "commercial" type system that can stand up to
the heavy duty use that it will have.
As for overall performance, she's slighter faster than we hoped for when
FULLY loaded w/ 3000+ lbs of product.. And as a added plus, this boat burns
exactly the same amount of fuel as it did with the 400C to accomplish the
same daily trip to the islands (130+ miles round trip). About 135 gallons
for a complete work day of about 11-12 hrs vs the same work day of 14 hours
with the 400C.. He just completes the mission 2-3 hrs faster.
The project was simple AFTER the planning was done and was completed about
in 3 months and a little over budget. |
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| Ronnie with his original 302VLD V-Drive (about 6000
trouble free hours) and his new $10,000 (bobtail) ZF 350 V-Drive. |
Both V-Drives again for comparison.
The 302VLD has
the mounts attached. |
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Raptor - 36' "New Wave" commercial dive boat |
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