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Hello Forum,
We have been hard at work on our 2005 460 Sundancer with 480CE’s. We are part way through the second season with this boat and have made material progress in our list of projects and have 1 “big one” left to go. So far here is what we have done and the results of those efforts:
Immediately after purchase we had the cooling circuit fully serviced off engine. Since this is a fresh water boat the coolers came apart easily and serviced nicely. We also had the RACOR fuel filters replaced with the SMX Double Double w/squeeze bulbs. We had the prop pitch reduced by 1 inch. 23×27 down to 23×26. Hoses replaced, ALL fluids changed and filters replaced as well. We intended on having the heads replaced but that did not happen. We ran the boat for the season and we would either run at 1140rpm burning 5gph total(hull speed of 10mph) or we would be up on plane running 2140rpm burning 29gph. That was still over the 450curve. We talked with our mechanic and planned for the head replacement over the winter layup and another inch of pitch reduction.
Winter layup arrived and we got placed in the storage warehouse in a location that was not exactly convenient for heavy work. That and the mechanic called mid January and indicated his main helper for these types of jobs broke his leg and would be out of commission until July 2022…… We had the prop pitch reduced to 23×25 and proceeded with the electronics replacement and addition of the EGT gauges and running of those wires. So we got new Garmin RADAR, 8612 MFD, depth transducer, remote for the bow and stern thrusters, satellite weather module and a back ordered VHF Radio(chip shortage, go figure). We also added a water filter in the galley so that we can fill our bottles with water from the onboard water. Trying to reduce our use of plastic bottles.
We splashed this spring with the hopes that the 23×25 props would get us at or below the 450 curve. Not quite, but once we get the new heads installed this coming winter layup I can live with 29gph @2220 rpm and we are reading EGTs of 750F on the port engine and 725F on the strbd. This is with our full cruise load and gets us about 22.5mph. That is 1 mph faster than our last boat, burning 7gph less. With the added fuel capacity we have extended our range materially. The bigger boat handles the Great Lakes waves nicely.
We will be storing our boat at the boat yard where our mechanic has his shop, so there should be no excuse for not getting the heads done in the off season. We also were able to get enough soft padding in the master berth so that I can get a good night’s sleep.
Question for the forum: When cruising on plane around 2200+/-, what EGT’s and fuel burn are you getting on your 6CTA 450/480? Based on my searching/reading I think I am doing well with the 750/725F as measured at the exhaust flange coming off the turbos.
We are going on our summer trip in about 2 weeks so I will keep a detailed captain’s log and document how we run and what our stats end up being.
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2023 Update
We splashed Monday morning after a rather expensive winter layup. We have new specification cylinder heads on our 480CE’s, new SMX raw water pumps and we had the bottom blasted, barrier coated and then finish painted. We also had some ceramic filter tint put on our windshield to keep heat away from the autopilot head unit.
Everything started up without issue so we took the boat out for a sea trial of the repairs. The cockpit decking was still removed while we did the trial so things were easy to see for the mechanics. It is absolutely amazing how loud the engines are with out the benefit of the decking/sound insulation. We all had ear protection but still the sound is impressive. I am headed back up to the boat on Thursday to replace the genstart battery and plug in the Wolverines. We will let them warm things up until Saturday morning at which point we will run the boat the 15miles back to our home port marina. I will have time on that run to make more detailed observations. We have not loaded in our “stuff” yet so we are running light. I expect fuel burn to be lower than our base line for this run. I will also pay attention to the EGT to see if that changes at all.
At this point we are done with the major upgrades. I would like to sincerely thank the whole forum for allowing me to learn and apply what I have learned. I feel like I am a better boater because of what I have learned here. Cheers to all and, to borrow a line, “See you out on the water’.
Steve
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