Jarrett Bay News

Wow!!!

Iron Leader is a 70' Sportfish. It's Hull #48.

So, in a nutshell:
JB declared that the boat reached 48kts with the MTUs she was originally built with.
13 years later, she could still reach 44kts with those engines, before repower.
Now, with the C32B, she's reaching 46kts.
Maybe someone can explain me what am I missing...?

6 knot faster cruise speed with the new engines.

Actually 4, according to their own video.
BTW, a number that I would take with a pinch of salt, because they compared the same rpm (1900) rather than the same load.
But the MTU is a 2450rpm engine vs. 2300 of the Cat, and well capable of cruising at 2000rpm.
I'd expect the cruising speed to be VERY close, in a like for like comparison.

Regardless, let's assume that the boat can now cruise at 38 rather than 34kts.
Worth repowering for that? Really?!?
Looks more like a marketing effort than anything else, to my simple mind.

Unlike most of us enthusiast, some boat owners do not have any money limits.
Rebuild is never in their vocabulary also.

Great videos, thanks for posting. Seems like I've seen this somewhere recently but on a smaller scale

Interesting that they did not post or comment on comparison fuel burn rates on old vs new. I'm guessing the difference was less than remarkable? Still, pretty amazing to go to a smaller block that opens up enough space to install gyros and increase speed at he same time! And such a beautiful boat.

This reminds me to ask; How much more room did you find after your re-power?

I still believe in the old displacement rule; The more you have per HP and the slower they spin, the longer the engine may last.
So, I'm wondering what goes in for next re-power in a couple of years?

we gained like 6-8 inches in front of the engines and access to outboard sides is much easier given the narrower in line 6 vs V configuration

This will answer your repower question

Do you mean the answer is that they are using that boat as an engines test platform?
Fair enough, but I don't see a huge difference with my previous definition of "marketing effort".

What I find more intesting in this other video is that at 1:47 they show an old article with some numbers related to the previous powerplant.
And... Guess what?
They stated that cruising speed was 40kts @2000rpm, i.e. actually 2kts higher than with the new Cats!
Which BTW matches perfectly what I previously said ref. the MTUs being higher revving engines...

The yard could call it that. Cat could call it that.
Still, nothing for NASA or Iron Leader is cheap.
I'm sure the owner, without checkbook limits, will let anybody call the re-power anything they want and extract any data they want.

When the dust settles, he has a first, one of a kind, can go fast, has plenty of people to blame if it fails, and his boat is talked about,,,, more.

Oh, probably $1/4 meg per fish raised next season.

Better than AmEx,,, Priceless..

The boat NEEDED a repower.

Well, if those MTUs were good enough for a dozen of years, even if worn out/high hours, they could have been overhauled surely?
Probably (though this is just my guess) also without pulling them out, and saving all the related hassle.
It hurted me to even just see the surgery needed on such a lovely woodwork, to pull the beasts out...
Then again, I guess CR is correct: when your main problem with money is finding a way to spend it, anything goes!

I manage a set of M96's. I curse the warranty issues we've had and are having with them and the service or lack there of. Everything is a finger pointing session with MTU. Would you think that the owner should have to pay a 3rd party to remove a hardpipe from the heat exchanger to the exhaust riser, or remove the primary fuel filter housing and it's stand, and then pay to re-install all of that stuff, so the dealer can replace a leaking oil pan gasket on a 1 year old motor?

I had the same exact scenario with a CAT and the CAT dealer did all of that as part of replacing THEIR oil pan gasket, no questions asked. Both jobs in the past year and both on 1 year old motors.

Ok, if you tell me that MTU support is poor in your area, I take your word for it.

'Fiuaskme, I'm not sure I would have jumped on Cat for that reason alone, anyway.
Firstly, because they still have a long way to go before restoring the 3412 reputation for robustness that was spoilt by the C32.
Secondly, I would have rather left to someone else the guinea pig role of testing a 32 litres engine stretched to produce the same output as a 36 litres - also because so far they used to have only a 59 litres monster in that power node, go figure.

But don't get me wrong, I'm not against Cat as such.
I never criticised the Cat repower made by Dockmaster for instance, which I think was great.
And I owned a Cat powered boat for 17 years, with zero complaints.

It's just this particular choice, that fails to impress me.
But obviously, their boat (and money!), their choice...