ENGINE & TRIM PUMP SHIELD

[madrugador]

Is there a way to put some weather striping around the engine hatch to help as well ? I had to do that on my skipjack and it helped keep water out . How does the boat handle with the d4 compare to the 41 ?

[DOGHOUSE26]

The only thing that might help would be a rubber flap screwed to the outside of the deck gutter with enough rubber above the gutter to contact the hatch and attempt to seal it but I don’t think the corners would seal very well and that’s where it usually overflows when you break out the wash down hose after a tuna stop.

The D4-260 is the best thing that ever happened to a Blackman and once you drive one you’ll never go back to 200 HP again. The 30% increase in power really makes a difference in the way the boat handles and in overall speed as you’ll never drive @ full throttle again; the boat wasn’t designed to travel @25 knots much less the 32 knots we achieved with 3 guys full fuel and bait tank when it was first installed. W.O.T. Should be 3500 RPMs and I run 18knots @2650 rpm 19.5-20.0@2750. The boat just loafs along and you never hear excessive intake noise like the motor is struggling to keep up. When I ran my AD41 I normally cruised @ 3150 going 15.2-15.5 knots fully loaded and 3200 on the way home 16.5 knots with the swell. I only ran it once @ 3400 18.5 knots when I was down below South Island and my buddy called me into a hot WSB bite in Imperial Beach kelp. I was told the new DPH our drives were an improvement but I still had to replace mine @ 1800 hours just like the older 290 drives. My trips average almost 3.0 MPG which is about .5 better than the AD41 got and @ $4/gallon that makes a big difference