Estimated Speed

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napatrojan
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Estimated Speed

Post by napatrojan »

Hello fellow Trojan owners. We are the new owners of a 1965 31' Sea Breeze. We are in the process of doing a complete interior / exterior / mechanical rehab of this fine example of wooden boat construction. A question for this group.... the hull is plywood. The twin engines are Grey Marine 327 (195 hp each). 2 barrel Rochester carbs. Any ideas as to what top speed and best cruising speed would be? Thanks for any info you can provide.
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prowlersfish
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Re: Estimated Speed

Post by prowlersfish »

I Honestly don't know and sadly not many woody owners . Maybe Bob at Beacon my know .

I did find this https://www.trojanboats.net/zencart/ind ... cts_id=800

Not sure what info it has .
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rickalan35
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Re: Estimated Speed

Post by rickalan35 »

Hi Napa,

I have owned several wooden boats. Trojan's SeaBreeze line-up competed with the Chris Craft Cavalier line of boats.

Your hull is a smooth side, V-bottom planing style I believe. You probably also have a bit of a skeg extending down from the centre of the hull like a keel. It really helps your slow-speed maneuverability although it does cut a bit of top speed from your hull.

You will notice what is referred to as "hard chines" where the side of your boat meets the v-bottom with a sharp change of direction. That helps your boat plane. As you probably already know, your boats sides are referred to as its freeboard...... but I digress :)

My opinion is that you can go as fast as you want as long as the marine plywood itself and the underlying frames have no dry rot. You'll need to check that out. Then as well, those two engines will have a certain amount of hours on them and may or may not like being horsed around. I think you'll be able to tell for yourself.

The faster you go, the more fuel you use and the more strain on moving parts so you'll need to discover your own comfort zone and happy medium.
But the boat will handle whatever you choose to give it.

If your boat has trim tabs installed, you'll obviously be able to go a bit faster. Hope this helps.

One thing about lakeland cruising, those lakes and our destinations are generally not large enough or far enough away to incur the need for speed. I'll get there eventually has become my motto.

Of note: Trojan Boats bought Shepherd Boats in Niagara-On-the-Lake and used some of those wonderful Shepherd hulls and forms. I once owned a 1954 mahogany 34 foot Shepherd cruiser powered by a pair of 331 Chrysler hemi engines. It was the reason I later stuck with Trojan cruisers. Quite a history!

Have fun.

Rick
Trojan 1994 370 Express, 502 Bluewaters
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captainmaniac
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Re: Estimated Speed

Post by captainmaniac »

A bit different boat, but years ago my father had a 28' 1969 Sea Skiff. A bit shorter than yours, but only had a single Chrysler 360 / 260hp I think engine. I believe the bottoms of Sea Breeze and Sea Skiff were pretty much the same, so would likely perform similarly.

Putting around at 8 knots (displacement speed) is nice and easy on the hull and mechanicals. You will probably just get up on plane around 12 knots. For us, that was around 2000RPM. A nice easy cruise was 15-18 knots around 2500-2800 RPM. We only WOT'd it a couple of times, and just for a couple of minutes to try and make a bridge, but if I recall I think we topped out around 25 or so.

We also had trim tabs, so that would have helped out with performance a bit and planing at a lower speed.
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