420/44 DB Owners Club

Finally ran the boat again with the newly-straightened props:

RPM MPH GPH
600 6.8 1.2
700 7.4 1.7
800 8.1 2.3
900 8.7 2.9
1000 9.4 3.9
1100 10.2 5.0
1200 10.8 6.6
1300 11.2 7.9
1400 11.7 9.6
1500 12.5 11.6
1600 13.8 13.8 (1 MPG Speed)
1700 15.1 16.5
1800 16.9 19.8
1900 18.5 22.8
2000 20.7 25.8
2100 22.5 28.7
2200 25.3 30.5 (Best cruise speed - .83 MPG)
2300 27.0 34.0
2400 29.4 37.5
2500 30.9 41.4
2600 32.2 45.4
2680 33.2 50.0 (Worst economy - .66 MPG)

Boat is fully on plane at 2100 RPM. From 1500 - 2000, test results are with full down tabs. Full fuel, Full water, 2 people on board, 88 degrees temp.

As mentioned earlier, props are Teignbridge 26x26 4-blade cupped Nibrals.

Hope this helps...
 
Does anyone have and use a "sunpad filler cushion" for the bridge aft seating? Do you use if for sleeping? Usefull to have? Where do you store it while underway? Any idea what the cost is? Thanks.
 
I think that these fillers are used very rarely. I personally never used it even on my 320DA. The biggest reason is that the seating area is used very frequently (doesn't matter if it's DA's cockpit or DB's bridge). When we go on a long trip my crew would occupy each side of the seat to lay down and watch TV or just surroundings. So far we haven't found a need to have laying room for more than 2 people. While at anchor or in a slip, if we watch TV on the bridge there are usually few people. This makes the seating around table more functional (not to mention that the table always has some treats and drinks).

In regards to sleeping on the bridge, IMO it's not the best location. If you don't have bridge A/C-heating, then besides having way too much light in the mornings you'll be dealing with drastic temperature changes (cold in the evenings/nights and hot in the morning). With climate controlled bridge the light will be your biggest issue.

So, all in all, if you don't have the filler cushions you're not missing much. Mine are stored at the house anyway.
 
Alex is dead on. I have never used mine and stow it in the attic at the house. No good place to stow it anywhere on the boat.
 
Dont have. Dont miss it. I will say that on my 340 I would have left it in place all of the time if it were up to me.
 
This is the first year for me to winterize my 420. I have a good handle on most of the things, but I have quick question in regards to winterizing the mains. Because it's a bridge boat it seams like we need 3 people physically in 3 different locations:

1. At the helm to control the engines (start up and shut off)
2. In the engine room to turn on and shut off antifreeze supply in to the sea strainers.
3. Outside to monitor and alert when the antifreeze comes out.

Can you guys suggest a trick to do this with two people instead of three?
 
Alex
Do you have to be at the helm to shut down the engines? I can shut mine at the panel but maybe diesel is a different process.

I have my container of pink hooked up to the strainer with seacock in closed position. Run up, start the engine, run back down, spray fogging oil into the carb (you can skip this step), run aft to check the color of the discharge. Once sufficiently pink, I shut the engine off at the panel. One man job only requiring a trip up top to start up the motor.

I do seem to remember on my Dad's old Chris Craft, there was a pull switch adjacent to the ignition on the helm that had to be pulled. I think it shut down the fuel supply??? Man that was a long time ago and I'm sure diesels have progressed a long way from 1970 Perkins diesels.
 
Alex

I close the sea cocks, drain the strainers and then pre-fill them with anti-freeze, then fill a 5 gallon pail with the pump in it. I have my wife at the helm to start the engines with me in the engine room at the ready, with the bucket of anti-freeze, pump and hose into the strainer. When I'm ready I call her on her cell phone (though 2 way radios would work) and tell her to start the engine, one at a time. I also have another smaller bucket of anti-freeze that I pour into the 5 gallon pail as the engine is running for the 10 seconds just in case she's slow to shut down the engine. This works faster than pouring from the one gallon anti-freeze containers. She can see the exhaust discharge from either the side of the bridge (if the boat's in the water) or out the back of the bridge (if the boat's on land). Once she sees pink coming out she shuts the engine down and I shut the pump off. The whole process takes about 10 seconds. Each engine takes about 5-7 gallons to do. Then it's on to the next engine.
 
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Ron,

I like the idea of shutting the engine from the ER. I know that there's a button, but I never had a need to use it in any of my previous boats. So, I'm not sure if it's a Startup or Shutdown. I'll have to look in to it.

450C_Startup_Button.jpg

Brian,

This was one of the possible solutions I had, but I wasn't sure if it's possible to see from the bridge the pink coming out of exhaust. So, I wasn't going to risk it without some confirmation.

Another idea is to have the bucket with antifreeze in the cockpit where I could look over the side being in the cockpit next to the bucket. As soon as I would see the pink out of the exhaust, I would alert my wife to shut the engines while I shut the valve for pink supply. The only issue I see with this method is that I need long hose and I don't know if the gravity would provide sufficient flow. I'm thinking that if I go with this method, then to be on the safe side I should add 120v water pump to push the pink from the bucket. I have everything, b/c this is what I use to do the A/C units.

Did you ever use the buttons on the engines?

P.S. Sometime ago I made a custom bucket with a valve at the bottom that holds about 10gal of pink. It makes the process much easier than messing with 5gal or 1gal cans.
 
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Alex F said:
Ron,



Another idea is to have the bucket with antifreeze in the cockpit where I could look over the side being in the cockpit next to the bucket. As soon as I would see the pink out of the exhaust, I would alert my wife to shut the engines while I shut the valve for pink supply. Did you ever use the buttons on the engines?

P.S. Sometime ago I made a custom bucket with a valve at the bottom that holds about 10gal of pink. It makes the process much easier than messing with 5gal or 1gal cans.
Click to expand...

Alex,
This is exactly how I do it. I don't need to be in the bildge after I'm setup. I remove the strainer cap and screw in a PVC threaded fitting which has an elbow and a shut-off valve. The reason I put the shut-off valve at the strainer end is because there will still be antifreeze in the hose and this helps keeping it from making a mess and draining into the bilge after I disconnect it. The hose size is about 2" so there is plenty of antifreeze getting to the engine. The pump sucks it up quickly. Last year, I filled the pail up with fresh water first and put a hose in it and the engine was able to pull the water out of the 30 gallon pail faster then the hose was pumping it in. Not by much but definately faster. I empty the strainer, make my connection, fill the pail with antifreeze, open the valve, then go into the cockpit and my wife starts the engine and waits for my signal to shut it down.
 
Do you guys have pictures of your set up? Where did you get buckets bigger than the standard 5 gallons? Did you use a threaded fitting into the bucket?
 
I think OSD9 uses one of those big tupperware storage containers. I use a recycled spackle bucket but I don't have near the capacity on the raw water side as you guys do.
 
cod said:
Alex,
This is exactly how I do it. I don't need to be in the bildge after I'm setup. I remove the strainer cap and screw in a PVC threaded fitting which has an elbow and a shut-off valve. The reason I put the shut-off valve at the strainer end is because there will still be antifreeze in the hose and this helps keeping it from making a mess and draining into the bilge after I disconnect it. The hose size is about 2" so there is plenty of antifreeze getting to the engine. The pump sucks it up quickly. Last year, I filled the pail up with fresh water first and put a hose in it and the engine was able to pull the water out of the 30 gallon pail faster then the hose was pumping it in. Not by much but definately faster. I empty the strainer, make my connection, fill the pail with antifreeze, open the valve, then go into the cockpit and my wife starts the engine and waits for my signal to shut it down.
Click to expand...

Steve,

Sounds like both options (Brian's and yours) would work, but I feel more comfortable having much closer visual on the pink coming out of exhaust being in the cockpit.

I have the same idea to install the sea strainer fitting connecting to the garden hose coming from the bucket. However, I spent a lot of time in Home Depot and couldn't find anything in PVC that would fit to replace the cap. They have 2" or 3", but the cap looks like is 2.5". Where did you get threaded PVC that would fit there?

Brian,

My setup is simple, it's a plastic storage container. I drilled the hole at the bottom and installed drain fitting with a PVC valve. At the end of the valve I added fimale connection for a garden hose. You can choose any box you desire, I picked medium size that would hold about 10-15gal. I usually put no more than 5-7 gal to be on a safe side, just in case if something goes wrong I don't waste 15gal. If all is well I have enough to winterize any system, including an engine. Usually I put estimated amount depending on the system I'm winterizing. If I do fresh water I would use 3-4gal, similar for the A/C and generator, and 6-7 for each main.

I'll take a pic. next weekend when I'm on the boat.
 
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Re: 420 DB Owners Club

I would like to learn more aboyr the 24V inverter. Do you have the process for installing and how it works
 
What's Winterizing?
Click to expand...

That's when we put our babies to sleep for a long winter's nap and protect them from the ravages of toxic salt water for 6 months ;-)
 
View attachment 22066

This is my setup. Actually, a 20 gallon garbage pale with shower drain that I installed. Shower drain worked great because it has a flange and rubber gasket to get a good seal to the pale. I use this set up for both the mains and the A/C.


Alex- my threads are 3" so maybe my strainer is larger. It is the Groco ARG 2500
 
Cod - LOVE that setup and love that hose diameter. Nice job!

Aaron, you don't worry about salt - just spiders and timber!
 
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