A4 performance in P323

[Soverel28]

My 12,800lb. Pearson323 with 3 blade prop and v-drive, drives my boat 5.3nts in calm water at a max rpms of 2400rpms. And 4.9 @ 2000rpms. This is with clean bottom and prop. If there is much current or waves speed drops fast. does this sound right? I would like to get a little more speed.
I would really appreiate(sp?) any comments.

Thanks,
PaulB

[Don Moyer]

Paul,

Not knowing what the hull speed is for your Pearson, your performance doesn't sound too bad. If your theoretical hull speed turns out to be closer to 6 knots, then your 5.3 at 2400 RPM (maximum available?) does sound a bit anemic.

If 2400 is your maximum available RPM, it would confirm a rather reasonable prop for a 2 to 1 gear reduction "V" drive Atomic 4, but if your boat drives a bit harder than most, you might benefit from decreasing your pitch by one number. This would get you to between 2600 and 2700 RPM (a gain of 2 or 3 HP) which should get you closer to 6 knots in calm conditions, and - more importantly - give you a bit more confidence when sea and weather conditions deteriorate.

Perhaps we'll hear from some other Pearson 323 owners.

Don

[WestDock]

I have a Pearson 323 with A4. She'll do about 5.5kts in calm waters at around 2500 RPMs, so we're not far off. Since our boats are fitted with a 2:1 reduction via the v-drive, the A4 will do higher RPMs. However, I don't like or need to push her further.

We love our P-323. Here's our web site link. Check out 'Our Pearson 323' once it loads up as we have a couple shots of our A4 there.

Regards,
Brian
'79 P-323 #203

[WestDock]

OOPS. Forgot to post the link. It's http://www.geocities.com/westdocker