Engines and performance

Lazaway is powered by twin Caterpillar 3116 350HP engines on shaft drives. At the time of us buying the boat the engine hours were just under 1360 - so actually very modest usage over the life of the boat (an average of 61 hours per annum).  Low usage is not always a good thing, and so we had the engines thoroughly surveyed by a Finning Cat marine engineer prior to purchase, included a sea trial.  They passed this survey with very few issues, indeed the engineer was extremely positive (with the normal 'given the age of the engines' provisos!). 

Everyone we have spoken to who knows Cats says that they like to be used and so we hope to be able to add a few more hours in the coming years.  

Lazaway has two fuel tanks that hold a total of 2,270 ltrs.  At this stage our understanding of fuel consumption (of the two engines combined) and range (based upon a 20% reserve) is illustrated in the following chart:

As you can see fuel consumption at higher revs is really quite frightening, and even at the highest revs she will only achieve 14.5kns.  So we envisage motoring at about 1600 revs - that is just above when the turbocharger kicks in (at about 1550 revs) - which will mean a cruising speed of about 9.3kns (depending on sea state and tide). That'll do.