Honda BF350 on Canyon 306

Sardinia306Canyon

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Age
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Location
Island of Sardinia
Model
Canyon 306
My friend who is Suzuki and Honda dealer just sent me 3 photos of one BF350 they temporary bolted on for test purposes to see how engine tilts out of the water due the much higher engine cowling.
Surprisingly the BF350 seems to tilt fully up, but it's a tight fit and on the photo the water line seems to be below the waterline and lower unit will not or a a bit stay partially submerged. However, in a few days they will bolt on the second one and then we drop her for a float test to see how deep the lower unit will be submerged, if so.
He mentioned also that there may be a problem with the hydraulic steering hitting the splash well and what i foresee is that we have to relocate the rigging tube attachments as they probably will limit engine tilt.
I will move back to Sardinia this weekend and report back when we dropped her and i decide to keep the engines or get twin DF300P instead.
Chris46b02f1b-e799-4703-96bf-3b4966ec7810.JPG5ce1b168-5750-46a4-96c2-436a69283670.JPGe49b9281-3abe-4530-ae83-cd4097fb7079.JPG
 
They bolted on a second BF350 but a XXXL version what does not matter for the floatation test, holy moly they look huge!
monday morning we will drop her with the crane to see how much the lower units remain submerged and if that would be acceptable, or not.
As long the fin and/or nose is a bit submerged i have no problem with that, if the water cooling grilles and conducts are then i have to choose the DF300AP as she lives 10 month in a slip and marine growthwill be a issue then.
From the photo it seems that a setback bracket may not help a bit, but then the rigging hose has to be relocated (still wondering why GW put them directly behind the engines) and the old holes glassed shut and gelcoat sprayed what will be a PITA. Only option what will help would be a hydraulic jackplate but that rises my repower budget even more, add another 100 lbs to the stern and i had bad experience with the Seastar Hydraulic Jackplate so i prefer to not have them again.
Chris

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As great as it might be to have the extra HP, you might find the juice isn't worth the squeeze!
That looks like a lot of weight for the back of a 30ft cc.
 
As great as it might be to have the extra HP, you might find the juice isn't worth the squeeze!
That looks like a lot of weight for the back of a 30ft cc.
It's not the extra HP, it's the lower fuel consumption and the higher torque what interests me, when i can cruise at 28 knots at 3500 rpm then i am more than happy and that would be at least 20% fuel savings.
The BF350 weight about the same as the F350 the 306 Canyon was available, extra weight is about 400 lbs to the F300 i had installed.
260 kilo 2011 Yamaha F300
357 kilo BF350
360 kilo F350 V8
When i stand with my 220 lbs on the transom the slightly immersed F300 lower units sink about 2 fingers deeper what would be acceptable.
However, it is a test my friend, Honda Italy and i is interested to conduct, if it does not work then i will get the DF300AP.
Chris
 
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I'm curious. How do you know your fuel consumption will be 20% lower at that rpm?
Depending on how bad you you want the 350s, you could counter balance the other end of the boat with sand or water in buckets that get removed before you head out.
 
I'm curious. How do you know your fuel consumption will be 20% lower at that rpm?
I had last year around 4200 rpm to get 26 knots, if i can do 3500 rpm it will save already a lot and the BF350 is known for a extremely low fuel consumption.
There is no need to add buckets, as i wrote above, two BF350 are bolted on and on Monday we will drop her with a crane and slings to verify how she rest in the water without the engines working. Then i will decide if i keep the BF350 and finish to install them or tell my friend to order two DF300AP instead.
Chris
 
So,
we put her in the sea and the test was positive.
The tip of the lower unit remain a bit immersed, but the intake grille not what is acceptable.
The boat is completely empty, just about 3/4 of fuel (200 gallons approx) so i estimate with the the added weight of the life raft, the to install Garmin Kraken and a 36V LiFePo battery on the bow plus the other zillion of things i carry the floating level should be better to same.
So i pulled the trigger and told my friend to order two new ones to install, same in white as the ones used for the test go on two other boats and i get new ones and both the correct LU length (the stbd engine on the photos is a UL model bolted on for this test)
:)
 

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