Bought a 86 F-27 Trojan Helpful Hints Suggestions

[Mike Gavin]

A new Trojan owner;
I just purchased a 1986 F27, Trojan Express Cruiser,the boat passed the
survey,&mechanical inspection, with no problems. It has a 230HP
Mercruiser, I was wondering about repowering, this winter.
If anyone out there, would be so kind as to suggest as to going to a
bigger gas engine, say300HP, or Diesel 260 to300 HP.
I understand Diesel is pricey, but maybe I can find a used onewith low
hours.Also the boat only has an icebox,& no hot water. So guess what
the little woman wants added???? I live in Stoney Creek Ont. so any
suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks very much //Mike Gavin
























diesel

[rossjo]

If it ain't broke - don;t fix it.

Why re-power if everything is ok? This isn't a speed boat anyway. Re-powers are expensive - and usually lead to replacement of many other things. Wait until the 230HP (Mercruiser 350 CI/5.7L ?) NEEDs to be replaced and do it then, after several years of experience with the boat and lots of research.

Diesels are expensive, and smell, but are fire-proof and last forever.

Add a water heater or get free heat off of the Fresh Water Cooling system and make the wife happy!

Best of luck - I don;t mean to sound like your father - just offering my best advice to a fellow Trojan owner.

[randyp]

Mike

I have a 77 F-26, which I think is your same model. Your "icebox" is a Norcold AC DC refrigerator that fits under the galley counter to the right of the sink....correct? You can add hot water. My Trojan has a 12 gal hot water tank (original) that we use occasionally. I replaced the original water pump with VSR model that pumps on demand, based on the amount of flow. Quiet and very efficient.

I would be very careful repowering. Some have done so at the expense of handling. The F-26 was designed for a top speed of 25mph at approx 4200 rpm from either a merc or (in my case) Chrysler 318. There was a double engine option introduced in 1977 or 78.

Diesel would be the way to go, in my humble opinion. The cost of the engine, even used might be a consideration, however, based on you long term plans for this boat. The fuel economy would be nice, but not sure if you'd amortize cost of the engine over time. We usually get 3-5 gph at low end cruising (5-8 mph @ 1500-1800 rpm). But we're former sailers so speed isn't a big deal to us.

[gopher]

I just picked up an F26 ,too..
Im next door in Hamilton., Would love to see her sometime.
By the way, did you by chance get her from outside LondonÉ
Just curious.
Cheers

[Paul]

Hi Mike,

Congratulations on the boat purchase. These are great boats. Ours is a '78 F-26 hard top that we purchased in Port Dover back in 2000. It had a single 305cid 228hp Mercruiser that we replaced with a 350cid 300hp. As posted earlier, the cost of doing this can really snowball. Once the engine was out, it made sense to replace the shaft, rebuild the transmission, install a Lasdrop seal, change the prop pitch, etc. etc. etc. The end result of the re-power is the best cruising speed remained the same (18-20 mph) and WOT top end increased only a couple of mph (28-29 mph). By the way, these boats handle great at their cruising speeds but not that well at WOT. The advantage of upgrading the engine is torque. The boat gets up on plane easier, powers thru rough seas easier and does it using a little less fuel since the 350 doesn't have to work as hard as the 305.

As for the ice box, ours came equipped with a Norcold AC/DC refrigerator/freezer. If you wanted to replace the ice box with one of these units, it would cost you about $900-$1000 cdn. If you plan on spending weekends at anchor, you'll want to make sure that your house bank of batteries has enough amp hours to support the extra load of the refrigerator.

Our boat also came equipped with a cold water only plumbing system. To make things more comfortable for my wife, I added a Seaward 6gal water heater. To do this job, I first removed all of the original rubber hose plumbing. I installed residential faucets in the galley sink, bathroom sink & shower. I also installed wash downs in the cockpit and at the anchor windlass. It was all plumbed together using plastic tube & fittings. If you would like to see where the hot water tank is installed in the engine bay, our boat was featured in the 2006 spring issue of DIY Marine Maintenance Magazine and there are photos of it there. (Avalable at Chapters)

Good luck with your new boat and I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoy ours.

Paul
"Cruise Control"

[gopher]

Thanks for the DIY mag tip
Mines cold water only..
I dont think I'll mess with the 302 unless something happens..
the prev owner just had a new holley bbl carb installed last fall and
overall , it seems to run well.
What do yo figure your gph is at cruise?
ps
I've got to service the gages and figure out why the mast head light
doesnt work.. wheres the best place to access the instruments?

[Paul]

On the hard top version of this boat, the mast head light is grounded to the top of the windshield frame on the inside in the center. The wire is held in place behind the trim piece across the top of the frame, by the screw that holds the trim piece in place. My mast head light would cut out once in a while and it turned out to be a bad ground at this point. Cleaned it up, no more problem.

As far as fuel economy goes, we get adout 1.7 miles to the gallon(US). Our boat is usually loaded rather heavy.

Hope This Helps
Paul
Cruise Control

[randyp]

Instument access: On our 1977 F-26 their is a hinged cabinet on top of the instrument panel. Flip this up and you can access all the gauges and their wiring. To access the switches you remove the 4 screws that hold their panel. To access all the wiring and fuses you lift up and out the panel in front of the helm seat. Wiring is pretty straight-forward.

I retrofitted the batteries on our boat and now have a 250 amp hour house bank and an 200 hour engine bank. Two group 29 batteries (Max Start from Walmart) wired in parallel are the house bank. There is room for these, and their boxes, under the port seat. Lift up the access panel and remove the plywood floor. Dig out some of the lead ballast that's foamed in place to equalize the weight of the batteries and then place a new floor as low as possible. Mount the batteries to this floor and to your (new) battery switch. Same for the engine bank. Parallel two group 24 batteries under the stairs into the cabin. Works great and powers the house, including the Norcold for at least a full weekend at anchor.

[gopher]

Thanks for the tips.
Been away on holiday but now can start tinkering.
Got a 1000 watt power inverter to play with.
The guy that sold it had a 2 cycle generator to run the fridge and
stuff while cruising. He kept it, though.