Trojan Boat Forum

I just purchased a 36' Tri-Cabin, with 624 hours on a pair of Crusader 5.7 engines, & a whopping 64 hours on an Onan 6.5 Gen Set. She is 37 years old, original owners. I have 2 questions. I've been around larger boats my whole live, and we had a 28' Trojan years ago. First, is the Wagner MicroPilot an Original Equipment. Auto Pilot? And are they as good as their dated advertising says they are?

My second question concerns honest (approximate) fuel consumption. Jusr looking to see how long my legs for cruisingbthis summer can be. Answers toneithervquestion is much appreciated. May God keep you safe & in good health so you may enjoy your time on the water.

-Medic4u

What year Tri . fuel use can very a lot depending on the speed you plan on cruising . I have never used a Wagner auto pilot so I cant help you on that

Welcome. You can get a manual for ur boat from beacon marine. It has (optimistic) factory-new fuel flows in it.

0.7 to 1.2 mpg comes to mind, but dont quote me. IIRC, there is not much point in going slow, which surprised me.

Pics? Location? Year?

You can do a lot better below hull speed about 7.5 knots

Well I had a reply written, and poof, it went away, so hopefully, I'm not polluting the water with excessive text...

Sorry been absent, work sure gets in the way of living sometimes... We made the trip from Winthrop Harbor, IL to Milwaukee last Saturday. Just under 5 hours. She was launched, took her to the fuel dock, as the previous owner only had left 1/2 tank of fuel aboard (not happy about that (condensation issues)). So I filled her, $498.67... FOR HALF A TANK!!! Anyway, learned quickly we have a few issues. Rudders inop. Stuck mid-ship (thankfully). Amazed at fuel consumption. Pulled into South Shore Yacht Club (I'm a member there, (just don't have a slip there this year)) to refuel. Used 47 gallons to go ~44 miles. so that's ~9.4 GPH. With one drive not working quite right. I have flow meters I am going to be putting on after all the mechanical issues are resolved. So then I'll have exact numbers.

But there is a bigger problem. The port engine would only rev to 1600 RPM in gear. Both engines idle perfectly, and rev great in neutral. Only in gear does the port engine give trouble. This weekend, I'm going to disconnect the prop shaft from the output flange of the gearbox, give them just a bit of space, and see if the motor & gear box wind up correctly then. IF they do, the problem is in the shaft/Cutlass bearing/prop. I have tow new, unused props, untouched from new, still sitting where Trojan put them in the Vee Berth, at the floor. I can always put those on if I think I have an issue with a prop. My brother, a Captain, for the Star of Knoxville, a double-paddle wheeler also suggested making sure the prop shaft is not fowled with a dock line or such, which I guess is possible, but I was on her when she was launched, and I did not see anything suspicious in the water, but still a possibility. The problem is, it is going to take a haul out to see anything in the KK River...

Any suggestions? Also, here is a picture. She will be renamed (the hell with bad luck renaming a boat, that's my middle name)...

My bet for port engine is ignition problems. Weak distributor springs. Plenty of old threads here about "won't rev in gear".

Great choice of boat.

Disconecting the shaft wont tell you much as you have taken the load off about the same as putting it in neutral

Have also had issues with distributor sticking or not advancing properly, resulting in not being able to get revs above a certain limit. Lots of reasons you might not get the RPMs you want (including tach not reporting properly or badly adjusted or slipping throttle cables!), so its a process of working through the possibilities.

Know nothing about the auto-pilot, but wouldn't trust it after almost 40 years. I try to keep my boat as 'original' as possible, but upgraded any of my 'critical' systems to modern standards. Don't suggest you give the Wagner system blind trust ...