Best power choice for 26 Commander

Thunder21

Thunder21

Well-Known Member
Well I picked myself up a really clean 26 Commander and I'm slowly over the winter going to put some outboards on it. The previous owner is a beauty and he pulled the engines and legs out of it this weekend and the boat is getting hauled to the fiberglass guy next week. My plan is to get a pod on it right away and over the winter find some power for it. I've had so many different opinions on power choices for the boat that I thought I would see what you guys thought. I don't want the boat to be underpowered but I also don't want to burn tons of fuel so I'm trying to find a happy medium. My first choice would be a single Suzuki 350 duo prop but finding one used is probably not going to happen and I'm too cheap to buy new. the boat is basically 27 feet long and over 10 feet wide. The dry weight is 8000lbs. What do you guys think? Single 350 or twin 175,200,250,300? I'm looking to cruise at 30mph and not have my rpms through the roof.
 
I personally would be looking for twins. That’s a heavy boat and yes a single would push it but I think it would shorten its life in the end and burn more fuel working so hard. That’s a twin 200 boat at the minimum but not at that cruise speed. I think 250’s are probably closer to what you are wanting...
 
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Sounds like a fun build. I think there is a member here from the Cowichan/Mill Bay area with a single outboard on a Commander if I remember correctly? I tried finding him in my conversations but my Commander memory is getting a little bit old. Hopefully, someone else remembers or he'll chime in and he can take you for a rip.

If it was me, I'd be interested in the weight on the big 300/350vs vs twins. Also, what are the trolling/rear station throttle options and costs? We have a 26 footer and are able to steer using our autopilot from the rear using a second lowrance hds but haven't figured out a rear throttle solution and budget yet!

Almost as important is finding a good dealer/mechanic who can do the install right. I remember admiring a guys new 250 Yami in Victoria who was cursing the dealer who had gotten the install wrong twice and had only been able to troll on his second time out, the first time he was only able to go in reverse!
 
kaelc said:
Sounds like a fun build. I think there is a member here from the Cowichan/Mill Bay area with a single outboard on a Commander if I remember correctly? I tried finding him in my conversations but my Commander memory is getting a little bit old. Hopefully, someone else remembers or he'll chime in and he can take you for a rip.

If it was me, I'd be interested in the weight on the big 300/350vs vs twins. Also, what are the trolling/rear station throttle options and costs? We have a 26 footer and are able to steer using our autopilot from the rear using a second lowrance hds but haven't figured out a rear throttle solution and budget yet!

Almost as important is finding a good dealer/mechanic who can do the install right. I remember admiring a guys new 250 Yami in Victoria who was cursing the dealer who had gotten the install wrong twice and had only been able to troll on his second time out, the first time he was only able to go in reverse!
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I have spoke to Tony through message about his Commander with the single etec g2 300. He is happy with the power of it but I think I would prefer a little more hp. He is cruising 26mph at 4500 rpm roughly I think is what he said. Being able to steer from the rear deck is something I was wondering about too. With twins I will have controls up front and on the flybridge but not sure what Id do about the rear deck.
 
Thunder21 said:
Well I picked myself up a really clean 26 Commander and I'm slowly over the winter going to put some outboards on it. The previous owner is a beauty and he pulled the engines and legs out of it this weekend and the boat is getting hauled to the fiberglass guy next week. My plan is to get a pod on it right away and over the winter find some power for it. I've had so many different opinions on power choices for the boat that I thought I would see what you guys thought. I don't want the boat to be underpowered but I also don't want to burn tons of fuel so I'm trying to find a happy medium. My first choice would be a single Suzuki 350 duo prop but finding one used is probably not going to happen and I'm too cheap to buy new. the boat is basically 27 feet long and over 10 feet wide. The dry weight is 8000lbs. What do you guys think? Single 350 or twin 175,200,250,300? I'm looking to cruise at 30mph and not have my rpms through the roof.
Click to expand...

Twin 200's at least. My boat is the same length with less beam and twin 150's are just adequate. I cruise at 25 knots with a 10-11 gal/hr depending on load
 
It seems most OB's likes to run around 3500 - 4000 RPM at cruise. Cruising at 30mph is highly dependent on sea conditions. There are formula's for determining how much of a HP increase is needed to achieve additional speed on a given boat. I have done extensive calculations for my boat (33ft Chris Craft weighing 15K lb with twin 200 HP Diesels by using the advanced prop calculators at www.boatdiesel.com. You have to pay to join, & only diesels engines are in the database, but you get a great idea of what amount of HP is required to achieve a given speed given boat weight & hull efficient factor. I determined hull efficiency factor input for the calculator by tweaking the input or that variable until I achieved the known real world performance of my boat in the calculator.

For overall performance, torque REALLY matters. Given a fixed HP rating amongst several OB's, the 2 stroke will win, as will the largest displacement & highest compression ratio.

The biggest problem is that OB mfgr's don't publish power/prop curves for their engines. Closest thing is that most OB mfgr's have test results for their engines on certain boats, & some boat mfgr's have test results for certain engines.

I think power curves for all 4 stroke gas engines are similar enough so that a power/prop curve for a gas inboard of similar power/displacement would be close enough to help you decide.

With all the new digital controls, I would choose twins so that you can troll on 1 engine with all the nice troll speed adjustments available. Going all out you could also add the positioning features available with twin OB's like maintaining a fixed position or docking.

Bring a lotta cash.
 
I just ran your boat thru the boat diesel calculator.

440 HP gt you a 40 MPH top end. A 30 MPH cruise requires a total of 264 HP. So you need some OB's that will have a total of 264 HO at around 3500 - 4000 RPM. You will probably burn 15 GPH & get about 2MPG at 30 MPH.

Props were 16x23 3 blade with a 1.5 gear ratio.

Calcs are based on a 225 HP yanmar diesel, so WOT throttle RPM is 3800.

According to the power curves published here:

http://www.etecownersgroup.com/post/horsepower-curve-3332608

Twin Etec 150's would do the trick but with other OB mfgr's you'll probably need twin 200 - 250's to do the job.

Realize this is all seat-of-the-pants engineering, but should get you within 10%.

Irregardless of what you hang off the back, it's still gonna take the same HP & GPH fuel consumption to achieve a 30 MPH cruise on a 8000 # boat.

These days the price is about $100 per HP for new power, so the overpowering just costs & weighs more, and going 30 MPH versus 40 MPH takes twice the fuel.
 
ericl said:
I just ran your boat thru the boat diesel calculator.

440 HP gt you a 40 MPH top end. A 30 MPH cruise requires a total of 264 HP. So you need some OB's that will have a total of 264 HO at around 3500 - 4000 RPM. You will probably burn 15 GPH & get about 2MPG at 30 MPH.

Props were 16x23 3 blade with a 1.5 gear ratio.

Calcs are based on a 225 HP yanmar diesel, so WOT throttle RPM is 3800.

According to the power curves published here:

http://www.etecownersgroup.com/post/horsepower-curve-3332608

Twin Etec 150's would do the trick but with other OB mfgr's you'll probably need twin 200 - 250's to do the job.

Realize this is all seat-of-the-pants engineering, but should get you within 10%.

Irregardless of what you hang off the back, it's still gonna take the same HP & GPH fuel consumption to achieve a 30 MPH cruise on a 8000 # boat.

These days the price is about $100 per HP for new power, so the overpowering just costs & weighs more, and going 30 MPH versus 40 MPH takes twice the fuel.
Click to expand...

Good info Ericl, Thanks
 
Raw Charters in Port Renfrew got rid of fairly new pair of etecs for new Suzukis. Don't know details but heard motors would shut down without notice while on a charter. Might be worth asking him
 
CIVANO said:
Raw Charters in Port Renfrew got rid of fairly new pair of etecs for new Suzukis. Don't know details but heard motors would shut down without notice while on a charter. Might be worth asking him
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He as nothing good to say about those etech, he had nothing but problems with them
 
Personally I'd love to find a set of Suzuki's. I'll be in barclay sound mostly so having a repair shop in Alberni and Bamfield would good piece of mind. The new Mercs sure look nice too. Lightweight yet large displacement engines with lots of torque. But they are way over my budget. It's looking like I'll most likely end up with a set of used verados .
 
Rpm did a 30 commander with twin 350s on a pod they installed this winter. I checked out that build a few times while I was in there in Port Alberni. Ill try and find a picture.
 
BigReel said:
Rpm did a 30 commander with twin 350s on a pod they installed this winter. I checked out that build a few times while I was in there in Port Alberni. Ill try and find a picture.
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I actually ran into the owner of that boat and had a bs with him. I think he said it does over 50 mph.
 
I am fairly sure that there is good reason Evinrude chose the 150 HP to use as a brand comparison; other HP models probably don't give the Rudes's such a favorable view.
 
I saw this Commander 30 on the Coq a few weeks ago. Would like to know how it performs.
A Friend just bought a 27' Ranger tug with a 300HP Suzuki and Kicker. They are 7000 pounds unloaded. it performs good.
The single Suzuki 350 with dual prop sounds interesting. That with a good kicker on auto pilot. Lots less weight on the back and better fuel economy over twins.
They compare the Suzuki to Mercury and Yamaha here

https://www.suzuki.ca/en/df350a

IMG_7335.jpg
IMG_7340.jpg
 
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