It looks like an interesting possibility. According to Humber they have a customer who has one of these in an 8m Ocean Pro and is getting 35 knots three up, with the possibility of a bit more when the engine is fully run in and they've optimised the prop selection.
I would be interested to hear from anyone else with one.
I would be interested to hear from anyone else with one.
John
Michaels has one. Remember he was asking about a possible problem with ventilation a few days ago. It looked as though Humber had drilled the drive mounting holes too high up the transom.
It might be working fine by now, with it's spacer.
Hi.
It is correct that I do have the 8m with the Volvo D3-160.
We have now had the boat on water for aprox 4weeks and has run it for about 70 hours. It is true that we had some cavitation problems in the beginning as described, but now after putting on a add-on kit it works really fine. Humber are now aware of the problem and you don't need to be worried about that part. We have been testing it with two different propellers, but has not been able to find out exactly what is the ideal one.
Prop A) 4-bladed 14,25"x19" propeller that is a very nice overall propeller godd for up to 8 divers. A 17" or 18" might be optimum for more load.
Prop B) SS 21" propeller is very nice for light load like 5 passengers. Went out with 5 passengers yesterday and cruised along in 28-29knots with this prop.
In our Humber it is very important to place the main load to the rear of the boat. This actually improves the speed with several knots. When our 200 litres tank is full we looses a knot or two compared to a half full one.
If you buy a Humber Ocean Pro 7m with the Volvo D3-160 it might be worth looking into the seating positions. It might be different on the 7m since it is shorter. I do believe that you can achive some extra knots with a smaller boat and the right propeller. When putting most of the weight in the rear of the boat we get improved speed, but we also get a more unbalanced boat when it comes to airtime. Meaning that the rear will come down first because of the added weight. But with divers we don't have airtime.
We do have 6 seatings inside the boat. From rear: Two on a upholstered cushion placed on the engines housing. Two jockey seats for the driver and co-pilot and two seats included in the consolle front. Allowing us to have up to 10 people from mid-ship to transom.
The absolute topspeed we had (35knots) was with only 2 crew and 50 litres of fuel and no load using the 21" SS propeller. We do not expect any more speed than this on a 8m boat.
The Volvo has run very smooth so far and it is very quiet and strong. It works different than a gasoline engine and you should not expect the same revs and top speeds. It runs @ around 20litres/hour if cruising in 26 knots w/light load. For us I do belive that the average is around 15 l/h
We put the two batteries into the engines housing to save space in the consolle and hold the weight as far rear as possible. We also bought an 200 litres underdeck tank. The Humber is a very smooth drive with the inboard engines. The long hull, raised bow, deep V-hull and the shape of the hull gives you a very smooth and dry ride. I absolute recommend this if you are comfortable with cruising in 26-32 knots (depending on load and length of boat). If you need more speed you should look into other alternatives with more horsepower or shorter boats.
Please contact me if you have any questions regarding this.
