Boat speed at idle 350, 390 & 34T single engine?

Does anyone know their idle speed off hand (speed through water, not engine speed) for a 350, 390 or 34T with a single diesel and stock prop? I'm asking because we occasionally troll off of the current 34' Mark III at about 2.8 - 3 knots but I'm curious if the newer singles can go that slow without changing props. Please share what engine you have as well. Here on the Chesapeake bay, the faster single engine charter vessels typically require trolling valves to go slow enough but their cruise speeds are usually 16-20 knots. This isn't a big enough concern to affect boat selection but I'm just curious. Thanks.

My 34T with a single engine Yanmar 370 engine would go about 3 to 3-1/2 kts at an idle of 750 rpm.


David

djmarchand said:

My 34T with a single engine Yanmar 370 engine would go about 3 to 3-1/2 kts at an idle of 750 rpm.


David

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Thank you. That is model and engine combo that is at the top of the list of preferences.

our 390 with single Yanmar 370 idles at about 650 rpm's at approx 3 kts
John

Pity the boat that can't run below four knots while in gear.

Gdavid said:

Here on the Chesapeake bay, the faster single engine charter vessels typically require trolling valves to go slow enough but their cruise speeds are usually 16-20 knots. This isn't a big enough concern to affect boat selection but I'm just curious. Thanks.

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We have to use trolling valves, usually one one engine to run slow enough...

But I know some folks without trolling valves who drag a big bucket or similar get down to the right speed range... One bud uses a bucket on one side and then he only runs one planer board off the other side.

-Chris

We are closer to 4kts, 1997 350 with single CAT 3116. Had a clueless DEC warden yelling at me one time for going too fast in a no wake zone at dead idle. In any case you wouldn't want to troll much at dead idle, as the engine will not get up to operating temp. I can run all day at 1000 rpm's, but lower than that is not good for long term operation.

markpierce said:

Pity the boat that can't run below four knots while in gear.

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After I repowered my ex, old Mainshipper 34, it idled at 4 1/2 knots.
It actually handled better because I no longer needed to add power to manoever.
Just had to go to neutral more.
It also stopped much faster.
YMMV

1999 Mainship 350, with Yanmar 315HP. Typically around 750-800 rpm @ 3-3.5kts.

Thanks to all, great information. I paid for college working on head and charter boats on the bay and have done a lot of bucket speed management which was generally on the lower budget charter operations (newer and upgraded boats had the trolling valves). They work but can be a pain to either fish around or pull prior to landing a fish. You do need to replace the wire handles with a nice piece of heavy line instead. The planer boards we run on the Chesapeake are so big that they do help slow a boat down, most charters run 4' boards, I have a set about 2' that works pretty well but don't pull anywhere near as hard. While I would always like to get out more, we only average a couple days of dedicated trolling each year, otherwise it is just dragging a couple lines in breaking fish during the summer.
The whole subject is probably a non-issue for the next couple of years as the striped bass population is way down and I expect to see a moratorium for a while. This year fishing reports were so bad and the wind was high so we went catfishing on striped bass opening day, the following Saturday we did go trolling a caught a couple.



If anyone is unfamiliar with the planer boards and curious, here is a video where you can see them from the flybridge. If you ever transit the Chesapeake bay in mid April to mid May expect to see a lot of them. I run 4 to five lines off each side and a total of 13 rods, many boats run over 20 rods at once.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B-H2wyZJ4IjjdkZfbWxhakFYOW8

Nice fish; you did good. I don't think I've seen more than 7-8 keepers in our marina this year even counting the several charters that run out of our place. Think we're too far north, compared to you. Biggest we got was 33" so she went back pretty quickly... the rest were all in the 20-26" (or so) range. Unusual for us; we tend to do about as well as the charters do (and I have a Guide license and all that anyway).

We run 18 lines and I think our planers are 3' at the longest end. But I just drive the boat; The Mate does all the actual fish stuff. When we catch fish, it's because I found 'em. When we don't, it's because he didn't do his part. Somehow that story seems to morph when he tells it.

Wondering whether we'll even have a "Trophy" season next year...

Depending on gear, you could maybe add a mechanical trolling valve for not much cost/effort... Ours seems to be a bolt-on ZF option...

-Chris

Yeah, we run out of Solomon's so we are a good bit south of you and from what I heard, we had a better bite this year but it was still pathetic, I very much doubt there will be a trophy season next year. I told myself that I would release anything we caught but I just couldn't make myself do it when I saw each one was a keeper. We typically troll anywhere from in front of the Calvert Cliffs power plant down to Point No Point. The western side of the channel near Cedar Point is usually my go to spot but this year I fished right by Cove Point. We fished last Saturday as well and only had one hit and it didn't come tight.
After working on charters for so many years, I am disappointed if I'm not catching at about the same rate even with a few less rods. For the past 3 years I run almost exclusively umbrellas which aren't very fun but it beats catching nothing. The number of rods that we use on the bay has become pretty ridiculous, like an arms race of sorts. I would not be surprised if we end up with a limit on rods at some point. Catfishing has become a fun little alternative, they love fresh bunker on a 2/0 hook on the bottom. A good friend who lives in Turkey Point brought some fresh (non-frozen) bunker down from Marty's when we went out opening day and we had a blast catching catfish on the Patuxent.

Yeah, a rod limit wouldn't surprise me either. A couple of the charters here are pulling in the neighborhood of 25-30 rods each... although with our 18 I've not got much room to talk. OTOH, Bob The Mate tells me he thinks just one commercial netter hauls in as much in one day and most recs do in the whole season... so he keeps advocating retiring a few commercial licenses as the current holders age off. I don't have background on all that...

One of the charters from here went down by Cove Point at least once, caught squat.

Turkey Point (and Marty's) up here? That's pretty much where we dock...

-Chris

ranger42c said:

Turkey Point (and Marty's) up here? That's pretty much where we dock...

-Chris

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That's why I mentioned. I see your signature line says south river. I'm in Northern Calvert, very close to Herrington harbor south and north beach. Most of my charter fishing was out of Deale and Chesapeake Beach and I teach sailing part time out of Annapolis so I've spent alot of time pretty in the middle bay area.

Several of the charters in our marina moved up here from Chesapeake Beach... apparently partly because this is where the fish have been (saving fuel costs running north from CB), and maybe partly because of the some structural changes in CB. Haven't been down there for a while, so not sure what those have been about.

Another also keeps his slip in Deale, but moves back and forth...

Our new-ish marina management may be doing them some deals on dockage rates, too, dunno about that...

-Chris

The changes in Chesapeake Beach you heard of are probably the massive addition at the Rod N Reel which was home to the largest charter fleet in the area for years. https://www.chesapeakebeachresortspa.com/application/files/cdn/3114/7127/5909/Expansion_Plan.pdf
The rte 261 bridge was recently replaced as well, wider and taller which improves access to Abners, the boat ramps and rod n reel's docks upstream of the fishing Creek bridge. The bridge is done but the road alignment work ongoing. The new parking garage is right where most of the charter boats docked, displacing their parking lot access for now, they also charge(d) a premium to charter boats because they advertised and provided some bookings but the charter fishing heydays come and go, right now they seem to be on the decline considering how strong the local economy is doing. Boats run all the way to love point to catch fish and do well there but it is pretty clear that the fishery is not healthy.