Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigsfish
One of my boats I kept for 21 years had twin 3116 (300 hp). A friend who helped develop the 3116 for Cat always told me they were designed for 300 hp and I never had a problem other than aftermarket exhaust which was fixed. I always use the Cat fixed weight oil. They smoked very little but only when towing a 25 ft open fishermen.
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Re:
"smoked...but only when towing". Your experience illustrates how a small additional load (even at low RPMs) can overload the engine and cause smoking and sooting. Do you recall if you may also have been slightly overpropped? If the boat was correctly propped, you should have had (between the two engines) an extra 100hp or so to use before getting into the overload zone. This would have been more than enough to tow a 25' fishing boat at any reasonable speed.