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NEWS
Yamaha's 58-knot chase boat!
Emirates Team New Zealand chooses quad Yamaha F300B set upYamaha is powering a new chase boat supporting Emirates Team New Zealand’s bid to take home the Americas cup. Four Yamaha F300B V6 four stroke engines power the new chase boat, constructed by Salthouse Boat Builders.
With the advent of the new America's Cup, the whole format of the race has changed. The competition has moved from traditional monohull yachts to 72 foot (22m) catamarans capable of achieving speeds of up to 40 knots.
This new format provided some unique challenges and requirements when it came time to look for support craft, as previous boats used for this purpose would not be sufficiently fast.
Emirates Team New Zealand approached the challenge head on by designing a totally new craft in house with input from Chris Salthouse, from Salthouse Boat Builders, who were responsible for the construction of the craft.
The new 14m cat exceeds the required design speed of 50 knots with an impressive top speed of 58 knots (107kmh) – quit some performance for a boat of its size.
Yamaha’s F300Bs deliver their impressive power through the use of plasma-fused sleeveless cylinders. This innovation, more commonly found in high performance sports cars, allows Yamaha engineers to utilise bigger engine displacement without increasing external engine dimensions.
Removal of steel cylinder sleeves also dramatically reduces engine weight. In fact, the F300B claims to be the lightest offshore 300 horsepower engine available on the market today.
With limited days allowed for testing between now and January 2013, the chase boat will need to be capable of being on the water and operational from dawn until dusk. That requires long-range fuel efficiency -- an area where the big Yamaha F300Bs are said to excel.
The reported fuel consumption of these outboards at mid-range cruise speeds is 100 litres per hour at 30 knots (56 kmh). That’s only 25 litres per engine engine hour on this quad set up. At this speed the boat has a range
of 510 nautical miles (926 kilometres).
The boat is expected to carry a range of support crew during the all-important preparation period. Among the staff onboard will be sailing coaches, boat builders, sailmakers, riggers and on-board systems experts monitoring the finest details of boat and crew performance.
For added comfort, all on board enjoy suspension seats for an even smoother ride in rough conditions, a feature that has been especially well appreciated by the crew.
Yamaha outboards are available through Yamaha’s nation wide network of authorised dealers. For more information on Yamaha’s class leading range see http://www.yamaha-motor.com.au/products/marine-outboard/all.
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Written byBoatsales Staff
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