Based on the same common rail diesel engine fitted to select BMW models, the Yanmar BY engines have quickly won acclaim throughout Australia as more and more are now being fitted into the engine bay of Aussie built boats.
The Theodore Coastal 720 is a relatively new boat, a rig that caught the eye of the AMIF Boat of the Year judges who bestowed ‘runner up’ on this boat in two categories. And just as the AMIF judges were impressed with the boat, Jim Theodore was impressed with his Yanmar 6BY that he installed.
“The Yanmar impressed me with its light weight and frugal fuel consumption,” Jim Theodore said.
“We had previously been installing a variety of makes of diesel sterndrives and the Yanmar 6BY came in at 200 kgs lighter than the most common diesel sterndrive that we had been installing.”
The light weight not only translates to a superior power to weight ratio for enhanced on-water performance, but the benefit can also be measured in the towing weight of this trailerable rig.
When a kerbside package gets towards the top end of a legal towing weight, a saving of 200kgs can often make the difference between legal and illegal.
‘After we installed and ran the first of the Yanmar 6BY engines to the Theodore 720, we decided to order and install a second, we were so impressed. Both installations have featured a MerCruiser Bravo III duo prop drive.”
The Yanmar 6BY dry weight with the Bravo 3x drive is 408 kgs; without the stern drive it weighs in at 310 kgs and develops 260 mhp at 4,000 rpm.
On the water the Yanmar punches the big 2 tonne 7.2 metre hull onto the plane quickly. Equally rapid is the acceleration as the turbo kicks in and a light turbo whistle can be heard as the power builds.
At full throttle the Coastal 720 is good for an even 40 knots running 28” pitch props. An ideal cruise speed is achieved at 3000 rpm where the GPS shows a speed of 25.5 knots with fuel consumption of 22.9 litres per hour.
The owner of the first Theodore Coastal 720 powered by the Yanmar 6BY reports that over the first 100 hours of general boating, fuel consumption worked out at less than 8 litres per hour. That’s pretty economical boating.
“The Yanmar 6BY has plenty going for it,” said Jim Theodore. “The fuel saving is just unbelievable. The Yanmar uses only about 1/3 of the fuel consumed by a big 4 stroke outboard when the fuel flow is compared at for both engines at say 22 knots.”
Other attributes of the Yanmar as identified by Jim Theodore include an easy installation, true drive by wire throttle control, great instrumentation, low noise and no diesel odour or smoke from the exhaust.
“But overall on-water performance is what will win customers over. This diesel engine delivers petrol like nimble performance with diesel torque and economy. And even down low it is impressive trolling at 4.3 knots with the engine ticking over at 600 rpm.
The Yanmar 6BY is an ideal match to the big Theodore 720 Coastal. Five years in development and now two years in full production, the Coastal 720 is a high quality - low volume fibreglass boat.
As a genuine blue water fishing machine, the Coastal 720 targets fishing devotees, with some spill over interest received from divers. The cockpit is huge. Moreover, the rig is trailerable being one of the largest boats about that can be legally towed.
Power Equipment is the exclusive and authorised Australian Distributor of Yanmar Marine and Industrial Diesel Engines importing product from Yanmar plants in Japan, Asia, USA and Europe.
For further information on this story contact:
Michael Blair
National Marine Sales Manager
Power Equipment Pty Ltd
Tel (03) 9764 0711
Fax (03) 9764 0678
Email power.equipment@yanmar.com.au
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