To Turbine or not to Turbine?
 

What are the advantages and disadvantages of running a Turbine boat?

T53,s L13b,s.


I am hoping to hear from people who have operated
twin gas and made the switch to turbines.


Talk to me!:cool-smiley-027:

Thanks in advance
Gerry

How is it running with those PSI's?

if you run turbines just use a company that will not lie to you about how far along your boat is coming or when it will be done

The PSI blower motors are running great.
They just keep pulling.

The problem with High strung piston motors is they
have high maintence.

I run chief heads and they have to come apart every
season.

Here is the scheduled maint. for the piston engines for this
winter.
Valves job.
Headers
Springs
lifters

This will be close to 25K

What is the first scheduled maint. for a t53?
500 hours first oil change??

The real catch to my situation is I have all the original turbine rigging.
From exhaust to shiftable Turbine crash boxes.

Thse of you who are familair with my project will think I am out of my mind.
Well I am!

Its going to be a long winter up here and I am looking for something to do.

Someone please convince me to leave the boat alone:sport009:

Yes I have heard.

The deal is not yet been sealed however the Turbines are comming out of Arizona
With Stainless compressor housings.

The entire project would be assembled up here and Posted
in the Skater forum!

turbines are nothing but maintainence free it´s just a myth.
When you have to make a rebuild on one it will hurt you big time.
Plus they ain´t that fuel efficient either, if you want to go with low maintanece low consumtion and high performance look for diesels and surface drives nowadays.

Watching the Geico boat last week Got me all fired up!

When do you need to rebuild a turbine.
When ya hold N2 stopped for too long?


What kind HP do the deisels get?
I would think The torque would be high yet the hp lower
this would also require a two speed gearbox.

I like the way your thinking However I,m not sure
if the deisels have the power to weight ratio yet.

I sure hope you have built a shop this year.:cool-smiley-011: Just watching you project last time gave me the chills. Good luck bro with what ever you do. The boat just looks awsome

http://www.turbinemarine.com/index.html

Arruda does all the AMF boats. Give him a buzz for the costs.

yeh he may know is stuff but is time schedule is never right. My friend used arruda and he was never on time and always told my friend the wrong thing.

Its easier to keep the beer cold:cool-smiley-011:

Nahh sending it out we be no fun.

:readinghelp:

Here are some advantages.


1) More power to weight ratio.
2) Much less maintanence. (Compared to 1200plus HP piston motors)
3) multiple fuel capability. Deisel ,home heating oil, Kerosene,
Jet. A fuel
4) Better Engine principle. A piston engine creates power
a cycle at a time in the cylinder. A Turbine creates power
continously.
5)Dependability. A 1500Hp engine has pushrods,cranks,rods
cams,chains. Blowers. All reciprocating parts. Back and forth movement.( Vibration) A turbine is highly engineered vanes and shafts all spinning creating vibration free power. Very dependable.Once ignited it only requires air and fuel.
Helicopters just dont fall from the sky.

lol :p go turbine:boat: :p art

Insurance

What insurance?

I don't believe anyone writes turbines.



Turbines have long service cycles but when they're do, they're expensive- REALLY expensive. You get the slightest bit of water or debris in a turbine's fuel system and you just bought yourself a nightmare. Same thing if you ever suck in a stray nut or bolt. You may find rebuilts but I doubt they'll be FAA-certified- thay means they could have been rebuilt with out of spec or non-spec parts and some of the due-diligence may or may not have been done while the engine was apart.

Marinizing a turbine isn't easy- ask Al Copeland. His mounting system wasn't very well thought through and one of the housings he had the mount flange bolted to broke, dropping the engine down. The exhaust burned through the fiberglass bottom pretty quickly.

Now THAT's funny!



Ever been to a small airport and seen the old planes sitting off to the side with grass growing up around them? Ever seen an old helicopter?

Yeah, that's 'cause there aren't any. ;)

Rigging is not that difficult. If you have the hardware, and its in good condition, your turbine supplier should be able to set you up with the necessary electronics and a couple basic wiring diagrams. Or recommend where to go.

Call John Cosker @ Mystic Powerboats. He's got the turbine install/ rigging thing done to a science, obviously!:D
386-736-2247
Dean

You probably already know this, but the boat will just run different... Turbines spin up slower, you won't get that suck you back in your seat feeling when you push the throttles forward.

If you do a lot of running, without a bunch of slow down / speed up it's a good choice.

If you are in an area that has a bunch of speed zones, probably not so good.

The biggest benefit of them (IMO) is the lack of downtime. Great in an area that is warm year round, but if you have a winter down time it probably doesn't matter anyway. And, if it's warm year round (like S. Fla) there are 80 million speed zones, so it's not that great there either unless you just run out to the ocean and go for hours on end.

Speaking of turbines, did anyone happen to catch a speed# on the orange streak that flew past the Casino on Sunday afternoon?

Thanks for the show Dennis (Hellfire), the whole tiki bar was cheering. :cool:

Have you thought about keeping the pistons & switching to a twin turbo setup. Turbos are easier on motors than Blowers, & require less maintenance.

Turbines are a great option vs big piston power (Theres a reason the piston boats don't want us in their class). Last weeks show was cruise control (130/160) for that boat. She (Platinum L-13) has seen " documented race speeds in race conditions" over 170 mph (top 185). Acceleration pulls close to 2gs (edit: Call arruda for exact details if you need EXACT dtails.) and WILL most definatly PIN you to the seat. Those turbines (Platinum) have 15+ races/countless hrs testing/shows on them...Still running strong. If you want real information call or stop by the races and talk with Scotty or myself. We would be happy to give you real, correct information of EXACTLY what it's like to run these systems to base your decision from.

Best Regard's

Marc

Yes! I appreciate Your offer! please private message
your phone number.

Your boat and setup speaks for itself.

Thanks
Gerry

Dennis has been helping me.

Thanks Dennis!

Your boat is incredible:cool-smiley-011:

I want you to go turbines just so I can read another one of your DIY threads!:cool-smiley-027: Glad to hear your PSI's are running great. Why are you replacing your headers?? Mine have a few years on them and I am getting nervous...

Done deal!

Check is in the mail and I feel like a kid on X-mas
eve.


Stay tuned for the details and step by step on how a yankee
Rigs a big tub with turbines!


Now I have something to do over the winter.:cool-smiley-026:

The turbine builder is in your back yard:ernaehrung004:

Is that a firestorm turbine?

Knot right,

If i remember correctly you have the original MyWay. Why not contact Bill himself as he originally swapped it from piston to turbine power. I was never in your boat but rode in the second one. The acceleration w/ the turbines is just brutal from 100 on up. And, IIRC, he never had a problem w/ either boat.

Your Crazy Dude !:D

Jon

Hahaha, you're nuts!!! I love it :D :D

OI!! Nice Pic... whered you pull that from?? lol

We will have it on display along with a cutaway version of the -11 engine and a Rolls Royce engine cutaway at the LOTO OSS Nationals...

Any help you want with the engines let me know... we are located just north of Toronto and travel through out the United States. 11 years experience maintaining and troubleshooting turbine engines in the Aerospace industry.

Oh... and Maximus has it right on the money...

Anyone that tells you Turbines are not reliable doesn't know what they are doing/talking about. Talk to a pilot with turbine time. Talk to an A&P with Turbine experience. Talk to Arruda. Talk to us.

They don't put them in aircraft because they breakdown and are unreliable.

We will have it on display along with a cutaway version of the -11 engine and a Rolls Royce engine cutaway at the LOTO OSS Nationals... ( Posted by Rocketboat )


It will be on Display right next to the Natuical Guard Display at Shador Gators parinking lot!

Talk to Bill last week.
The Ironic thing is he actualy told me I was out of my
mind to reinstall piston engines back in 05.

He really could have gave me a big cup of "I TOLD YA SO").

There are some questions I had for the original turbine rigging.

Nice guy!
Im thinking this color.

Do ya like them in white????

Has anyone mounted a PT-6 in a boat?
Just wondering why they have not been mentioned. Are they too expensive vs. others?

Can you throttle turbines in rough water? Turbines are often used in constant state throttle conditions. And if their rev limited by a computer can you just nail the throttles and let the computer "do the work for you".

The TBO of turbines is what makes them economical for the airlines.

Not the TBO, it is just that they are the only thing that could work for the airlines, period.
Those big 'ol radials from yesteryear would never cut it with todays use. Fires, blown jugs, etc were almost an everyday occurance. No way you could operate todays schedules and reliability with anything but turbines.

I Think the PT-6 is a hotshaft engine.
(prop shaft exits the heated side of the engine.

Actualy if it is it may make it better for rigging considering the exhaust would be toward the transom.
Some of the installs of the t53 I see massive lenth to the exhaust positioning the exit to transom.
This has gotta be scratching HP.
Im no expert but two things turbines require is fuel
and air. If eithier is restricted its gotta scratch power.