26 Zeta

[Fish-on]

Good Morning,
I am just wondering if anyone here has or has, had a 26ft Zeta with a single Volvo diesel? I believe I've seen a few with single 41's or 43's and I'm just wondering about performance/fuel economy.

 

[Gong Show]

Zeta is a heavy boat.
I have a single 43 dp in a 24 Eaglecraft.
It is well matched and I get 21 kts at 22 liters per hour.
Anything heavier would be under powered by a single.
@Stizzla would say that I am underpowered!

 

[Stizzla]

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Watch this little commercial and tell me the v12’s don’t excite you a bit…

 

[Sir Reel]

I had a 2700 SeaSport Navigator. Probably about 8000 pounds. It had the AD41P 200hp engine. It was underpowered.
Cruised at 25mph burning 5gph. Max was maybe 30mph. Wouldn't event think about getting up on plane till the turbo spun up.
I have friends who have a newer version SeaSport with the D4-260hp. Much better performance.

 

[Fish-on]

I'm going to re-power this winter I have 2 options, AD41P-A and a D6-350, as I respect all the POD guys, I'm a I/O guy and will not be poding this boat. I was just trying to see if I could any info in the AD41 option before I leaned to my D6 option. I think it will be a beast with the D6-350, I will post some pictures and performance info when I get it done.

 

[Husky]

I have a 26 zeta, it is heavy. It used to have 2x aqad30a diesels (110hp each in 1985…), it would get going but struggled. Once out the hole it worked just fine, 18 to 20kts was cruise. I would guess a single 260hp or more would work well, I have seen the occasional one for sale with a single diesel. The 26 does not have as deep a V as the 28. Speaking with Mikey (Hutchinson) he said the original intention was for a single inboard though most were powered with 2 engines.

We put a single 350 hp outboard on as a test. It does fine with this, 4500 rpm is 29kts on flat water, flat out I’ve seen as much as 38kts, my only criticism would be that a single prop lacks grip when it gets wavy, duo prop I think would work better. The eventual plan for us is twin 250 or 300. We considered a newer single diesel but it was going to be a very expensive retrofit going that way (also during Covid there was nothing better available for what podding it was going to cost). I also didn’t have much love for legs, entirely a personal opinion though.