David Andrews - "Lone Ranger"

"Yanmar's power to weight won me!"

"Although my Ranger 40 was built in 1983, I've owned 'Lone Ranger' since 1990. In that time the boat has become something of a passion for me. I've added an aft fibreglass hardtop, rebuilt the upper helm station in teak and had long range fuel tanks installed.

All up I've added about 2 tonne of extra weight to 'Lone Ranger'. So it was no surprise that the original 165 hp twin diesels were struggling with the extra weight. I replaced these with dual 200hp diesel engines, but without any real benefit in performance.

But then a mate said I should be looking at Yanmar. I got the brochures and couldn't believe the specifications on the 420 hp Yanmar 6LY-2 engines. I rang the Yanmar people to double check that the weight of the Yanmar 6LY-2 was correct and not a misprint.

For virtually the same weight as my 200 hp diesels, the Yanmar 6LY-2 delivered double the power! I went from 400hp to 840hp. That's phenomenal.

The Yanmar power to weight ratio certainly won me. The engines were simple for the shipwright to install, actually being just a little smaller than the old 200hp engines.

The 'Lone Ranger' is now faster by about 8 knots, and although the power is double that of my previous diesels, the fuel consumption is the same. Double the power and no fuel penalty.

Now my boat lifts onto the plane easily. There is no black smoke from the exhaust. At a cruise speed of 2500 rpm 'Lone Ranger' makes 15 knots and at wide open throttle of 3400 rpm we run at 22 knots."

David Andrews
"Lone Ranger"