Darren & Laurie Chatfield - "Spectrum"

"Yanmar Repower: 40% faster - same fuel consumption"

"We built our AM 43 flybridge cruiser, Spectrum, about four years ago and initially powered her with a pair of second-hand V-8 diesel engines. Even when they were first installed, the engines did not deliver the performance that we wanted.

Spectrum is used for game fishing trips out of Perth. We also head over to 'Rotto' for weekend trips.

A repower was the only option for us, so we looked very closely at all of the power options available on the market. Ultimately the decision was an easy one . Yanmar. The Yanmar 6LY2A 420hp engines have a very favourable power to weight ratio and ultimately delivered the best performance for dollars invested.

Even after other engine suppliers dropped their prices to try and get our business, we still settled on a pair of Yanmar 6LY2A diesel engines. Yanmar was the only engine specifically designed and built for marine use. Everything else that we looked at was just a marinised truck engine.

With the new pair of Yanmars installed the improvement was staggering. By swapping the old V-8's for the Yanmars we removed approximately 500kgs of weight from the boat and picked up extra space in the engine room as a bonus.

The performance gains have also been well beyond our expectations. Spectrum cruises at 2800rpm for 19 knots, up from 13 knots. Maximum speed has lifted from 20 knots to 26 knots.

It's amazing that we have a 40% increase in speed for no increase in fuel consumption. On average our fuel consumption is 75 litres per hour for the pair of engines.

After owning our Yanmar engines for more than a year, we are just as pleased today as we were when we hit the starters for the first time."

Darren & Laurie Chatfield
"Spectrum"