Centaur - outboard motor

[dylanwinter]

My tuppence is:

The outboard will be fine and you will sail more and end up a better sailor.

I would go for 8hp and up to 10 but no more (think of your back), above that the law of diminishing returns tends to set in. A two stroke certainly, something like a Tohatsu 9.9 long shaft or an old Mercury. If all I could get, quickly and cheaply, was 5hp I would launch with that rather than miss the season.

The well is a grand idea for someone with the time and will, I am sure it would work fine. We all look forward to seeing it done but your plan is good.
The only glitch is that asking prices for 2 strokes are sometimes a bit potty.
As always, do tell us how you got on with it.

thse are the words of a sensible old bloke

the main thing is to go sailing - so just slap anything on the back and get out there

the only time you have to use an engine is coming into harbour and when there is a flat calm

upi might have to watch the weather a bit to avoid slogs into wind and waves - but who wants to flog anything under those conditions anyway

as sailorsd we spend way to much time preparing for the worst case scenario that is never likely to happen

 

[Seajet]

Thats not true cavitation, that's ventilation with exhaust gas. Cavitation is caused by bubbles, or voids, containing just water vapour forming on the low pressure side of a propeller blade. In effect low temperature boiling due to the low pressure. My Yachtwin engine is designed so that ventilation by exhaust gas does not happen

VicS,

thankyou for that interesting clip.

I think you'l agree though that in yacht terms a through-hub exhaust in reverse gear produces what we call ' cavitation ', ie high revs which one can feel and hear having little grip on the water !

It does work if one has a few seconds to spare while the prop' begins to bite, and reversing into berths is still an idea too few people consider.

 

[Seajet]

Transom hung rudders - along with the obvious pitching the prop' out of the water, weight at the end and plain ugliness, another factor is that when rafted alongside walls, shore lines find the protruding controls of an outboard easy targets and break them off flush, I've seen this happen leaving a big ? hanging above the cockpit.

 

[prv]

notoriously engineless yet always had a rib with a powerful outboard which could be breasted up to the engineless big boat for moving around harbours.

Is that so? Must have come about since they wrote their books, they always just had a rigid rowing dinghy then.

I have heard it said that you're not a real blue-water cruiser until you've given the Pardeys a tow

Pete

 

[ghostlymoron]

Have you got any films of the performance with any kind of sea? I think it would be substantially different.

Harmony had some extra timbers glassed into the inside of the transome

no flexing of transome

I agree an inboard is better

but as replacing the lump by a pro will cost you over 6K then better to be sailing a Centaur with an outboard on the back rather than not saili ng one that is sat in a yard while you are saving up.

Did you ever get cavitaion?

It is part of the game with an outboard on the back

had a eboat and a sonata - both cavitated

having spwnt a hear sailing around with an outboard on a bracket on the back of harmony I don't think that cavitation woud be much of a problem.

Incidentally,

2.3 hp

centaur

3 knots

 

[ghostlymoron]

I agree that its more important to get sailing somehow and that a lot of 'sailers' spend much too much time motoring due to the convenience of an in board diesel. I wouldn't permanently adapt the engine space but have a long-term aim to reinstall a diesel replacement for the Petter when funds allow.

 

[dylanwinter]

Have you got any films of the performance with any kind of sea? I think it would be substantially different.

only a buffoon would try this in a seaway

not really the point of the excercise

if there is a sea running then there will be wind

so this is a technique that will get you to your mooring or into a marina berth

 

[Iliade]

Harmony had some extra timbers glassed into the inside of the transome

no flexing of transome

I agree an inboard is better

but as replacing the lump by a pro will cost you over 6K then better to be sailing a Centaur with an outboard on the back rather than not saili ng one that is sat in a yard while you are saving up.

Did you ever get cavitation?

Yes she did suffer from 'cavitation' when in a chop. In particular when entering and leaving harbour...
(Long Shaft Tohatsu high thrust 9.8 hp eventually on a very large hinging bracket which when fully lowered put the motor in a good, perhaps slightly low, position in flat water)

 

[Otter]

To the OP, hope you went for it! Outboard HP is measured at the prop versus inboard at the gearbox so a 10hp outboard is in theory more powerful than a 10hp inboard. With a high thrust prop it's a real option and just gets you sailing, frankly an 8hp would be fine. Electric start and remote control essential though and gives you a handy charging circuit - our Yam 9.9hp gave a useful 10 amps.

 

[langstonelayabout]

I would like 10hp as on my Westerly 25 which is a lot smaller and slimmer I have had a 8 hp (was ok) and have now got a 25hp

Incredible. My Jeanneau 25 has a 9hp diesel inboard. It works well in all weathers. Do you really need the 25hp?

 

[paul-essex]

Incredible. My Jeanneau 25 has a 9hp diesel inboard. It works well in all weathers. Do you really need the 25hp?

As I stated I think a 10 HP is required But as I had a 25 HP hanging around I put it on whilst I repaired the 8 HP