Centaur Well Saga

WELL it's making me UNWELL just thinking about it !

The drag and noise - often a forgotten factor - would be quite something, and the engine too heavy to lift & stow; the Geneva Convention might well be invoked for crimes against boats... :rolleyes:
 
dylanwinter said:
PBO and Tohatsu are in

I have emailed Wests

slowly slowly

so.....

does anyone know of a suitable Centaur moldering in a yard somehwere?

D
Click to expand...

Dylan you are not first here....Many Centaurs were shipped enginless to the States and operated with stern mounted outboards.

One of these did at least two if not three circumnavigations when owned by a chap on the West Coast.
 
dylan, I put it on the original thread but before you start,

have you thought about a macgregor 26?

more roomy
good for exploring shoal waters
outboard
can tow it home which will suit your style of ownership
self righting with water ballast full
pretty cheap

I have never sailed one but might be worth a peep before you do all the hard work and breath all the yukky dust?

good luck whatever you do, I'll enjoy reading it however it ends up!

get 3m or similar to sponsor you with some bad ass dust masks!!!
 
Seajet said:
WELL it's making me UNWELL just thinking about it !

The drag and noise - often a forgotten factor - would be quite something, and the engine too heavy to lift & stow; the Geneva Convention might well be invoked for crimes against boats... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

so, we are down to objections based around drag and noise

are you still saying it will be too underpowered to be of any use

one thing in its favour -

imagine a bilge keeler where you can vector the drive 45 degrees

I have never handled a Centaur under power

I assume there are times when it refuses to listen to you


Katie L can vector 45 degrees - - very handy indeed

Dylan
 
I may have missed it in other threads but personally I think maybe Dylan is looking at a centaur as a boat he feels comfortable taking round the top? If it's centaur with a well going round the top in the next season (or two) versus hunter minstrel going through the Cally canal, I'm with the centaur all the way. Would I chop a hole in one myself though? No fear! Cracking that pbo and almost moreso Tohatsu are in though, can hardly wait for the third KTL yacht to hit the water!
 
I'd have thought drag a pretty reasonable thing to be concerned about, especially when trying to create so much of it !

The noise from a well is not often appreciated - don't get me wrong, my boat has a well and it's infinitely better than having the engine on the transom - but it is very noisy with the sloshing turbulence when the engine is shut down.

I've done quite a few miles in Centaurs under sail and power, they sail a lot better than some people give them credit for; unless someone cuts a whacking great hole out of them !

Yes, considering the inflicted drag I think a 10hp outboard would be underpowered, with the hideous snag that one couldn't lift and stow it to fit a fairing plug.

Not all wells allow vectoring the engine, mine doesn't though I have never felt the need as the propwash is directly over the rudder.
 
dylanwinter said:
I assume some of them stray across here sometimes

does the water ever come back up the cockpit drains on a Centaur?

Can anyone describe the drain system
Click to expand...

From the cockpit well they go forward about a metre onto gatevalves either side of the engine - well they did on mine until i glassed everything in and shot them out to the stern on non return valves. Never experienced any water coming back up as they drop down and along a fair distance.

roger

www.agentlemansyacht.com
 
rogerball0 said:
From the cockpit well they go forward about a metre onto gatevalves either side of the engine - well they did on mine until i glassed everything in and shot them out to the stern on non return valves. Never experienced any water coming back up as they drop down and along a fair distance.

roger

www.agentlemansyacht.com
Click to expand...


good news on both fronts

the crucial measurements are the distance from the floor of the cockpit to the centre of the prop

and the distance from the cockpit floor to the waterline

anyone know those?

or could take them off a decent sized drawing

none of the ones I have found show the cockpit floor

and Bitbaltic

you are correct about a bigger boat

so far I have been sneaking up the East Coast never more than ten miles from the nearest life-boat and seldom more than 30 miles from the next shelter

Katie L could do the job

but I would have to spend a lot of time waiting for the weather

waiting for the weather in Katies cabin can get pretty claustrophobic

I cannot stand up and I do not have a usable desk

A Centaur will make those days waiting for the weather that much more productive

if I can edit while waiting then that will be a good thing

but there is no doubt that a better sea boat that is three feet longer and three times as heavy will also allow me to take advantage of weather that are currently denied to me

at the moment I have to be very conservative over when I go out - after all Katie L has bugger all underneath her and is a trailer sailer with all that entails

This might be a way of getting a bigger boat for the tough bit and then pick up again with Katie L once I get to the crinkly well hidden shallow bits of the West Coast.

I do want to go to the Orkneys - but I could get trapped there for weeks

I enjoyed the summer - six weeks is fine because you do not spend much time down below

Scotland in May is not Essex

D
 
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I love these sorts of threads.. The yes and no camps never even considering changing their minds, and once it's all over, silence from the 'proved wrong' camp...

The same happened with the sunken trawler, there were posters that very strongly said it will NEVER even float again... And then the went all quiet when it floated and was taken away..

I'd like to register my position as it boing fairly drama free. The hole will cut fairly easily, and the box will replace the lost strength. The engine will create some drag, maybe a knot or so, and the boat will sail much the same as before.

I'm fairly safe, cos everyone's claims will be well forgotten in 7 years time when it gets started... :-)
 
dylanwinter said:
good news on both fronts

the crucial measurements are the distance from the is from the floor of the cockpit to the centre of the prop

and the distance from the cockpit floor to the waterline

anyone kn ow those?

D
Click to expand...
bottom cockpit floor to waterline on mine is 100mm hence i ve taken mine astern the other measurement i'll get 2moro when in shed
 
chrisbitz said:
I love these sorts of threads.. The yes and no camps never even considering changing their minds, and once it's all over, silence from the 'proved wrong' camp...

The same happened with the sunken trawler, there were posters that very strongly said it will NEVER even float again... And then the went all quiet when it floated and was taken away..

I'd like to register my position as it boing fairly drama free. The hole will cut fairly easily, and the box will replace the lost strength. The engine will create some drag, maybe a knot or so, and the boat will sail much the same as before.

I'm fairly safe, cos everyone's claims will be well forgotten in 7 years time when it gets started... :-)
Click to expand...


correct.... except if it works and it gets me safely around for a while then you can be reasonably certain that a few more will appear.

I hope that the whole thing will be drama free

D
 
If you look at Roger's blog www.agentlemansyacht.com 11th August post, I think you are going to be cutting through about where that flat bit is, the old fuel tank support.
The opening in the cockpit sole is below the forward bit of grating. http://www.wamarchitects.co.uk/aengine.html
The back bit of grating is over the fuel tank, where your well will end up.

I'm interested in the cockpit drains through the transom, any pix Roger?
 
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