Inflatable with outboard

[Candellara]

Hi All,

Looking for a small inflatable with outboard and i'm confused about the outboard (easily done )

I was thinking of a Seago TSR240 with inflatable floor and a Yamaha 4 stroke 4hp but.........how do i know what shaft length i need for this inflatable?

 

[Haven't-a-Clue]

Surprised no-one has answered this, very likely, if not absolutely certainly, a standard shaft will do the job, unless you're planning on using it as a backup for your main engine when a long or extra long shaft would be more suitable. However, if you use a longer shaft on a standard inflatable, you may run into other problems like starting due to extra depth of the exhaust port for instance, not to mention grounding in shallow water.

 

[Tranona]

Welcome.

All inflatables are short shaft. 4hp is more than enough and for normal tender duties a smaller lighter engine is adequate.

 

[Seajet]

You haven't said what the boat is for, tender to a larger boat or jollys on its own - definitely the standard shaft anyway.

 

[seadog30]

Hi

We have a Seago 240 - The outboard is standard shaft length, The lighter the better, 4 HP is more than is necessary, the best engine we have had was the Suzuki 2.5HP 4 stroke.

Good Luck

 

[jac]

Hi

We have a Seago 240 - The outboard is standard shaft length, The lighter the better, 4 HP is more than is necessary, the best engine we have had was the Suzuki 2.5HP 4 stroke.

Good Luck

The advice re a light engine is good, especially on something as small as 2.4. But bare in mind that many outboard manufacturers will make 2 or even 3 outboards based on the same block. You may therefore have a 2.5 and a 3.5 that weigh almost the same.

I would advise to buy the largest HP outboard for a given weight, especially if you're expecting to carry much of a load

 

[MarcJ]

Having had to think about this one and buying a Waveline 2.4 dinghy plus outboard. If you don't have to carry the outboard very far, then no worries, but if you are faced with a 600 meter drag across the beach, weight is important! I figured this was one of the lightest: http://ebcmarineandleisure.co.uk/suzuki-outboards-25hp-10hp/suzuki-25hp-outboard-motor-short-shaft-4-stroke-df-25s
But what I did was buy a 1985 second hand 2 stroke off ebay, for £160 - I've spent hours and hours fiddling with it, hopefully it's ok now, but £500 sounds a bargain for a known, working motor!!!

 

[Topcat47]

I'm not a fan of small 4-strokes. If you're not in the eu, a new Tohatsu 2.5 would be ideal, or a 3.5 if you want a dog clutch (neutral). Failing that, I'd hunt for a good second-hand one. They hold their price well because they are light, robust, simple and cheap to repair or service.

 

[cmedsailor]

If you could find a second hand 2 stroke 3.5hp Johnson, that will be a very good choice. I have one that replaced my old 2HP Honda 4 stroke air cooled super noisy outboard. Same weight but much more powerful and quite.

 

[Candellara]

Thanks for the multitude of replies. Tender use - to get myself & the Wife to the beach and also i'd feel better having an inflatable tender as we have two very young children

I was rather hoping that the tender engine could double as an emergency kicker for my Yamarin 68DC hence looking for a 4hp rather than a 2.5? I guess this won't work if i need a standard shaft for a Seago240?

 

[Spyro]

If you could find a second hand 2 stroke 3.5hp Johnson, that will be a very good choice. I have one that replaced my old 2HP Honda 4 stroke air cooled super noisy outboard. Same weight but much more powerful and quite.

Second that. Great little engine. With my seago 260 and my 14 stones it will plane easily and do around 13 knots.

 

[jac]

Thanks for the multitude of replies. Tender use - to get myself & the Wife to the beach and also i'd feel better having an inflatable tender as we have two very young children

I was rather hoping that the tender engine could double as an emergency kicker for my Yamarin 68DC hence looking for a 4hp rather than a 2.5? I guess this won't work if i need a standard shaft for a Seago240?

I think you need to be very realistic re using an outboard for both a tender and moving the yacht. If you have a 45 footer with a Rib with a 25hp OB then ok but for a normal dink Ob of <4hp the use will be limited.
Firstly - you will need to arrange for it to be mounted on the main boat. If you have an O/B already then can you lift it at sea and where will you put it. Fine with small OBs but if you're looking at a larger lump ( 20hp or more) then that sounds heavy. If you can't use the existing OB mount then where will the dink one go? You can get brackets that lift up and down but do you want to disfigure your boat with this?

secondly - even if you can mount it - beware that it may cavitate a lot as the prop won't be that deep. Fine on a river or in a sheltered estuary but beware that it will struggle at sea.

Thirdly, it won't push you fast. It will be fine for trolling if fishing or as a means to push you a couple of miles across a sheltered harbour but in rougher seas, strong tides or winds it may struggle.

Finally - you need to consider the range. O/Bs with an integral tank may only have enough fuel for about an hour at WOT. If you've used a bit to get the kids to the beach etc then you may end up with maybe 40 mins of use in an emergency. Again - if you are in smooth water, refueling from your spare can will be simple enough but if it's rougher, can you pour in the fuel? It's also worth considering what other fuel you use. If your main boat is driven by an existing o/b then you can share fuel between the two. ( assuming you haven't got a 2T and a 4t)

 

[Candellara]

I think you need to be very realistic re using an outboard for both a tender and moving the yacht. If you have a 45 footer with a Rib with a 25hp OB then ok but for a normal dink Ob of <4hp the use will be limited.
Firstly - you will need to arrange for it to be mounted on the main boat. If you have an O/B already then can you lift it at sea and where will you put it. Fine with small OBs but if you're looking at a larger lump ( 20hp or more) then that sounds heavy. If you can't use the existing OB mount then where will the dink one go? You can get brackets that lift up and down but do you want to disfigure your boat with this?

secondly - even if you can mount it - beware that it may cavitate a lot as the prop won't be that deep. Fine on a river or in a sheltered estuary but beware that it will struggle at sea.

Thirdly, it won't push you fast. It will be fine for trolling if fishing or as a means to push you a couple of miles across a sheltered harbour but in rougher seas, strong tides or winds it may struggle.

Finally - you need to consider the range. O/Bs with an integral tank may only have enough fuel for about an hour at WOT. If you've used a bit to get the kids to the beach etc then you may end up with maybe 40 mins of use in an emergency. Again - if you are in smooth water, refueling from your spare can will be simple enough but if it's rougher, can you pour in the fuel? It's also worth considering what other fuel you use. If your main boat is driven by an existing o/b then you can share fuel between the two. ( assuming you haven't got a 2T and a 4t)

Thanks. After digesting all the comments i think i'll stick with the Seago and an engine of 2.5 to 4hp and forget about using it as an emergency kicker. My Yamarin already has a mount for a tender engine so i assume that when the tender is not in use, it's just mounted at the back of the boat

 

[jac]

Thanks for the multitude of replies. Tender use - to get myself & the Wife to the beach and also i'd feel better having an inflatable tender as we have two very young children

I was rather hoping that the tender engine could double as an emergency kicker for my Yamarin 68DC hence looking for a 4hp rather than a 2.5? I guess this won't work if i need a standard shaft for a Seago240?

Just picked up the point re wife, you and two young children and a 2.4m inflatable.. You need to remember that many dinks will lose about 80cm of length due to the sponsons aft needed to support the OB and the width of the tube at the bow. Your 2.4 will therefore have maybe 1.6m of space internally of which maybe 20cm is angled up to the bow.

You may therefore want to re-consider size. We had a 2.3. with two young children - by the ages of 7 and 9 they were complaining it was too small as we were all squeezed in. A 2.4 would probably have caused complaints at 8 and 10

a 2.7 will cope with them even as teens but you will need to be careful re amount of luggage you carry. If you want to carry all 4 of you when both kids are fully grown then possibly even 2.9 if you have room. We went to 3.1 zodiac fastroller which is huge but light. I would personally suggest something around the 2.8m mark.