Motor sailing question

[cagey]

Can motor sailing have any effect on normal cone and gears ,gearbox or engine mountings.
This year because of slight wind have used engine to push boat onto wind and increase apparent wind, very effective but wonder if put strain in the wrong place.
Boat Sigma362 engine Beta 28, gearbox TTMC down angle, never pushed hard enough to starve engine of oil.
Thanks
K

 

[johnalison]

I can't give an engineer's reply, but today's boat engines are no longer the auxiliaries of old, when a boat of your size might have a 10HP motor. If motor-sailing is going to do any harm, the boat is not fit for its intended use. Motoring against heavy weather is very much a part of today's cruising world, though you are right to be watching the angle of heel and I often reef to keep this within the 15 degrees my engine allows.