Outboard size for emergencies

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ostell

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I have a friend with a 26 ft Bilge keeler and he wants to fit an outboard as an emergency unit. He is thinking of 2.5hp. What does the esteemed forum think would be a suitable size?
 
2.5 will struggle to do more than allow slow progress in a flat calm.
Which is pretty useful sometimes.

8 or 10HP in a well would be a better general purpose choice.
 
ostell said:
I have a friend with a 26 ft Bilge keeler and he wants to fit an outboard as an emergency unit. He is thinking of 2.5hp. What does the esteemed forum think would be a suitable size?
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It'll get him back onto the mooring or out of trouble in calm conditions but that's about all.

6 or 8 hp as a minimum alternative to the inboard for any realistic possibility of battling against adverse conditions or a foul tide

correct propeller choice is also important
 
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Assuming he has an inboard, why does he think he wants a third means of propulsion?

While a 2.5 hp engine will move the boat in flat water it will do little in any kind of sea or against any wind. It will be short shaft and therefore will need to be mounted low down on the transom making it near impossible to operate from the cockpit.

Suggest to him that looks around other boats of similar size and type and try and find one that has such an arrangement. Will be a pretty fruitless task, which might tell him something about his idea.

If he has a tender and a 2.5 he can use this effectively to tie alongside if he wants to move the boat at low speed without using the inboard. Other than that better to spend the money on making sure his inboard is reliable.
 
Much depends on how big and how heavy an engine he wants. He may not want to put a 10 on the pushpit even though this might be needed in some situations. I would have though about 4 would be a compromise.
 
Eric and Susan Hiscock managed to circumnavigate the globe in a heavy 30-foot yacht fitted with a 4hp engine. I should think a 2.5hp engine on a 26-footer would be perfectly adequate.

In a real emergency he could always sail. :rolleyes:
 
parsifal said:
Eric and Susan Hiscock managed to circumnavigate the globe in a heavy 30-foot yacht fitted with a 4hp engine. I should think a 2.5hp engine on a 26-footer would be perfectly adequate.

In a real emergency he could always sail. :rolleyes:
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What the Hiscocks did is surely not relevant to today's needs. If you want to use extreme ocean voyagers as examples of what is possible, why not quote the Pardeys who had no engine at all.

Of course you can have a small engine, but do not expect it to move the boat at any speed. Assuming the boat already has an auxiliary, why would one want another engine, particularly one that does not have enough power to move the boat?
 


never leave home without it

it seems to me that the reason for having spare power is to avoid being towed into a marina if you get crud around the inboard prop

I just could not bare the humiliation of being brought home by the RNLI

My Tohatsu long shaft slept soundly in the quarter berth right around the top of scotland

but it was good to know it was there

when the quarter berth is needed it sits on the bracket on the back

although the new Centaur has an almost new Yanmar power unit which I expect to be dead reliable it offers little protection against these furkin things

 
Dylan, your attachments are not visible (plug in not supported). I'm guessing that the first is your Tohatsu and the second is a losterpot. Am I right?
 
dylanwinter said:


never leave home without it

it seems to me that the reason for having spare power is to avoid being towed into a marina if you get crud around the inboard prop

I just could not bare the humiliation of being brought home by the RNLI

My Tohatsu long shaft slept soundly in the quarter berth right around the top of scotland

but it was good to know it was there

when the quarter berth is needed it sits on the bracket on the back

although the new Centaur has an almost new Yanmar power unit which I expect to be dead reliable it offers little protection against these furkin things

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Simple answer o that problem is to invest in a rope cutter.

BTW how many times have you actually been disabled through crud round the prop? and needed a tow into port?
 
Tranona said:
Simple answer o that problem is to invest in a rope cutter.

BTW how many times have you actually been disabled through crud round the prop? and needed a tow into port?
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crud around the prop three times so far in the past eight years

twin or bilge keelers so I willfully ran them aground to deal with the problem

So I dealt with it myself - however..... the humiliation would be too much to bare
 
We had a 4hp engine for our dinghy and had a transom bracket on our 25ft fin keel boat and it worked fine even got about 2 knots into a F8 once. Never needed it for real but it was nice to know it was there, also the transom bracket made moving to and from the dinghy much easier and safer
 
dylanwinter said:
crud around the prop three times so far in the past eight years

twin or bilge keelers so I willfully ran them aground to deal with the problem

So I dealt with it myself - however..... the humiliation would be too much to bare
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So, did you avoid humiliation by using your outboard and could the crud have been prevented by taking effective precautions against it?

You seem to worry about some things that are not worth worrying about and not taking preventative action that is proven against things that you know do happen.

Just saying.
 
maxi77 said:
We had a 4hp engine for our dinghy and had a transom bracket on our 25ft fin keel boat and it worked fine even got about 2 knots into a F8 once. Never needed it for real but it was nice to know it was there, also the transom bracket made moving to and from the dinghy much easier and safer
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I agree about the bracket being really useful for getting on and off the boat - well worth having

I will be putting one on the back of Centaur 2
 
Newbie question, can you fit a long shaft onto an inflatable tender or do you need a special transom? I'm by guessing that a long shaft is the only way to go when/if it's mounted on the stern on a bracket.
 
Tranona said:
So, did you avoid humiliation by using your outboard and could the crud have been prevented by taking effective precautions against it?

You seem to worry about some things that are not worth worrying about and not taking preventative action that is proven against things that you know do happen.

Just saying.
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I guess that is the penalty of over-sharing
 
SiteSurfer said:
Newbie question, can you fit a long shaft onto an inflatable tender or do you need a special transom? I'm by guessing that a long shaft is the only way to go when/if it's mounted on the stern on a bracket.
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No. A tender uses a short shaft. While some people do use a long shaft there are problems with draft, trim of the tender and difficulty of handling an engine that is too long. That is why boats and outboards are designed to be compatible with each other and the use of one engine for two entirely different applications is problematic.
 
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