Possible new boat owner, help! (drunken ebay purchase)

BIG.SMOKE

BIG.SMOKE

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Hi All,

Possible new boat owner here, I get very drunk during the week and was cruising ebay and bided on a 20ft fishing boat (cuddy front) now im one day away from the auction end and im the highest bidder.

The engine is an old evinrude 50hp 2 stroke unit, I have seen videos of the unit starting running ect and have no reason not to beleive its reliability, but im going to invest in a second smaller outboard incase I get left offshore engine'less!

So could someone please advise what the smallest size outboard I should invest in on a 20ft (fiberglass) fishing boat?

Thanks in advance all!
 
It really depends what you want to do and how far you want to go, but as a back-up I would expect 15-20hp to suffice. Good luck with the auction, you know you will be disappointed if you don't win now.
 
first thing is to find out what the manufacture and model of the boat is, then do some quick reasearch on the net, try emailing some engine maufactures,

do you have any detail on boat like weight-draft-beam etc, also what speed you would like to do, a 20hp engine will work great as a back up in calm weather, but then but some heavy seas with large swell and you might be struggling.

being your first boat please could i recommend the sea safty check free from the rnli, i had one last year and another a week ago and its highly recommended. going offshore to coast hopping is chalk and cheese.

i would say get a decent 60-90 hp for a main engine and a small electric for trolling when fishing
 
rafiki_ said:
It really depends what you want to do and how far you want to go, but as a back-up I would expect 15-20hp to suffice. Good luck with the auction, you know you will be disappointed if you don't win now.
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15 - 20hp suffice?!
a 5 or 6hp would suffice - a 15-20 would get you there at a reasonable speed ...!!
But - as you say - it does depend on where you want to go ....
Bung it on a lake and a couple of oars would do!
 
I've got a 5hp outboard on my 19ft boat as a get-you-home motor and its fine. Another important bit of get-you-home safety kit is a VHF radio so you can call the coastguard when you discover your spare outboard motor has seized because you never use it. :D
 
Small yachts are fitted with anything from a 2hp up ... 2hp would be slow though.
You're not talking about getting up on the plane - as that takes a lot of grunt - so you're only after what can reasonably get you up to hull speed.

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So - waterline length is sub 20' - but let's stick with 20' ...
Square root of 20 is 4.47 - multiply by 1.3 and you get 5.99.... or 6knots ... roughly.
If you're on the sea then you'll struggle to get that exactly unless it's ideal conditions - so better take some waves into account - so drop that to 5 knots - then some tide (unless you've planed it to help you!) ...

so - if you're happy with 4-5knots of speed as a 'get me home'* - then you just need an outboard that will achieve that ...

if you want to get home more quickly then you're back up to the 15-20hp - and carrying a significant extra weight 'for emergencies'


* get me home - or rather - get me to the nearest safe place where I can fix the &%^$( outboard !! home isn't always the best place!
 
Also worth remembering the wt of some of these engines. Not a problem if your aux engine is ready in place and just needs to be lowered, but humping say a 15hp around from the Laz or a locker or even moving it from a storage mount is some job when you have waves pushing you about. For a 20 ftr and as purely an aux engine that you want to store, I would go for about 5/6 hp and accept that if you have to use it, you have a slow trip back, but at least you have some drive!
 
Ok, I know you didn't ask this but still, you say it was a drunken eBay purchase and it hasn't ended. You can withdraw the bid if you don't want it. eBay will complain bitterly but consider whether it was "just a little rushed" or whether you are actually getting a white elephant.

At least if you pull out now someone else will get it and better it happen now than becoming a non paying bidder if your other half finds out!
 
I have just sold a 21ft Fishing Boat with an Inboard Diesel Engine and an Evinrude 9.9 Auxiliary (which I have just put on ebay) Last week I was selling my boat and in case a buyer asked how fast the boat would go on the auxiliary I tried it and flat out it would do 4 1/2 mph. 3 mph at reasonable revs.
Normally in the marina where I have my boat there is so much **** floating around that I get into and through the sea lock on the auxiliary and when clear I use the inboard.
But this time, as I was demonstrating the boat to a prospective purchaser I did not use the auxiluary (why I dont know) I went through to the sea lock from my pontoon on the main engine, so I am in the sea lock and just moving off and I felt a "hesitation" so I opened the throttle and it seemed to clear
Anyway demonstrating the boat the engine would not reach maximum revs and was throwing out loads of black smoke. Anyway back at the pontoon the buyer offered me less because of the boats slow speed and the black smoke, which I accepted.
Later that day I was on the slipway putting the boat on the trailer and found that the boat had a fishing net wrapped around the propellor. No wonder it wouldent reach maximum revs. That not reaching maximum revs probably knocked £1000 off the value of the boat.
I should have known better, 30 years ago I had a rope around a propeller on a Princess 33, fortunatly I had 2 engines. Anyone who goes to sea without an Auxiluary is asking for trouble. And the silly thing is that the person who bought my boat dosent want the auxiluary. (thats why its on ebay)
Anyway on a 20 -21 foot boat get a 9.9, a 2stroke long shaft (Like mine) is just about heavy enough to carry and lift up and down on an Auxiluary bracket. a 4 stroke which you can only buy these days probably weighs 50+ kilo. and how do you reach over the stern and lift a 50 kilo engine on an auxiluary bracket up out of the water.
 
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Appreciate all the responses guys thanks!

Flying Penguin said:
Ok, I know you didn't ask this but still, you say it was a drunken eBay purchase and it hasn't ended. You can withdraw the bid if you don't want it. eBay will complain bitterly but consider whether it was "just a little rushed" or whether you are actually getting a white elephant.

At least if you pull out now someone else will get it and better it happen now than becoming a non paying bidder if your other half finds out!
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Appreciate your concern, thanks.

Its obviously a last minute sort of thing, but I come from a long line of boat owners so I have a good idea of the burden of ownership.

After meeting some people at the local Marina today I'd forgetton how bloody nice boat folk are....
 
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