Shaft, outdrive, outboard? What's best for upper Thames

DoubleEnder

DoubleEnder

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I live near Oxford, and I like the upper Thames a lot. Thinking about maybe getting a little cabin cruiser, shared with a friend. No more than 25' long. What's the best arrangement? A quick, not very thorough look seems to show inbaord engines with some sort of leg drive, or outboards. Those legs look complicated and this would not be a shiny new boat, more of a beat up old boat. Are shafts not appropriate? I guess a nice modern outboard is best?
I quite like those little Freemans though, with inboard petrol engines, which I guess turn a shaft? They look the part, somehow (How come they havent all blown up by now? S/)
 
Freemans are wonderful and a shaft is much better than an outdrive. However it does mean having the engine with you in the cockpit area. A lot of them are still petrol inboard which means reliability issues and potential fire hazard. Some have been converted to Diesel but that will be noisy.

I would not touch old outdrives with a largepole they always have problems.

My first choice would be Honda outboard next choice Diesel inboard with shaft.
 
DoubleEnder said:
I live near Oxford, and I like the upper Thames a lot. Thinking about maybe getting a little cabin cruiser, shared with a friend. No more than 25' long. What's the best arrangement? A quick, not very thorough look seems to show inbaord engines with some sort of leg drive, or outboards. Those legs look complicated and this would not be a shiny new boat, more of a beat up old boat. Are shafts not appropriate? I guess a nice modern outboard is best?
I quite like those little Freemans though, with inboard petrol engines, which I guess turn a shaft? They look the part, somehow (How come they havent all blown up by now? S/)
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Obviously for the upper Thames it should be steam.

Like this one:-

 
Outboard - avoid old sterndrives. If something goes wrong, no one will want to fix it as it'll be terrible to work on and parts difficult to get...and if you are able to get it fixed, it'll be expensive.

I had a Norman 18 on the non tidal Thames with an old Mariner 30 two stroke outboard. Easy enough for two people to remove it from the boat and chuck it in a van to take somewhere to work on.
 
DoubleEnder said:
I live near Oxford, and I like the upper Thames a lot. Thinking about maybe getting a little cabin cruiser, shared with a friend. No more than 25' long. What's the best arrangement? A quick, not very thorough look seems to show inbaord engines with some sort of leg drive, or outboards. Those legs look complicated and this would not be a shiny new boat, more of a beat up old boat. Are shafts not appropriate? I guess a nice modern outboard is best?
I quite like those little Freemans though, with inboard petrol engines, which I guess turn a shaft? They look the part, somehow (How come they havent all blown up by now? S/)
Click to expand...
We owned a Freeman 23 for many years and I would say it was the best boat to own. Very easy to manuover, turn on a sixpence and to maintain. Yes the fast majority are petrol but if it is well maintained it will give you hours of pleasure on the river. Outboards can be removed easy by the owner for service and robbers to make cash. Sterndrives do not touch witha barge pole. Any work needed normally requirs the boat to be lifted.
 
I do see some small boats with quite big outboards up here; I guess that they are also used in other waters. But I would have thought that 10HP or thereabouts is enough, and that is a combination I also see.
 
VicS said:
With a 25ft boat on the upper Thames do you really need an outboard that is large enough to have/need power tilt and trim.

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Honda 15 upwards can have PTT. It's a nice luxury. I would rather have it than not have it if it was on a cabin cruiser. Might save prop damage on shallow moorings. Not sure if it is available on the 10hp. I have a Honda 10 without PTT on one of my launches. I'd love to have it fitted as I do navigate in shallow areas and it would be handy to be able to trim it up a bit with a button on the morse control to save the prop.
 
My brother had, until recently, a Viking 23 with a Honda 20.

That had trim and tilt which is a big bonus on the Thames.

His also had an aluminum rudder fitted which helped low speed steering, useful for entering locks.

His ownership was abruptly ended when a 16 ton steel boat T boned it and split the hull from the superstructure!

Luckily his insurance payout meant he could buy another, planing sea boat for use on the Solent...
 
DoubleEnder said:
I live near Oxford, and I like the upper Thames a lot. Thinking about maybe getting a little cabin cruiser, shared with a friend. No more than 25' long. What's the best arrangement? A quick, not very thorough look seems to show inbaord engines with some sort of leg drive, or outboards. Those legs look complicated and this would not be a shiny new boat, more of a beat up old boat. Are shafts not appropriate? I guess a nice modern outboard is best?
I quite like those little Freemans though, with inboard petrol engines, which I guess turn a shaft? They look the part, somehow (How come they havent all blown up by
Click to expand...
I’ve had a boat on the Thames for 3 years now. I bought a narrow boat because I thought I’d take some trips up the canals but the Thames is so good I haven’t been tempered to leave. I did consider an old Freeman, they look like a boat should look, but was put off by the old engines and their unsuitability for canals. I’ve now seen so many Freemans about that any fears I had about longevity or reliability have disappeared. I am happy with my 31 foot narrow boat, I stay for 2 or 3 weeks at a time on her. If I was using her for a few days at a time then a Freeman would now be my choice. Sheridan Marine, not too far down the Thames, are Freeman specialists.
 
It’s interesting to see the range of outboards fitted. Today I saw a 27 1/2 ft cabin cruiser with a 40hp Mariner, and a few boats along another with 20 hp. My old sailing boat weighed close to 6 tons and was not underpowered with a 20hp diesel. I guess the bigger engine is to be able to navigate on the tidal stretches ….
What is the servicing schedule on a modern say 15hp outboard? Is it something I can do without removing the engine, if I was say on an alongside mooring, not in a yard or marina? Or is it best to call the dealer to come and get it?
 
On an outboard, the power head service can be done in situ but me personally would prefer to lift the outboard out and place it on a wooden frame so that you have 360 access to all parts, upper and lower units. A 15hp outboard will probably weigh around 80lbs, so if you could as a friend to help you lift it out, that would be best. Different manufacturers will have different service schedules but rule of thumb will be once a year or 100 hrs, whichever comes first. In the non tidal Thames you will likely never make 100 hrs a year. The service per se is not complicated and there are tons of videos in YouTube from genuine and knowledgeable folks unless you are buying a new outboard, which will then need a dealer to perform the annual service in order to keep your warranty.
 
We had a Freeman 27 on the Great Ouse and it was a fine, comfortable boat. never made it to the Thames. The only or rather major downside was the noisy BMC diesel engine. It really grinds on my nerves after an hour or so and in the end we sold it and bought a Fairline Mirage (31ft) with two noisy diesel engines. If I were to seriously think of getting another boat, would be sorely tempted to go electric with a genny and would happily look at Freeman 24. Interior woodwork on all Freemans is really good.
 
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