Small outboard for manoeuvring.

[Giblets]

Having put my little Leisure 17 on her new drying mooring at the top of Chichester Harbour at the weekend I struggled somewhat to remove the Tohatsu 6HP Saildrive outboard (25kg) whilst balanced in the dinghy (BIC 245) and take it ashore. This got me to wondering if the tender outboard (Suzuki 2.5 std shaft 13kg)) would be sufficient to get her on and off the mooring when I wish to take her out for a day sail potter around the harbour. The mooring is quite protected with only a minimum current running through it at certain times but also a bit too congested to sail on and off it. Obviously for longer trips outside the harbour where the big boys play I would need to ship the 6HP but this could be done by taking her into the nearby marina.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the suitability of the 2.5HP for this purpose. The outboard bracket is the drop-down cantilever type so I can get the engine quite low down in the water.

 

[VicS]

Having put my little Leisure 17 on her new drying mooring at the top of Chichester Harbour at the weekend I struggled somewhat to remove the Tohatsu 6HP Saildrive outboard (25kg) whilst balanced in the dinghy (BIC 245) and take it ashore. This got me to wondering if the tender outboard (Suzuki 2.5 std shaft 13kg)) would be sufficient to get her on and off the mooring when I wish to take her out for a day sail potter around the harbour. The mooring is quite protected with only a minimum current running through it at certain times but also a bit too congested to sail on and off it. Obviously for longer trips outside the harbour where the big boys play I would need to ship the 6HP but this could be done by taking her into the nearby marina.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the suitability of the 2.5HP for this purpose. The outboard bracket is the drop-down cantilever type so I can get the engine quite low down in the water.

Assuming the shaft length is OK the 2.5 will be fine in calm conditions but will probably not get you up to max hull speed so you'd have trouble in strong tides

When my 6 hp failed a Seagull Featherweight ( about 1.5hp) got me back up Thorney channel to my Prinsted mooring in my Sea Wych
We also once took a Westerly Berwick a good distance in the CI when the main engine failed with only a Featherweight on the Avon

OTOH I have known people struggle against the tide at East Head with a 4hp on a Sea Wych

My 6 hp Evinrude normally stays on the bracket all season. I used to be able to lift it on and off to stow in the cabin but not anymore. I once, when it failed, lifted it off into the dinghy at low water.
I now get someone to help lift it on to the bracket before the boat is launched and off again when its back on terra firma at the end of the season.

 

[Tranona]

Yes, the 2.5hp will move it quite well in calm conditions. However if your 6hp is a long shaft then your bracket if correctly mounted will not get the little engine into the water. You need the mounting board to be 15" above the waterline.

6hp is on the big side for a 17ft. 4hp would be enough. As you have discovered lifting that size engine on and off each time you use it is impractical, so would normally be left on the boat with the bracket in the raised position.

 

[doug748]

I think the Tohatsu is too large for the Leisure for pottering. I had similar on a Folkboat and often thought I would be better served by 4hp.
You have a fair windage so in lively weather you may have to box clever getting onto the mooring, if you use the 2.5; in most conditions you would probably be happy.
In light conditions, I once shifted my 4ton boat over 5 miles on one of these little engines.

 

[VicS]

Yes, the 2.5hp will move it quite well in calm conditions. However if your 6hp is a long shaft then your bracket if correctly mounted will not get the little engine into the water. You need the mounting board to be 15" above the waterline.

6hp is on the big side for a 17ft. 4hp would be enough. As you have discovered lifting that size engine on and off each time you use it is impractical, so would normally be left on the boat with the bracket in the raised position.

Common practice though it to fit a longshaft engine on a bracket positioned for a short shaft engine in order to get the prop deeper. If the Op has done that there's no problem.
That applies to my Seawych ... but with the Featherweight, which as you know has a n even shorter shaft ( 13"?), on it I had to practically sit on it to get the prop fully in the water!

 

[ProDave]

Why do you want to keep removing the 6HP? I would just leave it on the boat (as I do on mine)

 

[sailorman]

I used 4hp on my Silhoette & Prelude & that was used over the Deben Bar but some times had to anchor if the ebb tide was too great

 

[seumask]

2.5 hp IMHO will be fine. If its windy and you want to manover and go somehwere that's what the sails are for. In my experience the engine is for meeting deadlines when there is no wind, in which case you low HP engine will be fine.

 

[Fantasie 19]

Why do you want to keep removing the 6HP? I would just leave it on the boat (as I do on mine)

Theft.... a number of the boats in the moorings do keep their engines on the back, but it would worry me, so I understand the concern... people say "insurance" and "good locks", but it doesn't help when some scrote has chain sawed the engine off, and you're waiting weeks for the insurance to pay out...

Having said that, it's not a major problem, and my suggestion would be to sell the 6Hp (& the 2.5Hp??) and put the money to a decent 4Hp (you can use on both...?)

 

[VicS]

2.5 hp IMHO will be fine. If its windy and you want to manover and go somehwere that's what the sails are for. In my experience the engine is for meeting deadlines when there is no wind, in which case you low HP engine will be fine.

Theft.... a number of the boats in the moorings do keep their engines on the back, but it would worry me, so I understand the concern... people say "insurance" and "good locks", but it doesn't help when some scrote has chain sawed the engine off, and you're waiting weeks for the insurance to pay out...

Having said that, it's not a major problem, and my suggestion would be to sell the 6Hp (& the 2.5Hp??) and put the money to a decent 4Hp (you can use on both...?)

There have been a few times when the wind has been from an unfavourable direction when I have been glad to have had a powerful engine with which I can simply motor directly into the weather rather than suffer a long agonising beat to windward only to miss the tide at my destination!


Regarding the weight:

The Tohatsu 4 hp is the same basic engine as the 6 hp and is therefore no lighter ,,.... heavier in fact than a 6 with remote tank.

He'd look a chump selling the existing ( brand new?) engine and buying a less powerful one that's the same weight!

 

[Fantasie 19]

There have been a few times when the wind has been from an unfavourable direction when I have been glad to have had a powerful engine with which I can simply motor directly into the weather rather than suffer a long agonising beat to windward only to miss the tide at my destination!


Regarding the weight:

The Tohatsu 4 hp is the same basic engine as the 6 hp and is therefore no lighter ,,.... heavier in fact than a 6 with remote tank.

He'd look a chump selling the existing ( brand new?) engine and buying a less powerful one that's the same weight!

Actually - according to the website the 4Hp weighs a kilo more than the 6Hp

You're right though, what I meant was to buy a decent 2 stroke 4hp... they're still around...

 

[onesea]

There have been a few times when the wind has been from an unfavourable direction when I have been glad to have had a powerful engine with which I can simply motor directly into the weather rather than suffer a long agonising beat to windward only to miss the tide at my destination!

Regarding the weight:

The Tohatsu 4 hp is the same basic engine as the 6 hp and is therefore no lighter ,,.... heavier in fact than a 6 with remote tank.

He'd look a chump selling the existing ( brand new?) engine and buying a less powerful one that's the same weight!

+1 If I was going to change it would be the small outboard to 3.5 2 stroke tomatsu, but then I am biased I have on and it was best kit I bought...

If going upwind and struggling leave the main up sheeted in hard it makes one hell of a difference but you have to "tack" her to windward...

I sailed a 24 footer on my 3.5 for a year, it was only when baby daughter came along I "Upgraded".

Another idea is to leave the outboard in the cabin? (I used to use dish cloths to camouflage mine), or even in cockpit.

 

[Lakesailor]

The 2.5 hp should be fine. I used a 3.5 Tohatsu on all my boats as well as various 4hp 4 strokes.
Just for moving about and getting onto your moorings they are great. I never had to use more than 1/2 throttle to get my (18ft) boats to hull speed.
A strong wind made it more difficult, but still plenty of control.
If you had a mile or two to go to reach sailing grounds it wouldn't be sensible. But taking a 6hp on and off from the tender is courting disaster.

 

[geem]

I once used a tohatsu 3.5 Hp 2 stroke on my dinghy to move an 18 ton steel yacht to a new anchorage. The conditions were calm but it was surprising how well it did the job

 

[Achillesheel]

We've used a Suzuki 2.5hp to move our Achilles 24 when the 4hp Mercury wouldn't start. I'd agree with most on here that 6hp is too much.

 

[VicS]

People keep saying that the 6hp engine it too large for the Leisure 17

Unnecessarily powerful maybe but whats the alternative

I'd not want less than 4hp for use around Chichester and the eastern Solent

So swap it for a 4hp ... but for what advantage. They are all the same weight, or even heavier, than the 6hp Tohatsu he has at present.

I am afraid the mistake Giblets has made is expecting to be able to lift the thing on and off its bracket while afloat and ferry it back and forth in a small dinghy.

 

[Giblets]

I would agree with VicS and others that perhaps the 6HP was a bit OTT for the L17 but, having said that, the 4HP model is, in fact, 1 kg heavier and only comes with a 1.1L internal fuel tank rather than the 6HP's 12L external tank.

My reasons for choosing the 6HP (power in reserve amongst others) were confirmed to me last year when we returned from the truncated S'butt Poole Cruise from Yarmouth back to Portsmouth into an easterly F5 with the engine barely above tickover and quite happily coping with the "Solent Chop". The following day's trip from Pompy back to Langstone was not much different. Not the sort of conditions were I would be wanting to be refuelling an outboard dangling on the back of a pitching 17 footer!! I also returned from Bembrdge in September in similar conditions and had every faith in the combination particularly as the timing involved coming back into Langstone against the full ebb.

Granted we were then based in Southsea Marina so getting the lump on and off was not too much of an effort but the new swinging mooring presents a different set of problems which I am learning to cope with.

I shall be trying the 2.5HP out this weekend around Chichester Harbour. If the 2.5 copes then it will kill two birds with one stone as I will not have to leave it fitted to the dinghy on the mooring whilst off sailing. As said if I want to go further afield then popping the 6HP on in the nearby marina will not be too much of a logistical nightmare.

Many thanks for the advice (and critisims) given in this thread all of which have been taken on board and appreciated. After all it's what the Forums are all about.