Temporary outboard for RTIR

[mrming]

We're towing our little Benny 235 down to the Solent this year to participate in the Round the Island.

We usually have an 8hp Yamaha on the back which is tilted out of the water when sailing (the boat has a nifty cut out in the transom to allow this). The RTIR rules state that your engine can't be sticking out the back, but instead has to be stowed below. There's no way I'm doing this with 39kg of engine 10 minutes before the start, so we're going to have to use a smaller outboard that can easily be manhandled below at the last minute.

I have a 3.5 Tohatsu two stroke we use for our tender, and I'm wondering if it might be up to the job of pushing us in and out of the harbour. If necessary I could fit a different prop. Does anyone know if such a thing as a saildrive prop is available for an engine this small?

Edit - the boat weighs about 1500kg all up and the hull is pretty slippery and easily driven.

 

[rbmatthews]

I have a 3.5 Tohatsu two stroke we use for our tender, and I'm wondering if it might be up to the job of pushing us in and out of the harbour.

Edit - the boat weighs about 1500kg all up and the hull is pretty slippery and easily driven.

Our Tohatsu 3.5 two-stroke pushes our ~1200 kg boat along quite happily at 4 knots if there is no current. It just has the standard prop.

Can't be sure, but I would have thought that yours will do it.

Rob.

 

[mrming]

Okay good to know thanks. I'll hopefully give it a trial beforehand and the boat sails very well so the engine should only be needed to get in and out of our berth / mooring.

 

[Yacht Yogi]

You should be OK since you can motor-sail except for the maneuvering bit into and out of the berth/marina. The start should be no problem from pretty well anywhere around the central Solent but I wouldn't advise setting out from anywhere further away than Hamble because you will need to set off too early and might be going home in the dark. The place that might give you a problem is getting into Cowes after the race because the tide might be very strong, although you'll probably be on the southern finish line and able to turn left out of the worst of it.

 

[mrming]

You should be OK since you can motor-sail except for the maneuvering bit into and out of the berth/marina. The start should be no problem from pretty well anywhere around the central Solent but I wouldn't advise setting out from anywhere further away than Hamble because you will need to set off too early and might be going home in the dark. The place that might give you a problem is getting into Cowes after the race because the tide might be very strong, although you'll probably be on the southern finish line and able to turn left out of the worst of it.

Okay - interesting - we're going to launch in the Hamble but sail over to Cowes the day before so we'll be based out of there. So - worst case scenario, the wind dies at the finish and we can't motor against the tide - at that point hopefully we might be able to find someone kind enough to give us a tow.

 

[William_H]

I think you will find the smalle rmotor not much less speed through the water than the bigger one. You will notice more vibration from the single cylinder but i reckon you might end up keeping the little one in service. good luck olewill

 

[Andrew G]

Can you keep the larger one down below incase you need it at the end or the race? The time taken to swap it with the small one should not be an issue? Andrew

 

[langstonelayabout]

Use the smaller motor and you'll be fine. I used to use a Mercury 4 on my 22' E-Boat and often considered changing to a smaller one because it got me to hull speed on half throttle. Smaller ones, especially 2-stroke motors, are much lighter too. (did I mention I have one for sale...)

Don't bother taking your old motor with you and don't take too much rubbish either. Have a great race!