What small marine petrol engins are there??10 to 30HP size??

trouville

trouville

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While im working i wondered just what small petrol engines are still to be found either secondhand or new?As it wouldent be for a sail boat it wouldent need to be light nor compact just reliable!

Where could i look for secondhand ones??? Anything from 10hp to 30hp but could be a bit more.

I suppose this is the wrong place but as i watched a boat leaving i wondered just how much petrol a mercruiser uses???
 
At that size, I think they're almost all outboards nowadays. Ebay might be your best bet for second hand.

[ QUOTE ]
i wondered just how much petrol a mercruiser uses???

[/ QUOTE ] Depends on the size. Mine is 5 litre/250 horse power and uses about 8 gph at 3,500 rpm/25 knots. Probably adequate for your requirements, by the sound of it /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.
 
That dosent sound to bad at all! Thats about 1 liter per mile.

The reason i asked was one just went out and it had a sticker saying Mercruiser,plus ive come across several which cost far far less than a simular diesel powered boat.

The 10 to 30HP is indeed OB size but since older fishing boats even built in the 70s often has small petrol engines i thought it would do.In France diesel equals expensive!
 
The two makes I'm aware of are Vire and Dolphin.

I once had a boat fitted with a Vire - very unreliable, and expensive spares. Ended up selling the boat to get rid of the engine.

Chap in our club had a Dolphin. After several years struggling with this thing, he ended up throwing it in the skip.

Both are small two strokes of rather dated design. I would expect a modern outboard to be far more reliable and efficient.
 
[ QUOTE ]
The two makes I'm aware of are Vire and Dolphin.

I once had a boat fitted with a Vire - very unreliable, and expensive spares. Ended up selling the boat to get rid of the engine.

[/ QUOTE ]

It us sadly true that yours was not an uncommon experience. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I would recommend a Vire, they are nice engines but they do need more servicing than a similar diesel engine and the parts can be expensive if you are not really careful. We are just in the process of stripping a Vire 7 down and identifying the bearings and seals so that we can make up a service kit.
 
There is also the Britt - a marvellous little engine, lovely green paint and brass bits everywhere, a real classic. (This opinion might be coloured slightly, due to the presence of a Britt Minor in my shed that I'd like to get rid of....)
 
Perhaps there a fount of all knowledge out there who recognises this, but I sailed a Hurley 22 with a 2-stroke of indeterminate age. If you wanted to reverse, you had to stop the engine and re-startit going in the opposite direction....no propper gearbox, just a reduction gear. Thi spost reminded me of it.
 
The Brit minor sounds great! I have a Stuart Turner stored away with a compleat gasket set and hand book which i took out of an earlier boat of mine.

I liked it very much!It sounded and looked great and would start on the handel in port providing i wasent showing anyone how well it started!To be fair when i realy needed it it always worked,otherwise i could never be sure!

The brit minor sounds like a morris minor!Is it a 4 cylinder?Please tell me more,Is it 4 stroke??
 
As far as I know, Britt made a few different models. The Minor is a single cylinder 4 stroke, big flywheel at the front, Villiers carburettor, Lucas magneto, and runs very smoothly. It's only about 5 or 6 hp so it's not going to win any races. I took it out of a gaffer that I owned until last year (replaced it with a Yanmar) and when I put it in the shed I was thinking that one day it would look good in a little varnished clinker harbour launch. I don't know whether this is called a daydream or a pipe dream.
 
Im going to put one in a double ended fishing boat,it weights about 1.5 tons so 5HP would be a bit small

I have been given lots of light "fishing" boats when the yard clears out and bills arnt paid the owners are happy to let me have them and not pay around £120 to dispose of it,They were all quite light weight around 400/600KGS sounds as if the Brit minor would be perfect.

In the boat before last there had been a small inboard but it had gone and an outboard used but that had a transon and not canoe stern.

If you wernt the otherside of the world seperated by twice by sea and tide id come accross and buy it.I dont know what i would put it in!But i imagin something would turn up?

Just now waiting i have a very elegant Italian (riva) 6meter "rowing" boat being Italian it has a seat stearing wheel and had once a large outboard,i cant find anything wrong with it???Other than the varnish needs redoing.But sonething like that (600KGS) would be a perfect base for your engine

My "woman" just told me that when ive finnished the fishing boat i have to replace the wood on the garden bench then replace the gutters and the garage door needs remakeing??

I will note this post.I cant find anything about the engin online,have you any idea where there might be information and an image??
 
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I cant find anything about the engin online,have you any idea where there might be information and an image??

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If I remember next w/end I'll shoo the spiders off it and take a photo. Fairways Marine are quite good with these old engines and sometimes have spares for them ( www.fairwaysmarine.co.uk ) - some time ago I bought a workshop manual for it from them.
 
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I would recommend a Vire, they are nice engines .......... [ QUOTE ]


Why? Do you like to see folk suffer? As a form of propulsion they suck. They aren't even heavy enough to make a decent anchor weight.

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....... We are just in the process of stripping a Vire 7 down and identifying the bearings and seals so that we can make up a service kit.

[/ QUOTE ]

The only service kit you need for a Vire is a sledgehammer and a skip.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Perhaps there a fount of all knowledge out there who recognises this, but I sailed a Hurley 22 with a 2-stroke of indeterminate age. If you wanted to reverse, you had to stop the engine and re-startit going in the opposite direction....no propper gearbox, just a reduction gear. Thi spost reminded me of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like the Dolphin - the early ones anyway. I think the later ones had a reversing gearbox.

The early ones required a real act of faith - heading into a situation where you need reverse thrust, you stop your fairly basic two-stroke engine - and then hope it will restart instantly. Ideal for stress puppies?

To be fair to Dolphin, they usually did restart.
 
Albin engines if you can get one are even better than the old Brit - mainly because they are reasonable size and weight for their power. They started with a single at around 5hp - rarely seen nowadays but the popular ones were the 021 (10hp) and 022 (12hp) which were basically the same 4T twin with a neat and reliable gearbox. Also the 021 Combi which had a basic but effective variable pitch prop. To stop it you just moved the blades to zero pitch! Theres still quite a few around, but owners tend not to want to get rid of them, and a company in the New Forest that specialises in them. IIRC 1800 rpm full engine speed with 1:1 gearing. There were also larger 4 cylinder Albins rated I think around 30 - 35hp? They too appear occasionally on the second hand market.

One of the best of its type! I think they came from the dame works as the old Ailsa Craig diesels (not the same as the eastern block Ailsa Craig /Tomos 4 outboard of the 60s/70s though)
 
I have seen Briggs & Stratton air cooled engines in boats, but I don't know if they did one as big as 10HP. The one we had was linked to a variable pitch propellor and had no gearbox.
 
Acording to the lawnmowers at the supermarkets they do a 15hp.Never seen one in a boat though?

The Albin sounds good just a question of finding one! Id want an engine that had FNR reduction box

My laptops gone wrong its run out of memory?? And ive no idea where the vertual memory is???

Stella when she had finnished explaining that the bottle of wine she bought was ment to last both of us for the week??Then she asked why we couldent get a boat for the canals that would also be sea worthy for coastal passages?She said the meds to hot for us in summer and the Atlantic can be dangerouse,that last year i had been lucky with the weather?

If we stay hear we can save then next september we could look for a boat with a loo and room for two!
 
'There is also the Britt - a marvellous little engine,'

Father had a Britt Sprite - yes a wonderful engine when it was running. It also started first time every time. Problem was, when it was warm it wouldn't idle and when it stopped it wouldn't restart.

It was in an Invicta he kept at Chi Yacht Harbour and inevitably, as we approached the lock we would have to pause to wait for otgher yachts. The engine would stop. Dad would dive below, change the spark plugs and be back at the tiller with the engine running in 30 seconds. He kept a pair of clean plugs in a try by the cylinder head for this purpose and only ever did the plugs up hand tight.

PS: - It replaced an elderly Faregotha - now that's an engine I would NOT recommend.
 
The Albin engine was fitted to early Albin Vegas, a good source of spares, for the boats and engines is Steve Birch who runs the Vega club, cross his palm with a beer or two, and he may know where there are any old engines.
He posts on these forums, a very helpfull person.
 
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