Why the Welly Centaur will be better and safer than a donkey Centaur

[dylanwinter]

1/the engine will start when I ask it to

2/The biggest risk to my motive power in Scotland is the lobster pot lines - I can laugh in their faces

3/I will be able to carry a spare engine

4/I can vector it

5/fewer holes in the boat - one simple hole as opposed to five

6/better films because I can come closer in shore

7/the price difference between Welly Centaur and donkey Centaur can be spent on more sailing

 

[sarabande]

1/the engine will start when I ask it to

hmm, you must have a different set of expectations and experiences from the majority of owners


2/The biggest risk to my motive power in Scotland is the lobster pot lines - I can laugh in their faces

If you can lift the outboard vertically against three tons of best Forth fishing gear, yes


3/I will be able to carry a spare engine

See 1) , so why not carry a second spare as well ?


4/I can vector it

You will miss the joys of working out the pivot point, prop walk, etc



5/fewer holes in the boat - one simple hole as opposed to five

But the new hole istwenty times bigger than the five (really) for the inboard !


6/better films because I can come closer in shore

So this engine-in-a-hole reduces the draft ? KLT naval architecture breaks new ground.


7/the price difference between Welly Centaur and donkey Centaur can be spent on more sailing

Yes, but you are being subsidised by the engine manufacturer, and paid by PBO, and hopefully grabbing a decent tax allowance for your car mileage and the other boat costs. I have No Issues with that, but the equation is not based on the same factors.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

Why 5 holes for an inboard? Or is that to match the number of simultaneous threads on the subject?

Will you be closing the existing holes with GRP?

My now 14 year old Yamaha 9.9 has never failed to start, by the way. I run the petrol dry in the carb each time I leave it, close up the tank breather, and it starts fine next time irrespective of how old the petrol is. I suspect that the complaints about outboard unreliability are mostly from people whose experience is either some ratty old 80's 2 stroke that fouled its plugs or a recent dinghy 2hp type that has had its price and hence quality cut to the bone. 10hp 4 strokers in my experience are perfectly reliable. You won't need a spare.

 

[dylanwinter]

Why 5 holes for an inboard? Or is that to match the number of simultaneous threads on the subject?

Will you be closing the existing holes with GRP?

My now 14 year old Yamaha 9.9 has never failed to start, by the way. I run the petrol dry in the carb each time I leave it, close up the tank breather, and it starts fine next time irrespective of how old the petrol is. I suspect that the complaints about outboard unreliability are mostly from people whose experience is either some ratty old 80's 2 stroke that fouled its plugs or a recent dinghy 2hp type that has had it's price and hence quality cut to the bone. 10 hp 4 strokers in my experience are perfectly reliable. You won't need a spare.

You are correct - a modern decent sized outboard is a reliable well balanced piece of equipment that often does you the decency of telling you that it is going to break down

never had starting problems

of course when I say spare I might as well take the 6hp long shaft with me - I will need the ballast and I can put it where the old donk was. It will be safer in the centaur than in Katie L ashore up the Tay

As for threads - they have a life - eventually a thread about outboards declines into a conversation about the paucity of vegetables in Scotland

the first few replies are always the most useful

I love the forums because it is a democracy

if no-one posts on a thread it dies

and falls fast

better three quickies of three pages each than a marathon of ten pages

 

[Tranona]

1 So will a diesel just by pressing a button.

2 Fit a rope cutter

3 Why on earth would you want to do that if you are so confident in your outboard? The engine is an alternative but important means of propulsion. Why would you be so dependent on something that you consider so inadequate you have to carry a spare?

4 Won't do anything you cannot do with using the speed control of the diesel and your rudder

5 Where do the 5 holes come into it? Below the waterline one for water intake. Above one for the exhaust.

6 How does it help you get closer to the shore - or do you plan Salty John's solution of removing the keels (and rudder)

7 You are just kidding yourself if you think you are going to save any money.

Real list is

1 Lose reliability and convenience

2 Have massively reduced performance under motor

3 Carry around large quantities of inflamable fuel

4 Lose electrical charging capacity

5 Ruin a perfectly good boat

Just amazed that you think it is a sensible idea when nobody else has done it - for the obvious reason - it is not a sensible idea!

 

[dylanwinter]

I can lose two cockpit drains

I was counting the exhaust as another hole

I take it back

you are spot on with the petrol storage though

not sure how to deal with that

any suggestions carefully considered

It will be nice to have an old boat with bone dry bilges and no smell from sharing living space with a hot engine

 

[Heckler]

1/the engine will start when I ask it to

hmm, you must have a different set of expectations and experiences from the majority of owners


2/The biggest risk to my motive power in Scotland is the lobster pot lines - I can laugh in their faces

If you can lift the outboard vertically against three tons of best Forth fishing gear, yes


3/I will be able to carry a spare engine

See 1) , so why not carry a second spare as well ?


4/I can vector it

You will miss the joys of working out the pivot point, prop walk, etc



5/fewer holes in the boat - one simple hole as opposed to five

But the new hole istwenty times bigger than the five (really) for the inboard !


6/better films because I can come closer in shore

So this engine-in-a-hole reduces the draft ? KLT naval architecture breaks new ground.


7/the price difference between Welly Centaur and donkey Centaur can be spent on more sailing

Yes, but you are being subsidised by the engine manufacturer, and paid by PBO, and hopefully grabbing a decent tax allowance for your car mileage and the other boat costs. I have No Issues with that, but the equation is not based on the same factors.

Tim
a big plus one. It strikes me that because Dylan has had a bad experience with a diesel donk in the past then he thinks that they are the spawn of the devil. Well outboards break as well!
My donk is looked after properly, by me as it happens, it starts and stops as it should, it will run for hour after hour, sipping 2 ltrs of diesel an hour. My friends with two stroke engines would die for that consumption figure!
Stu

 

[dylanwinter]

Tim
a big plus one. It strikes me that because Dylan has had a bad experience with a diesel donk in the past then he thinks that they are the spawn of the devil. Well outboards break as well!
My donk is looked after properly, by me as it happens, it starts and stops as it should, it will run for hour after hour, sipping 2 ltrs of diesel an hour. My friends with two stroke engines would die for that consumption figure!
Stu

I am sure us four strokers would love to be able to move that much mass that efficiently

fuel consumption is a big unknown

I shall keep a tally

D

 

[Storyline]

.....

5 Ruin a perfectly good boat .....

Right on the nail - enough of all these crazy threads - come on Centaur owners - fight back !

 

[dylanwinter]

Right on the nail - enough of all these crazy threads - come on Centaur owners - fight back !

too busy fettling Volvos

D

 

[Tranona]

Actually not too bothered about wrecking a Centaur for sentimental reasons. Just the proposed modifications will produce a **** boat that will not do what is asked of it. None of the espoused justification stands up to any rational scrutiny, but guess rationality went out of the window long time ago.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

I am sure us four strokers would love to be able to move that much mass that efficiently

fuel consumption is a big unknown

1.2 litres/hour for me in slight conditions at 5.5 knots. 2 tonnes, 3 hulls, easily driven but high wetted surface area.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

1 Lose reliability

4-stroke 10hp outboards are not unreliable, but I reckon no amount of telling you so will change your opinion.

 

[Tranona]

4-stroke 10hp outboards are not unreliable, but I reckon no amount of telling you so will change your opinion.

Never said they were unreliable. It is dylan that thinks so as he is planning to take a spare (one of the benefits he claims).

My objection is simple. The proposed engine set up is not appropriate to the job and that a diesel will do a better job on all counts. Funny that but might explain why a diesel is just about universal in this type of boat.

Does not mean that outboards do not have a useful place, and indeed are often superior to an inboard - just not in this case.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

you are spot on with the petrol storage though

not sure how to deal with that

This may require more chopping up and rearranging GRP than the well. Both petrol engine powered boats I have owned have been petrol powered by design and both have had dedicated exterior drained petrol storage locations. Currently I can store 60 litres which gives me a >200 mile range.

 

[Uricanejack]

1 So will a diesel just by pressing a button.

2 Fit a rope cutter

3 Why on earth would you want to do that if you are so confident in your outboard? The engine is an alternative but important means of propulsion. Why would you be so dependent on something that you consider so inadequate you have to carry a spare?

4 Won't do anything you cannot do with using the speed control of the diesel and your rudder

5 Where do the 5 holes come into it? Below the waterline one for water intake. Above one for the exhaust.

6 How does it help you get closer to the shore - or do you plan Salty John's solution of removing the keels (and rudder)

7 You are just kidding yourself if you think you are going to save any money.

Real list is

1 Lose reliability and convenience

2 Have massively reduced performance under motor

3 Carry around large quantities of inflamable fuel

4 Lose electrical charging capacity

5 Ruin a perfectly good boat

Just amazed that you think it is a sensible idea when nobody else has done it - for the obvious reason - it is not a sensible idea!

No 4 can be easly be sorted by sellecting a 10hp with an electrical charging capacity. For some its an optional extra.

 

[Heckler]

No 4 can be easly be sorted by sellecting a 10hp with an electrical charging capacity. For some its an optional extra.

A slow revving diesel running a 60amp alternator against a weedy half rectified un regulated outboard? Come on!
Stu

 

[prv]

By "welly centaur" I assumed you meant the one Salty John drew, with the waders out the bottom. Everything except "one simple hole" seemed to apply

Pete

 

[Malcb]

1/the engine will start when I ask it to

2/The biggest risk to my motive power in Scotland is the lobster pot lines - I can laugh in their faces

3/I will be able to carry a spare engine

4/I can vector it

5/fewer holes in the boat - one simple hole as opposed to five

6/better films because I can come closer in shore

7/the price difference between Welly Centaur and donkey Centaur can be spent on more sailing

I have 2010 Volvo on a 23 foot boat so..

1: It always starts when I want it to and gives plenty of power against a foul tide.
2: I've got a rope cutter, which I know works from experience.
3: I do carry a spare engine, a 4hp 2 stroke which pushes the dinghy along and could be mounted to push the boat along.
4: I have a rudder, which means I can turn in it's own length.
5: inboard only requires one below water line hole, water intake and one above waterline, exhaust.
6: I only draw 0.84 metres, so just restricted by the bilge keel and the skeg.
7: No comment, but I would prefer to store 60 litres of diesel in a dedicated tank than 60 litres of petrol in portable tanks. I do also carry 20 litres of diesel in separate containers,

I have a Volvo shaft seal fitted which lets no water in, so the bilges are dry. so that scotches that.

 

[dylanwinter]

I have 2010 Volvo on a 23 foot boat so..

1: It always starts when I want it to and gives plenty of power against a foul tide.
2: I've got a rope cutter, which I know works from experience.
3: I do carry a spare engine, a 4hp 2 stroke which pushes the dinghy along and could be mounted to push the boat along.
4: I have a rudder, which means I can turn in it's own length.
5: inboard only requires one below water line hole, water intake and one above waterline, exhaust.
6: I only draw 0.84 metres, so just restricted by the bilge keel and the skeg.
7: No comment, but I would prefer to store 60 litres of diesel in a dedicated tank than 60 litres of petrol in portable tanks. I do also carry 20 litres of diesel in separate containers,

I have a Volvo shaft seal fitted which lets no water in, so the bilges are dry. so that scotches that.

well said

D