Would you be happy to cross to France from Poole in a single engine ~30ft boat?

A lot of my friends keep a kicker on their boat. Yamaha 10 sail drive is popular. newer model is a 9 mainly for trolling. but it will get you home. just slowly. It will happily push a 25 or 26ft boat along at hull.
speed. I've got an old 1985 Honda 10. Use it for trolling, to save on gas
 
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I've done some some trips 30-40nm off the coast or to Helgoland in a 6,5m rib with a single D3-220. I was always very confident, because we got the boat new in 2012 and it was serviced regularly. Now, having suffered 3 (three) major engine failures (one time 25nm off the coast), I have lost quite a bit of that confidence. I've driven lots of hours with single powered outboard-ribs, which never missed a beat in many years. (Our Honda BF90 did 900hrs in five years, before it was replaced by the D3).
At the moment I'd say I'd do longer trips off the coast in a single engine outboard-boat, but not with a single diesel.
Chris
 
That's slightly shocking. I have always relied on diesel power offshore and regarded outboards as the poor relation. Was the failure of the D3 due to electronics?
 
The engine(s...) had a lot of failures.
The first engine died at 150 hours, it had a "crack" in the block. Sorry for my English, I don't know how to explain it better. But that was the diagnosis from Volvo.
The second one had a turbo failure at 75 hours, which led to some collateral damage. We weren't told exactly what damage - but we got a new enginge.
Now that third engine again developed a turbo problem at about 250 hours. They "fixed" it, the engine got a new vtg and a major overhaul, but since then we lost 3kts topspeed and ca. 300rpm to maximum. Volvo wasn't able to fix it, we should use the boat as usual. It took less than 20 hours of careful use that the engine started overheating.
We had several more problems such as broken wires (led to being towed 25nm off coast), two "broken" clutches and some minor things.

I know a lot of outboard engines that have a pretty hard life, but I can't remember one having a major problem. They all do at least (!) 100-150 hours a year. Those boats with a D3 all developed major issues sooner or later. Not reliable, not up to the job imho.

Well - single power: Yes, but my heart beats for outboards since my latest experiences... But that's only my personal experience.

Chris
 
If I am daft enough to have flown round in a single engine plane for 15 odd years I can't really see the issue with a single engined boat.

The trip is not that long and engine failure in a well maintained boat is relatively rare ( he says having just had 2 Williams 325 engines replaced under warranty in 6 weeks .. but it is a small highly stressed unit! ...)

The thing stopping is far more likely to be fuel related than anything else, so if you have sufficient fuel, the thing is regularly serviced and does not have a history of issues I am sure it will be a lovely trip.

A well found boat (single or twin) should have a working VHF ( and I personally have an EPIRB) which in the unlikely event of failure can summon assistance. Assuming you are not departing into known bad weather the worst that is likely to happen is a need to summon assistance. When transiting headlands ( in a twin boat) I always make sure to give them a wider berth if the wind is blowing me on shore as in the unlikely event of a failure this give me more time before I am on the rocks! I have separate tanks but tend to leave cross feed open so again the most likely thing to stop it is fuel related - either contamination or running out .....

Enjoy
 
Here's a list of failures I've experienced in various single and twin engined boats over the last few (16 or so)years, all have been 'well maintained'.

-Overheat due to stuck thermostat- fixed at sea by removing start
-Overheat due to failed head gasket, not fixable at sea,but should have been no issue as the boat had two engines,however after a few miles on one engine ( with no power steering because the pump was powered by the overheated engine) something failed in the steering system,causing complete loss of steerage,had to get towed in on this one.
-Propshaft sheared off causing the loss of one prop on a Duoprop drive(volvo dph), managed to limp home on the single remaining prop,but wasn't far from home,not sure how long the drive would have run for given seawater had replaced the oil in it because of the shaft failing.
-Gear in outdrive (merc alpha one)sheared some teeth off,managed to limp home,again not sure how long the drive would have lasted.

Not sure I would agree that if it's well maintained you should have no issues. In all the cases above the engines and drives had been 'correctly' maintained, and had either been owned by me from brand new( so no unknown previous service history), or owned by a mate from new before I bought them (so again a known full history)

The above list probably covers 1600 engine hours on various boats,so on my small sample size of one that's a failure every 500 or so hours. Maybe this says don't buy a boat with a volvo or mercruiser engine?
 
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Easily smugglers do it all the time, that's not an anagram of "doing time" which is something completely different. Great name btw
 
Trawlers go for miles on end with a single engine, check out an AIS map and you'll see portugese, spanish & french trawlers off the UK coastline on a regular basis. As long as it's well maintained it shouldn't be a problem.
 
Very true. But, trawlers have engines that are used regularly and generally have an engineer/ mechanic/ competent crew member onboard with enough tools and spare parts to fix any typical issues. Not really the same as a typical pleasure boat cruise.
 
Check mid chann bouy- it gives kivecfar crew sea etc ,be carful - you'll spend more time taking about it than doing it - you have had alot of advice mostly positive- make most oif weather and go fir it- I hear so much talk about if / could've/ maybes/ when if they did they would have had a great experience
 
I would think most offshore boaters know how to fix basic engine issues otherwise it's not wise going offshore at all.
 
Yes of course.
We have a 20 year old single engine 33ft Aquastar. Motorboat
Purchased third hand in Poole 3 years ago
Motored south across the channel to Jersey, fitted air conditioning,
then we kept going south until we reached Morocco in Africa,
We have now turned around and slowly heading back northwards,
Currently just past Valencia half way up the Spanish coast.
Almost 4000 miles so far, admittidly in that time we have had to replace a failed Alternator and a bow thruster relay.

Early Next year we will transit the Canal du Midi, enter the Atlantic at Bordeaux and transit north across the Bay of Biscay.
After that, are you seriously suggesting that once I get back back up by the English Channel, my little single engined Motorboat boat will no longer be safe?
 
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