Good to Go

[Chris Waite]

There are a couple of ladies from the Arundel Boat Club

Who recently acquired a small motor cruiser - some fourteen feet, quite beamy aft with a pretty flat 'V' transom and no engine, having declined the forty-horse outboard monster that it could have come with.  They were hoping to get something more moderate (??10HP or so), second-hand but with (facility for) remote steering and gear control.

There's not much second-hand around at the moment, so they thought they might buy an electric outboard to tide them over for pottering about our rather fast flowing river.  The question is gentlemen, what to get that is cheap and cheerful and would offer a moderate turn of speed?

Discuss?

CW

[Chris Partridge]

Two pairs of oars will do the job.

[Jeremy]

I suspect an ordinary "trolling" type electric outboard may struggle with the current on the Arun, especially if the boat is a bit on the heavy side, but it might be OK when the current isn't too strong.  

There are some reasonably priced electric outboards about, but I'd suggest the minimum that might "just" do the job might be one of the higher thrust models, maybe a 50 to 55 lbs thrust unit (and I'm assuming that the high thrust units like the Torqeedo are out because of the budget).  These higher thrust models are around £200 and might be OK when the current isn't too strong, but will probably struggle a bit when the river is flowing briskly.

On top of that some decent battery power will be needed.  As a guide, reckon on an ordinary 80 Ah leisure battery running one of these motors for around two hours maximum.  If it were me then I'd opt for a couple of the biggest batteries I could afford and still easily manhandle.  A leisure type battery will cope with maybe 100 or so charge discharge cycles before it starts to die, but will be cheaper than a proper deep discharge battery that would last a lot longer.  Don't be tempted to use an old car battery, it will die very quickly when discharged below about 80% more than a couple of times.  A battery charger will be needed, too, although for infrequent use this could be a fairly small unit.

[Paul H (admin)]

I concur with Jeremy.

32lbs thrust is not enough for MilliBee (14ftx6ft) in a tide stream, defo go for 55lbs at least but I think a small 4-stroke outboard would be safer at peak tide rates and a lot less hassle than keeping a battery charged, unless they have permanent power on the mooring or if they just use the boat an hour either side of high tide.

-Paul

[Chris Waite]

ChristoPart indicated that two pairs of oars would do the job....

I dunno Christo

Trying to fit two rowing positions into this:
























Makes guessing the seating plan for a trireme quite easy

CW

[Timmo]

Think Paul's probably right. 

A 4 horse 4 stroke outboard will probably be the minimum required to be sure of making headway against a tide. 

Tim.

On 17 Dec 2011, at 17:53, Chris Waite [via UK HBBR Forum] wrote:

ChristoPart indicated that two pairs of oars would do the job....

I dunno Christo

[cornishhh]

A Seagull Century and some earplugs.

[Port-Na-Storm]

That boat needs a mast some sails and a centreboard.   And maybe a 4hp outboard.

 

 

From: Timmo [via UK HBBR Forum] [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: 17 December 2011 18:01
To: Port-Na-Storm
Subject: Re: Good to Go

 

Think Paul's probably right. 

 

A 4 horse 4 stroke outboard will probably be the minimum required to be sure of making headway against a tide. 

 

Tim.

 

On 17 Dec 2011, at 17:53, Chris Waite [via UK HBBR Forum] wrote:

ChristoPart indicated that two pairs of oars would do the job....

I dunno Christo

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[Chris Waite]

Plot thickens

The lady concerned bought a five horse outboard off me earlier this year and returned it, as it could not be controlled remotely from the steering position.  She also found it difficult to lug the engine and tanks on and off the boat, but felt an electric O/B would be lighter.  I have suggested that the batteries would cause similar problems.  And on thinking about it, it would still not be routine (easy) to link even the electric version to the steering position.

-------------->  Square one

However, I did say I would ask the gang, so thank you boys - Jeremy and Paulie particularly, who are the fellas I thought would speak up

CW  

[Jeremy]

Pretty much any outboard can be hooked up to remote controls with a bit of ingenuity, even though the smaller models don't tend to have an off-the-shelf kit to do it.

Hooking the steering up is usually pretty easy, just finding a way to fit the steering arm to the outboard tiller.  It's fitting the throttle and gear change system that needs a bit of ingenuity usually, but, depending on the system the boat has already got it should be doable with a bit of fiddling around.

These ladies will probably find that there are few small outboards with a full remote capability, as most are aimed at a market that doesn't need this, so so sort of adaptation is going to be needed if they want to stick with a small, lightweight motor.

[Chris Partridge]

Sounds as if they need a new hull as well as new engine.....