Which Outboard ?

[masalai]

Join the ocean wanderers, You have some very good manufacturers /builders in SA. Find a nearby marina/yacht club & ask if they race etc on Sundays or have twilight sails as you would like to get some experience up. That is how I started, & kept my interest when I had to crew for other people.

I am now getting old, so looking for iron sails. Well not that old, still with an eye for the ladies. Have a look at my photographs in members gallery

I have bumped into pacific islands wanderers in 30 footers & larger but the single men seem to wander around longer on lower budgets in 30 ft mono-hulls, by sneaking around the islands, being too small for pirates.

I prefer a catamaran - sail or power. but it is all personal experiences & choice in the end. Get as much experience as you can from club sailing first.

[Fanie]

Here's what I had in mind. Build the cat and sail / motor it some on our local dam waters to get a feel for it. Couple of our dams are as bad as the sea in my opinion in bad weather. Would be some fun launching this thing since the biggest boats are mostly 6m ski boats...

In the mean time I will make a plan to find someone I could go sailing with for the experience.

[safewalrus]

If you have the room what about three 15's in a row? all the same kind of engine - you can have any combination you want then - 15, 30 or 45, massive power! Plus you can canabalise one to keep the others going at a pinch if your really in trouble!

[Fanie]

Then why waste time with these little enjins ? Why not just put the 2 x 150's on and get it over with. They can also go slow you know... should get the cat moving even before it's in gear just idling them... Bet you I could get it to plane too.

[safewalrus]

Obviously VEEEERY rich and can afford the amount of fuel needed! Also of course you could sink the bloody cat stern first with all that weight on the back! but **** it's your funeral!

The only thing worries me is all that polution!

better still why not put six 200's on the back and realy look an idiot (rich idiot but still an idiot!) But you wouldn't have the boat for long your local thief will see all that horsepower and his little bl*** face will light up with glee!

[Fanie]

Not sure why you pick on poor little me with my two small enjins. Here's someone you could have a go at.

I saw a video today on a displacement hull pushed by a smallish outboard. It looks like 20hp to 30hp twins should be ok.

Thanks all for your input.

[marshmat]

What the point of five 250 outboards is, I have no clue. It can't be redundancy; one tank of crappy gas and the whole lot are shot to you-know-where. Buy a pair of 600 hp inboards, use half the gas, and look sharp doing it.

I don't even know where the thing is going to sit here ! I just know this is something I have to do......
The main idea is a motorized sailer cat, so I can sail it or use the outboards and it is to go fishing with once or three times a year. I always had a thing for water... never could stay off or out of it. Away from it for some time I get pullout symptoms.

I know the feeling. There is no cure except to build, build, build.

Delftship can export to the Michlet input file format. This program will likely give some pretty good, and useful, data for the boat you're working on. The core Michlet program, thanks to Leo Lazauskas, is free at http://www.cyberiad.net/michlet.htm It's a bit of a steep learning curve (although very efficient to use once you get it going); if you PM me with the file for this hull I'd be happy to run the calculation for you.

For all practical purposes, though, your power choice will be dictated mainly by the ability to power uphill in bad weather. In this situation, the topsides and superstructure have an effect at least as big, if not bigger, than that of the hull itself. So it may help to know what kind of windage and topside volume you're thinking about.

[Fanie]

Hello Matt

if you PM me with the file for this hull I'd be happy to run the calculation for you.

A generous offer - give me a while, I have some work interfering with my important matters on the moment, if I can get that out of the way I may bother you some.

I have always believed one should use an outboard that may slightly be too big than too small, but it will depend on what I can get at the time. I also have to watch the weight. I doubt I will get anything bigger than 40's which is what I've kind of set as an upper limit - unless you persuade me to go even bigger.

[safewalrus]

If I remember rightly those guys (with lots of motors) carry useful thing that government peoples want and chase the guys in the boats with big guns sort of thing if you get my drift!

If you want to avoid prison you hope the engines work!!

[Fanie]

No getaway craft... just fishing, unless the coast guard thinks we're smuggeling lures. One of my fisher friends is a distributor for Bagley lures. If you open his boats hatch it looks like he robbed a store - lures and lures and lures. As if there's that many fish anywhere...