Recommendations for an outboard

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Moderator: GreenLake

Re: Recommendations for an outboard

Postby GreenLake » Fri Jan 17, 2014 4:13 pm

ShermanWalton wrote:
talbot wrote:We use a little 12v 30-lb-thrust Minn Kota that a friend gave to us. I installed the battery box under the deck between the center board and mast. I agree that the motor is marginal. At the coast, we are very aware that it would not keep us from being taken over the bar if we got caught in an ebb tide with no wind. (In other words, we have to do what mariners have had to do for most of history--pay attention to tides and currents.)

Interesting to read in this thread that a 55-lb thrust motor (about 1/2 hp) was not a significant improvement. That's what I was thinking of. Naturally, everyone wants a Torqueedo. Actually, I would be happy to just have the $2,000 that th6 motor costs. Plus $600 for an extra battery. And $1,000 for the solar charger.

Your best bet for power at low cost is probably a used 2.5 hp gas engine.

Nice recommendations.. I don't have enough money but I would still love to raise power a bit.. Thinking of following your advice:)


Two comments:
1) if you operate in salt water, get a saltwater trolling motor - e.g. MinnKotas RipTide series (or successor), if you are going the trolling motor route.

2) doing an electric conversion for an old outboard can give you more power, but at a cost comparable to a trolling motor (and the same blissful silence).

I posted a link to a description of how to do that conversion a few posts above.
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Re: Recommendations for an outboard

Postby talbot » Fri Jan 17, 2014 5:30 pm

I looked up the Honda 2hp after your original post in the fall. They don't carry it at my local Honda marine dealer, but I'm on the lookout. The 2hp has been replaced with one slightly more powerful, but it has the same basic features.
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Re: Recommendations for an outboard

Postby TIM WEBB » Fri Jan 17, 2014 9:29 pm

For anyone interested, there is a good discussion going on at the WCTSS yahoo forum regarding the care and feeding of outboard motors:

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/wcts ... s/messages
Tim Webb
1979 DS2 10099 The Red Witch
(I used to be Her "staff", in the way dogs have owners and cats have staff, but alas no longer ... <pout>)
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Re: Recommendations for an outboard

Postby Alan » Sat Jan 18, 2014 12:06 am

My situation may not apply to everyone, but I suspect it's the coming thing, so just a heads up. My local reservoirs (the four of them that allow boating at all, out of eleven total) have gone back and forth between being electric only on all four and electric only on two of them.

Lake Tahoe, my next best sailing choice, doesn't allow carbureted 2-strokes. That means the only permissible gas outboards small enough for a Daysailer are 4-strokes.

Saltwater sailing locations in my area don't have those rules (yet).

Everyone's local situation is different, but if I happened to be looking for a gas outboard, I'd go for a 4-stroke, just in case the rules change on you all of a sudden.
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Re: Recommendations for an outboard

Postby jeadstx » Sat Jan 18, 2014 12:30 am

There are also the propane keyboards. They are considered to be environmentally friendly. May be able to be used on electric only lake.

John
1976 Day Sailer II, #8075 - Completed the 2011, 2012, and 2013 Texas 200
1952 Beetle Boat Swan Catboat
Early Rhodes 19
1973 Mariner 2+2, #2607 - Completed 2014, 2015 and 2016 Texas 200
1969 Day Sailer I, #3229
Fleet 135; Canyon Lake, Texas
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Re: Recommendations for an outboard

Postby talbot » Sat Jan 18, 2014 2:30 am

Good point on restrictions. Our favorite body of water is Waldo Lake, a semi-wilderness lake in the Oregon Cascades.
No internal combustion engines allowed (that would include propane). I was one of the people supporting the engine ban, so I'm not about to try to find a way around it. In this case, it's not primarily a pollution issue (the main pollution in the lake comes from developed campgrounds on the non-wilderness side, not from boats). The immediate problem is noise. Anything that combusts echoes across the whole basin.

Of course, there are no currents or tides in the lake. You can't be swept out to sea. The only reason we use the electric there is to outrun the mosquitos, which otherwise would require us to carry a shotgun on windless days. And then you have that noise problem again.
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Re: Recommendations for an outboard

Postby jeadstx » Sat Jan 18, 2014 4:31 am

Had not heard of banning engines on lakes due to noise before, that's interesting. I can understand due to pollutants from the gas. One Memorial Day about two years ago I went sailing and the powerboat traffic was heavy. The fumes in the air were so heavy it gave me a headache.

John
1976 Day Sailer II, #8075 - Completed the 2011, 2012, and 2013 Texas 200
1952 Beetle Boat Swan Catboat
Early Rhodes 19
1973 Mariner 2+2, #2607 - Completed 2014, 2015 and 2016 Texas 200
1969 Day Sailer I, #3229
Fleet 135; Canyon Lake, Texas
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Re: Recommendations for an outboard

Postby GreenLake » Sat Jan 18, 2014 9:18 am

jeadstx wrote:There are also the propane keyboards. They are considered to be environmentally friendly. May be able to be used on electric only lake.

John


John, propane or not, I'm not sure how I would use a keyboard to propel my DS. Use as paddle? :D :D
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Re: Recommendations for an outboard

Postby jeadstx » Sat Jan 18, 2014 10:24 am

That's what happens when I type things in from my Kindle. It doesn't like some words and changes them for me. Keyboard should be out board. I have to do it as two words so it doesn't get upset.

John
1976 Day Sailer II, #8075 - Completed the 2011, 2012, and 2013 Texas 200
1952 Beetle Boat Swan Catboat
Early Rhodes 19
1973 Mariner 2+2, #2607 - Completed 2014, 2015 and 2016 Texas 200
1969 Day Sailer I, #3229
Fleet 135; Canyon Lake, Texas
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Re: Recommendations for an outboard

Postby K.C. Walker » Sat Jan 18, 2014 10:28 am

Green Lake,

You just play a rousing rendition of Blowin' in the Wind or perhaps They Call the Wind Maria. Because it's propane, it sounds more like a pipe organ than a wimpy electric one. Of course, there's the noise problem again.
KC Walker, DS 1 #7002
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Re: Recommendations for an outboard

Postby GreenLake » Sat Jan 18, 2014 3:04 pm

K.C. Walker wrote:You just play a rousing rendition of Blowin' in the Wind or perhaps They Call the Wind Maria. Because it's propane, it sounds more like a pipe organ than a wimpy electric one. Of course, there's the noise problem again.

Speaking of sounds: how about this keyboard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCM-WBqDZ-Q? Should be adjustable to all wind conditions. :roll:
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Re: Recommendations for an outboard

Postby talbot » Sat Jan 18, 2014 5:22 pm

A lot of people weren't used to thinking of noise as a factor, including the State Marine Board. The area in question is administered by the U.S. Forest Service and includes congressionally-designated wilderness on all sides, except for the corridor where a highway leads to developed campgrounds and boat ramps on one side of the lake. In Oregon the Marine Board administers the water itself, and the Marine Board historically is aligned with power boating and fishing interests. So you had two groups of users and two agencies arguing over what the experience should be. Power boats and large yachts on one side; backpackers, kayakers, and dinghy sailors on the other. In this case, it was a power-boat minority arguing for inalienable rights versus a "quiet-recreation" majority arguing for majority rule and recognition of the unique nature of the lake. The battle went on for 30 years, and was only decided a couple of years ago after the last lawsuit to overturn the internal-combustion-engine ban was rejected.
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Re: Recommendations for an outboard

Postby GreenLake » Sun Jan 19, 2014 12:55 pm

Just googled Waldo Lake. Looks like a really neat place and large enough for some good sailing.
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Re: Recommendations for an outboard

Postby talbot » Sun Jan 19, 2014 3:20 pm

Yeah, it's beautiful. Arguably the clearest lake of its size in the U.S. Featured in Small Boat Advisor awhile back. But it is semi-wilderness lake, just over a mile high. Typical abrupt mountain winds. No aids to navigation. Blocks of lava just below the surface in what seem like obvious channels. Well known to all who have hit them and totally surprising to all who have not. If anyone is planning a trip there, let me know. I can give you approximate locations of the worst reefs. Next summer I plan to go around with a GPS and get the coordinates.
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