The correct engine!

[David Hudson]

Engine threads are many and various, so let me cut straight to the chase.

While I am sure you could water ski behind a BayRaider powered by a Mariner / Mercury 5 hp engine, is the 3.5 hp version man enough for use as a coastal auxiliary engine?

[Jonathan Stuart]

A simple answer would be "yes" but in practice I don't think there is a right/wrong or yes/no answer to this - it depends on your sailing area and personal preferences. On the one hand a 3.5hp is easily man enough to propel a BR20 in most conditions, e.g. punching in to a F5 or a few knots of tide. But many chose a more powerful engine for the reassurance that it could more easily cover longer coastal journeys or push you through strong tides if, say, you get caught on the wrong side of your harbour entrance and are fighting a strong ebb. So a 3.5hp will do the job but whether you choose that or a more powerful engine comes down to your preferences for size & weight versus certainty that you have the power no matter what scrapes you get in to.

[David Hudson]

Hi Stuart

4hp seems to the neat option for me. Presumably we are talking long shaft?

The Mariner/Mercury has its gear lever on the front panel v. the Yamaha with gear lever on the side. This is the feature that I am pondering. And of course there is the overall value judgement of built quality v price.

[David Hudson]

I have now found a thread from August last year.

Would it be possible to put a search function on the Forum?

[Julian Swindell]

A ear lever on the front would be much better than one to the side. Much easier to control your speed in tricky situations in marinas, anchorages etc. I used a 2.3HP Honda on my BC20 initially. Generally it was fine, but as mentioned it was getting in through harbour ebb tides that was a challenge. The other big problem was the lack of a reverse gear. So I upgraded to a Tohatsu. The 4, 5 and 6HP are essentially the same engine, so I went for the 6 for the extra oomph. It must be the largest engine that will fit in the well. I have been very pleased with it, although it is not a great warm starter.

[Andy Dingle]

David ..

You asked the question 'presumably long shaft' - I would recommend short (or standard shaft it is now called).
The main points have been ably answered by others, and my personal opinion is that I would not go to sea without a decent powerful engine, in the range of 4 - 5 hp (four stroke is pretty well what we are stuck with these days)  - with a reverse gear.
The front gear lever is very useful - though a lot of manufacturers use the side lever as they are easier to connect upt o morse controls or similar.
I use a Tohatsu 5 on my BR - it may be useful to look for a specified sail drive prop, but I'm not sure if they come on o/b's that small.

Andy

[Jonathan Stuart]

David,

You can search in one of two ways:

1. On the right end of the black menu bar there is a lighter grey section that contains an image of a magnifying glass. Click on that and the box will expand. Enter your search criteria and press Enter to search. That searches all of the forum and website.

2. The forum's menu bar (the blue one below the black menu bar) contains a Search link. Click on that to search just the forum.

Julian and Andy have summed it up well. I use a 2.5hp Suzuki for my coastal cruising and really rate the engine - very light, economical, pushes a BRe at 4 knots and starts first time. But if I was doing longer more exposed cruises or sailed in Poole Harbour like Julian and wanted the security of being able to punch against a string tide in the harbour enrance then I suspect would get a bigger motor. Most manufacturers' 4hp, 5hp and 6hp engines seem to be the same model with the 4hp and 5hp versions de-tuned. Given that in the EU at least we can only buy 4 stroke engines in these sizes and hence they are bulky units you may as well go for a larger model.

Incidentally, I liked the simplicity and lightweight nature of 2 stroke engines and felt indignant when these were banned. However, having seen that 5 mins of flushing my 4 stroke OB in a bin leaves the water clear whereas my 2 stroke (one of the last produced, so 1:100 mix, etc) turned the water milky I am now pleased to be using a 4 stroke.

[Colin Morley]

Hi David,

I have tried several. Although a 2.5 HP will do most of the time you can easily get into trouble if you need to reverse and have to turn the engine around. Go for an engine with forward and reverse gears. You will be surprised how often you use the reverse. As for power of the engine I have a yamaha 4HP. I chose this because there can be times when you are stemming a fierce tide or current, the wind is strong on the nose, it is raining, the crew are fed up and you want to get home. I have needed it twice this summer; trying to get into Burnham Overy Staithe harbour entrance with the full tide surging out was a challenge and we only succeeded by hugging the shore out of the tide as much as possible and then trying to get into Chichester harbour entrance against the tide. I bought a new Yahama 4HP 4 stroke at the boat show last January because my 2 stroke 4HP had a habit of dying when it was at low revs and then not starting. It would also jump out of the water when put in reverse. My new engine starts easily when cold - three or four pulls and first time when warm.
I bought the engine with an "alternator" they call it something else - a lighting coil I think. Some of our friends said this would not help but actually it has proved terrific. I bought it because with my Garmin 556S the battery would die after about two days moderate sailing and always just when we needed to see the depth etc. I have a COMFORT INDICATOR EYELET M6, which has green orange and red flashing lights to give some idea of how much charge is in the battery. Now the motor seems to keep it charged (green light on), at least enough to keep the garmin going and when the Garmin did stop when we had been sailing a lot. just firing up the motor was enough to get the light showing green and the garmin going again. So for me this has been a great help

[jonno]

Hi David

I'm sure that 4hp engines are twice as good as 2hp.  But they will also be twice the weight.  I struggle to keep my BR-plus-paraphernalia on (unbraked) trailer weight to less than 750kg.  As it is, I have to shove boat stuff in the car boot.

John

(Amongst efforts to keep weight down, I'm presently rearranging my lighting board to fit on the transom - so that I can dispense with those heavy, extending arms on the CLH trailer.  But doing so will mean that the distance the boat overhangs the trailer will increase.  And that has legal implications.

Surely this isn't what Ratty had in mind.   Ho hum.)

[Jonathan Stuart]

John,

Those trailer arms weigh approx. 8kgs and I removed mine to save weight but also because I didn't like the lighting board being so low. Others have had made stainless steel lighting board mounts that attach to the rudder mount. Rather than craft such an elegant solution I combined a Heath Robinson and bodging approach and use suction dent pullers to attached the lighting board to the aft deck. See attached pics. It works (stress tested on recent 3 hour drive to Cornwall) but is not a solution I am proud of!

[Rob Johnstone]

Impressive solution to the trailer board problem - but watch your load overhang on the trailer. The heavy "extensions" count as part of the trailer, making the back of the trailer the end of the extensions. Without them, I suspect that your load (eg the boat) overhangs the back of the trailer more than the legal amount. Somewhere in the postings there's a discussion on the subject.

[Rob Johnstone]

The details of overhangs can be found in the thread "Technical - Trailer lighting board" (obvious, really!!)

[David Hudson]

Am I correct that a short shaft engine is the requirement on a BR Expedition? I don't want to make an expensive mistake.

[Jonathan Stuart]

A BRe (and open BR) definitely requires a standard/short shaft outboard and not a long shaft.

[David Hudson]

Many thanks for the comprehensive replies.