RE POWERING THE BOAT

[alex]

Hi Folks!!!!

after a short research on this website I don't found the answers I am looking for...

I have 2 x 9,9 HP Yamaha's in our Tiki 38 which I consider are awesome motors. I spend less than 3 liters/mile when just motoring  , at a speed of 4,5 kn with one motor or 6 to 7 with both. and much less when motor sailing..

the purchase cost I researched recently was $ 3090 us dollars each, including the newly hydraulic tilting .possibility (so the reseller)

In my cruising style, the downsides of those motors are mainly the combustible they use: gasoline. there are 2 or 3 main problems with  it: quality, price and gasoline motors are much harder to maintain than diesels.

I am seriously considering re power the boat as part of a general refitting, and i am thinking either in buying new ones (mine are made in 1998, so almost 15 years now) or change for one 2 two Nanni inboard diesels, (if one 25 HP, if 2 .. 2x 14 hp or even  2 x 10 hp which run with lower RPM).

I think Nanni diesels are reliable and less noisier and also have a great mileage burning diesel. downside: the cost of upgrading and maybe noisier than the Yamaha's

In my cruising life i spend 90% or more of the time at the anchor and rarely I get into a dock, even for refueling. most of times refueling is made with the dinghy... so one single motor placed in the center, would work as well. I will miss the fine maneuvering that I have in present times though.

I would love to start a serious discussion about the pros and cons about the different options and horse power... I have even considered the diesel electric option, but I think its not for me and not for my budget. after a brief research I think the technology is still too under developed and not energy efficient for the kind of boating I do, which involves many hours of motor sailing sometimes.

I am not happy in having large amounts of gasoline on board as we had on the passage from Tobago to Brazil (gasoline in Tobago cost around 47 US cents a liter, so we got over 600 liters, which resulted in a very good deal as we found out later)

As Luis posted earlier in another discussion, my motors were shacked and really wet from all sides, with all the pressure water coming from the heavy seas. Salt was a real pain not only for the crew, but for the motors. An inboard would be less exposed and with diesels , you don't have the carburetor problems we had to suffer.

there is another consideration to do before taking a decision..its about the maintenance and the cruising noise when motoring. the yamahas are pretty quiet when the seas are fine, but turn really noisy when there is some choppy seas and all the vibration starts... i have mine mounted on silent blocks, but this seems not help too much to stop all the noise.

As you can see now, I have a love-hate relationship with the Yamahas... the worst of it is that I am not happy carrying gasoline on board and all the preventive maintenance they need . will be a Nanni diesel solve all or part of that?

a further question that i am thinking about is that at present the propellers are situated at the very gravity center of the boat. with an inboard diesel (one or two) having a long shaft the propeller/s will act more aft, and i have no idea what the results will be, specially in heavy weather situations where cavitation is more likely to appear...  I don't have that problem in present.

Please when giving advise, take in account our cruising stile. I am not a Purist, and we are not too much into inland motoring ( we plan to cruise some rivers in future though), we are sometimes passage sailors/cruisers, and more often island hoppers... we are on a budget and we like to take advantage from cheap (????) combustible prices. we are also not into excessive carbon footprint, but also not into extreme savings.. we just try to keep a balance. we also have large solar panels and a big wind generator that fill 100% of our energy needs , fridge and freezer included. we just run the 2000 i Honda generator to run power tools, milkshakes and equalize our battery bank (4 x 230 VA/ 6 volt, deep circle golf cart ) once a month or so.

waiting for your input guys....

cheers

[Bradley [Brad] Warne]

reg said:

Hope you don't mind if I put in an oddball suggestion, but I keep thinking about the issues of dink storage, dink power and boat power. 

Why not combine all 3 by making a dink that could be fixed under the beams much like a pod for a central engine configuration, obviously the mountings would need some thought but it isn't rocket science.

This would also help in the maintenance side as well i.e easy to bring the engine ashore.

There are obviously issues with this, but as this thread has highlighted, there are issues with any installation.

Hi Reg,

I have commissioned Boatsmith to build the next Ariki 48. In the process I have been doing a lot of research and this issue of auxilliary power has been on of the points of my interest. Since Tom Hembroff (Piggy) was an Ariki pioneer I naturally was tuned in to his approach. I found the cover shot for the December 2004 of SeaPeople magazine a picture of Piggy motoring using the dinghy as you suggest. I don't know if he still uses that method.

As for Bazinga, I have decided to go with two Honda High-Thrust 60 HP outboards with 25" shafts. My logic behind this is simple, Boatsmith recommended it and since he has more Wharram experience than me I felt confident in going in this direction for our needs.

Brad

Ariki 48 Bazinga (under contruction)

[reg]

So I'm not the only oddball.

Bradley [Brad] Warne said:

Hi Reg,

I have commissioned Boatsmith to build the next Ariki 48. In the process I have been doing a lot of research and this issue of auxilliary power has been on of the points of my interest. Since Tom Hembroff (Piggy) was an Ariki pioneer I naturally was tuned in to his approach. I found the cover shot for the December 2004 of SeaPeople magazine a picture of Piggy motoring using the dinghy as you suggest. I don't know if he still uses that method.

As for Bazinga, I have decided to go with two Honda High-Thrust 60 HP outboards with 25" shafts. My logic behind this is simple, Boatsmith recommended it and since he has more Wharram experience than me I felt confident in going in this direction for our needs.

Brad

Ariki 48 Bazinga (under contruction)

[alex]

OK thank you!!!! enjoy the Spanish summer...