Emergency propulsion

[Sprig1]

Hi everyone hope you are having a good fall. I got my boat home and doing a few projects. I got to thinking about emergency propulsion for the boat just enough power to get it out of the shipping channels and try to limp to the nearest port. How big of outboard? Where to mount? My dingy only has a 2 1/2 hp on it and my be 8 feet long don't know how big a motor I could hang on it. Thank you for all the help in the past it has been much appreciated. Thanks Chris

[DesertAlbin736]

This is why AOG is such a great place. In fact I had to deal with just such an issue while in the San Juans of Washington state in 2014.

My dinghy also happens to be 8 feet long, in this case a hard shell Boatex 8. And I also happen to use a 2.5HP outboard, an older 2 stroke Tohatsu.

This one particular time when I needed emergency propulsion we had just left an anchorage in Blind Bay on Shaw Island on July 8, 2014 and as we entered Harney Channel separating Shaw from Orcas Island our engine's high temp alarm went off. It turned out that a vane had broken off the impeller on our Yanmar 3GM30F's raw water pump (our engine is fresh water cooled) and jammed the pump, which tore up the pulley. We we dead in the water! Ever since we'd bought the boat in March, 2014 we'd had some trouble with the way the raw water hose and strainer was routed such that when first launching the boat off the trailer it was sometimes hard to get the pump to prime. Long story short, that problem has since been corrected by replacing the old strainer with a Vetus strainer, and we make sure before hauling out to always shut the raw water intake valve and leave the raw water line full of water.

In any case, we were adrift and needed to get back into the anchorage ASAP. What to do? Our dinghy stows on a swim platform with Weaver snap davits, so there isn't room to install a kicker motor. So with my wife on the helm I lowered the dinghy but left it attached to the davits. I put the motor on the dinghy and turned it sideways and used it to push the boat what luckily was a short distance back into the anchorage and dropped the hook in 35 feet of water. It was not fun, since we had minimal steering control, but we did it.

If I had to do something like that again I'd launch the dinghy and lash it along side the stern quarter with lots of fenders and push the boat that way. We could install a bracket to mount the motor on the platform as a kicker, but the platform is narrow and would be tricky. May consider adding that some time. In either case steering would be difficult as without prop wash hitting the rudder and the low speed it would be tough to gain steerage with the helm. One person would have to be at the wheel and the other in the dinghy and be able to communicate.

We only carry a couple gallons of outboard gas, so at best we couldn't get very far before needing a tow if it were something we couldn't fix ourselves. In this case I had spare impellers, but the whole pump was shot, and we ended up having to take the ferry back to Anacortes, rent a car and drive up to Bellingham to get the correct pump, since the Marina in West Sound got the wrong pump due to the fact that the same engine sometimes uses different pumps depending on whether it's direct geared prop drive, a Vee drive, or a sail drive.

In another stroke of luck in this case is that there is an interisland ferry landing in Blind Bay and a Yanmar dealer at West Sound Marina as well as state park mooring in Blind Bay. We put the boat on a mooring ball and dinghied over to the ferry landing. Never did need a tow, but the new pump cost over $500.

[Northern Spy]

I have a 6hp evinriude yacht twin 2 stroke and it will [us the boat to 4 knots just fine. its mounted on a bracket.

[kerrye]

A Douglas outboard bracket is a nifty device if you have a swim platform.

[Sprig1]

Hi thanks for the replies. What is Douglas outboard bracket? Will go google it.

[kerrye]

http://www.douglasmarineproducts.com/outboard.html

[DesertAlbin736]

RE: Douglas kicker bracket... very interesting concept. I wonder, and I'm sure it's not a problem, but when lowered to use the motor as a kicker, what keeps the bracket from sliding back up from the thrust of the prop unless there's some locking pin not shown in the photos? According to the website they're made in and shipped from Ireland, priced at 402.50 Euro + 60 Euro shipping (shipping to and within the US not mentioned, but shipping a 44 lb package from Ireland to America I would think would cost more than
$64 ). Right now Euros are at a near all time low exchange rate of $1 US = 1.06 Euro.

I'm not quite sure one of these brackets would work on an Albin 25 the way I have mine set up because, A) the transom is curved, and B)would it interfere with my dinghy davits? But if I did have one I'd have a Swedish boat with Japanese inboard and outboard engines with a Canadian dinghy and Irish outboard bracket.

[Beta Don]

Haven't used it yet, but I built a simple stainless and plywood outboard mounting bracket which bolts to the swim platform with two bolts. The bracket is stowed and the swim platform is predrilled and ready for it when needed. Our dink motor is a 5 hp Tohatsu 4 stroke and I did mount it on the swim platform to check the fit when I built the bracket

I don't know, but I suspect in calm water we could see better than 2 knots with the 5 hp. With it fixed mounted, locked straight ahead the boat would steer normally from the helm and we could go as far as our 3 gallon tank would take us

Don

[smacksman]

My old 1885 44 foot, 17 ton displacement smack had no engine and I used the tender lashed dead astern to get in and out of harbour. Crew in the dinghy would steer with the 6hp Seagull o/b with commands from crew on deck as he couldn't see much ahead. Could even go in reverse!
I believe they do the same with old bugeyes in the Chesapeake.
I reckon you could rig a rope steering system to turn the outboard from on deck.

[jvh]

Similar to Don we built ourselves a bracket for the swim platform that holds our Honda 2hp four stroke outboard (that we use on our dingy). We have tried it out and it is surprising how well the Honda power plant will move the Albin25. It is kind of reassuring knowing we have backup if the Yanmar takes a break.

Jean
Old Maggie

[Sprig1]

I think I like Dons and smacksman the best. Will do that most likely and I already have everything to do it and don't have to buy anything more.Thanks all for the advice. You all are a big help

[jvh]

This is the inexpensive setup we have. It is a bracket made of hardwood with about six coats of Interlux Cetol, bolted to the swim platform.



Jean
Old Maggie

[jvh]

Here is a picture closer up of the simple bracket.



Jean
Old Maggie

[kerrye]

There is a similar commercial metal bracket, although it fold down when not in use. One thing I like about that system is that in close spaces which require tight manoevering, it allows the outboard to be used as kind of a stern thruster.

[DesertAlbin736]

There is a similar commercial metal bracket, although it fold down when not in use. One thing I like about that system is that in close spaces which require tight manoevering, it allows the outboard to be used as kind of a stern thruster.

That's a great idea, one I think I'll look into. This Garelick unit is probably what would work best for me. $85 at Wholesale Marine

http://www.wholesalemarine.com/garelick ... fgodbfQM1Q