Planning on buying a secondhand outboard for the new season (freshwater only). Thinking somewhere between a 5 - 10hp four stroke. Don't have much experience of the different manufacturer's/models etc. Would appreciate any advice on motors to look out for and also which motors to avoid.
Any and all responses gratefully received
Thanks
Nick
Quote from: np01 on February 03, 2010, 04:55:27 PM
Thinking somewhere between a 5 - 10hp four stroke.
That is quite a range, match the motor to your boat.
Over and under-powered motors are a waste of cash.
The boat size varies depending on the boats available on the waters we fish. Can be anything between the usual 15ft GRP to a 19ft wooden clinker boat. Understand the point about over-powered but want to have enough oomph in the event of big wind/waves on exposed waters. Again any thoughts on "adequate" power for these type of boats would be welcome.
Quote from: np01 on February 03, 2010, 08:05:05 PM
The boat size varies depending on the boats available on the waters we fish. Can be anything between the usual 15ft GRP to a 19ft wooden clinker boat.
My apologies, I now understand your situation.
Nick,
There's a law of diminishing returns with horsepower. I'm being simplistic here but in order to double the speed of a hull boat (as compared to a planing boat) you need to have eight times the power.
Of course if you can get your 19 ft clinker up on the plane it'll go a lot faster. Daft as it may seem that's what our Irish brethern do on Corrib, I've seen 25hp engines on the back of lough boats and boy do they shift....but that's another topic for another day.
Thanks gents
As ever, one question, fully explored! I vaguley remember the physics to do with the ratio of power to speed from cycling. Something to do with the fact that becasue the mass that you're moving has a volume, i.e. 3 dimensions, then the relationship between power to speed is cubic (or something like that??)
In any event I'm now searching ebay for 4-6hp four stroke engines.
Thanks again
N