steve-nacra58-MAC36 wrote:J1234,
I already knew about most of the minuses for the jet ski engines. On the Gulf Coast, the bays where I will sail are very shallow. You can walk for hundreds of yards off the beach and only be in two feet of water.
I had not thought about outboard motor wells. Mounting an outboard inside of the hulls would be a challenge. How would you get rid of the exhaust. I also don't think you could mount the motor where it raises straight up and down. With the motor up you would not be able to get past it. This would block off a lot of storage/ living space. If you let the motor tilt up that might be OK. Designing plates that open and close on a tilting motor would also be a challenge. Here is a photo of the inside of the starboard hull. If a 10hp 15inch transom motor is 30 inches tall it would come to about 10 inches below the roll of paper towels. That is the main beam just behind the towels and the dagger board trunk behind that.
Do you have any photos for your boat?
This was the boat I thought you might have bought
http://www.boattrader.com/listing/1979- ... t-97097637
Hello Steve and all,
That is my baby.
Her name right now is ZOOM, but I am going to Re-Cristien her. I do have photos of her in my phone when I was there to look at her and I don't know how to download them, but, soon I'll have more than I need.
I think there are compromises to everything. Those are not good unless the return on the compromise exceeds that which you gave up. Challenges, we can overcome. Before it gets too complicated, let's see what we can exclude as issues. If your boat is on the hard, do me a favor and take some measurements for me.
1. Deploy the dagger and measure the span (length) from the keel line (not the waterline!) to the tip and then measure the chord (width)as well. Then measure the thickest point on the section and estimate at what distance that thickness is aft of the leading edge. Do the same on the rudder.
2. Measure the distance from the leading edge of the dagger to the leading edge of the rudder.
3. Her hull draft with all appendages excluded.
Okay. With this information we can closely estimate her volume coefficient, rudder and dagger areas, aspect ratios and if her arm is long enough for slow velocity maneuverability.
4. Measure the distance from the waterproof bow bulkhead to the leading edge of the daggerboard case. (bow compartment?)
5. Measure the distance from the stern bulkhead to the leading edge of the aft cabin.(aft compartment?)
6. Measure the distance from the stern to the aft waterproof bulkhead (rudder compartment?).
Okay. With this information we can exclude or choose the best installation that can be considered for the different options being explored once all other options have been excluded. Get me those dimensions if you can, if not, I will probably have them soon since I'm going to bring her up North in a couple of weeks.
Getting rid of the exhaust is easy, with exhaust housings ($80?), with inlets and outlets($20?), or through the prop like many outboards do it through the hub (free?). You can definitely mount the motor so that it is deployed or stored in the vertical direction, and it can be done either forward or aft. (hope to know 100% after you provide those dimensions). Storage and living space would be lost only if you put the motors in those spaces and those spaces were too small to begin with. Plates that open and close on a tilting motor are more challenging than fixed plates for a motor travelling vertically but it is only a matter of proper fit and perhaps springing the plates to the hinges. This is all too premature yet.
Here are my thoughts, which are just that, "fairy tale thinking" sort of speak until proven otherwise or purposely discounted. Options? Two by two. One, as you consider, motor/jet drive. Two, outboard well, foreward or aft.
The outboards, both installed, will be about 200#, can't beat that. Jets, at least 1.5x that weight.
Stern well installation, would be the simplest, cleanest and least obtrusive. If done correctly, very little inconvenience will have to be tolerated if the installation is made forward for the "front wheel drive" effect. Depending on the length of the bow cabin, there may be enough room to install a bulkhead foreward of the daggerboard case and another foreward of that to make the compartment watertight. Drop the outboards in there and whala. The problem as you have already identified is that access will be restricted and you might have to cut out a hatch forward on the deck to be used for access and exiting the sleeping area. On a positive note, these now become private quarters, or in this case, extremely isolated. Somebody crews up, and you have 2 sections you can use as brigs.
These are different options that jump in my head right away and I offer them so you can think about them, but for me, I would go right to an aft installation. But, lets take a look at everything first, it may be that you don't have enough area on the rudders for slow velocity maneuverability and all that may be required is an additional board with greater area that you can deploy from a hinge when you need it.
A little more on this later, I got to take care of some things for my upcoming trip.
I want to let the ponies run, so I want to stay inshore, but I want to really sea trial her so I can make the right mods when I start, and that means offshore, hopefully in a good stiff breeze with some whitecaps if possible so I can see how she handles under deep reefs.