Found a nice 2hp Johnson outboard fro my H18, sailing here in CT it's almost a necessity with the rocky coast line and narrow channels out to sea.

I've seen the cheetah mount which looks we'll built and a perfect solution but.... as a performance oriented sailor, hanging 25lbs two feet aft of the 18's already buoyancy challenged stern kills me...

My plan is to modify the motor's clamp to quickly attach/detach from the rear cross beam and only have it mounted here when used. Once sailing I would remove it and store somewhere forward on the boat. After some thought I think hanging it from the mast may be the best solution, this would keep the motor dry, in the upright position and a great location to carry the extra weight. The only cons I see are entanglement with the jib sheets when tacking... and it will look like hell, lol.

The only other idea I was kicking around is to permanently attach to the front cross bar since most small outboards can be spun 360 degrees...

What do you think?


Kevin

another option some folks on a long journey on a H18 over in europe was to mount a boom as a third crossbar... they did so behind the rear crossbar... and put their little motor on it.

You could do the same, with a boom spanning ahead of the front crossbar. (boom is laid flat)

Finally, somewhere someone put a boom all the way across the FRONT edge of the boat, and put more trampoline tracks up front... and hooked themselves up with a front trampoline.



Edited by robpatt on Feb 20, 2014 - 08:10 AM.

I recall that long journey Hobie 18, I believe they did the Mediterranean for 6 weeks across Italy... I have a spare cross bar and some nice aluminum square tubing I could span across the hulls as a forward mount.

My only concern with this location is the motor would be getting extremely wet even when flipped up, also causing a lot of annoying spray, or is this location drier than I remember?

I would avoid carrying a motor at all costs, or accept that you should not push your boat when carrying it.

would be a terrible thing to hit in a capsize
would be ruined in a capsize
could be the weight in a wrong spot on the boat to influence a capsize or pitch

Quote

What do you think?

MN3

I would avoid carrying a motor at all costs, or accept that you should not push your boat when carrying it.

would be a terrible thing to hit in a capsize
would be ruined in a capsize
could be the weight in a wrong spot on the boat to influence a capsize or pitch

Quote

What do you think?

Good points but it's just not an option here in CT... w/o it I'm limited to a single boat launch. I believe all these risks can be mitigated with the proper motor choice. I've narrowed down to a single engine, Cruise 'n Carry 6700. It's 2 stroke air cooled 2.7hp that weighs only 17lbs. Air cooled allows the engine to be tipped in any direction without causing harm and it's probably to light to have any effect on the boats sailing characteristics.

I've got 2 to 3 hp motors on my ARC22 and SC20, and had a 2hp on an H18 Magnum at one time. Although I'd prefer not to have the extra weight back there, it can usually be compensated for by moving crew weight fwd to balance the boat, a process one does all the time, even without the motor. If the mast is sealed, the boat shouldn't turtle, and the motor stays out of the water. I also thought about having a system to move the outboard fwd of the main beam for storage underway, but I never developed anything, and I had concerns about the possibility of loosing it overboard in the process of moving it around. Your idea of pursuing the lightest motor you can find is a good one. I carry an mp3 player and over the ear headphones to help ignore the racket.

My port is in a protected bay, and in the morning there's a beautiful 10 to 15 kt breeze on the main lake til 10 am or so. Having an outboard has easily doubled or tripled the amount of sailing I get to do, and I don't run for home when the wind is dying, knowing I can get back if I use all the breeze up.

Dave



Edited by davefarmer on Feb 23, 2014 - 07:34 AM.

definately looking at a motor

--
1975 P16 "Spring Rain"Sail # 642
Home Built 2004 Optimist-Delta "Unity"
So old it has Dino hide for a sail Chrysler "Pirateer"
Steve
Oyama BC
Lat 50.1167 N
Long 119.3667 W
1700 ft
--

some of the new electric outboards may have promise , i only need it to run 200 yrds out of the marina
http://www.torqeedo.com/us/electric-outboards/travel-503-1003-with-integrated-battery-for-inflatables-dinghies-yachts-up-to-1-5-tons/features-and-benefits



Edited by southronspirit on Jun 01, 2014 - 01:08 PM.

--
"take your dreams down from the shelf take the measure of yourself upon a beckoning sea"
eileen quinn
--

I have a cheeta on my 18SX and a 2hp. I installed it once, and was WINDy and the motor just got pounded with water and wasn't needed. I haven't put it on sense. I hoped to use it in channels and when the wind dies. (been there paddled back) so far I don't use it much - but glad I have it. hopefully I'll have it when I need it.

--
Ron Grand Rapids, MI
Fleet #519
West Michigan Catamaran Sailors

2000 Hobie 18SX
1984 Hobie 16 restored, new sails and spinnaker.
--

torqeedo are awesome

Quote

some of the new electric outboards may have promise , i only need it to run 200 yrds out of the marina

Guys,

Sounds like a great idea. I've been looking into the motor mount situation for a couple of months and stumbled across the Cruise n' Carry motors. They make a 1.5 and a 2.5 or 2.7Hp model and they are very light in weight at 12 to 17 pounds and all 2 stroke. They don't make these any more, but there seems to be no shortage of parts on Ebay. Like everybody else, I hate to hang anything off the rear beam. My Tornado is no different than the Hobie 18 as far as flotation in the rear.

The trick seems to be getting the right motor mount for your situation. The Cheatah mounts seem a bit pricey and hard to instal, not to mention permanent, and they hang down below the rear cross bar. That's three strikes for me. So I'm looking at some other solution. I want to mount it on the top rail of the crossbeam on a special nylon lined clamp , but the Cruise n' Carry is only 21 inches from the inside top of the motor bracket clamp to the centerline of the prop. This is the model 6600 and that's the 1.5 Hp version. I don't know if the 6700 or 6800 are longer or not? I've heard that all the models are the same length, so it might need some modification to put the prop in the water deep enough to keep it from cavitating and the exhaust would need to be longer as well.



I would probably never put the prop in the water unless the wind was so calm that the water was almost flat, which would keep the splashing down a lot.

If anyone on here has a Tornado solution I'm all ears???

But no electric stuff please!

When I've entertained this idea, I've wondered about mounting the motor on the front crossbar. With a motor that rotates 360' it could be spun around for forward thrust. With a properly crafted mount it could fold up out of the water prop forward. I know this brings up issues with bowsprit spars also the person out in the trap swinging into
the for triangle in a pitch pole. It's an idea to kick around. GH

--
'82 Super Cat 15
Hull #315
Virginia
Previously owned: '70 H14, '79 H16, '68 Sailmaster 26, '85 H14T
--

gahamby and friends,

Yes, I thought of that too. Just hate to drill any holes.

There is an un explored alternative which would probably work which is to build a "mud motor" with a weed eater style engine plus a planetary in line gearbox on a long pole. I have seen plenty of these on You Tube, but all the ones I've seen lately do not incorporate a gear reduction for the prop. If you run direct drive, the shaft is spinning too fast and the prop will either cavitate or the clutch will slip or both. the long pole could be hoisted out of the water between the hulls and a swing mount could be built to fold it up tight under the tramp when not in use. if you look up "mud motor mania" or mud motor on You Tube you will see some examples. I think the larger Thailand style motors work well because the engines are not high rpm 2 strokes from a weed eater, but are instead four strokes in the range of 10 to 30hp with lower rpm power bands.

Tillerman6

To widen your choices for a lightweight motor look also for motors under the names Tanaka, Sears Gamefisher and there is another name for the same motors but it slips my mind right now. These are all the same motors manufactured in Japan by Tanaka with different labels. They may well be the same motors as the cruise n carry as they sure look the same and are the same horsepowers at 1.2 and 2.7 and air cooled and 12 and 17lbs respectively. I bought a 1.2hp Gamefisher for my Pacific cat but have yet to get around to installing it. Being air cooled they are rather noisy, like a weed wacker but hard to beat the weight, much lighter than the Honda air cooled 2hp. We are looking at 2 possible mounting options. one is to glass in a fiberglass tube through the hull side just behind the aft beam and slid in an aluminum tube with a mounting pad welded to it. to raise the motor from the water we would not use the tilting mount but rather just rotate the tube and pin it. The other option is to mount the motor in the center in a similar manner with the aluminum tube facing fore and aft and the motor would just rotate and store acrossways. the only problem may be the mainsheet or tiller extension catching on it but I think that's just a management issue. On the P cat of course the aft crossbeam is about 4ft in from the transoms so the weight there is less of an issue, it is also a solid deck cat so drier. We installed a Mama bob this year so even if we were to manage to capsize it the motor would not get wet in either location. Incidently we already have a crossbeam at the bow and I plan on installing a net forward someday, I loved it on the G cat I used to sail.

Steve.

I would have mounted (2) ore-locks, (one on each hull) ; then
purchase a collapsible set of ors , (maybe lighter) than a motor ?

Bille

my friend made a wooden t that slippes onto the front beam and mounted his electric motor there on his p18

another friend uses a elec trolling motor on his h21 mounted to a beam on the front bows. his wife trolls them from the boat ramp and he skippers with the tiller and 2 jibs (if they are not nose into the wind at the ramp, they don't raise the main at all at this point)

gahamby

When I've entertained this idea, I've wondered about mounting the motor on the front crossbar. With a motor that rotates 360' it could be spun around for forward thrust. With a properly crafted mount it could fold up out of the water prop forward. I know this brings up issues with bowsprit spars also the person out in the trap swinging into
the for triangle in a pitch pole. It's an idea to kick around. GH

Guys,

How about something like this?

longtailboats.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=116918424

Do the cruise n carry motors rotate 360 degrees? My Sears Gamefisher does not because of the exhaust tube but i may be able to fabricate a custom exhaust. What I would really like is a small water cooled 2 stroke motor that rotates for reverse. The P cat is a heavy boat already but tolerates weight better than most.
Ive noticed folks mentioning using electric trolling motors but nobody has mentioned where they carry the 40lb battery??

Steve.

Quote

How about something like this?
longtailboats.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=116918424

looks permanent, heavy, and will take off an ear or eye in a pitchpole.. besides that looks cool!

Quote

Do the cruise n carry motors rotate 360 degrees?

my tohatsu 3.5 does. but it has a kill switch / lanyard that will get snarled if you dont "unroate" it