Sealegs kicker question

[Rick Fisher]

Hello

I have a Sealegs 7.7m which is powered by a single 200hp Etec. Due to the wheels on the rear of the sealegs there is no place for a kicker. I can have a bracket made which would put a small get home motor almost a meter behind the stern, but feel the heaviest I could safely install is 6hp.

My question is if you believe a 6hp outboard, even a sail pro motor with a larger prop and slower gear would propel a 7.7m rib at hull speed ? If I could achieve 7 Kph. I would be happy..

Is that motor too small ?

[smallribber]

Originally Posted by Rick Fisher

Hello

I have a Sealegs 7.7m which is powered by a single 200hp Etec. Due to the wheels on the rear of the sealegs there is no place for a kicker. I can have a bracket made which would put a small get home motor almost a meter behind the stern, but feel the heaviest I could safely install is 6hp.

My question is if you believe a 6hp outboard, even a sail pro motor with a larger prop and slower gear would propel a 7.7m rib at hull speed ? If I could achieve 7 Kph. I would be happy..

Is that motor too small ?

I think 6 hp would get you home if you were not that far out. Mind you opinion is very divided about Kickers. So many threads where people get very excited about them or not

[jeffstevens763@g]

they recon 1hp/m but if you go high thrust better for displacement speed & weight i had a 60 high thrust YAM on a fast fisher totally different performance than the two stroke i had before

[beamishken]

I used a 5 hp on a 7.4m delta when the drive was giving problems it moved the boat surprisingly well but it was a decent day and only about 1.5m but it did save me from having to call for the tow of shame.

[Rick Fisher]

Thanks for the feedback .. I am usually boating around islands, rarely more than 5 miles from shore.. My thinking is that if I could get 4 mph ... fair enough .. The boat is made to handle 2 x motors but not with the main motor being in the middle.. Its just really tight for space. If I had 2 x 90Hp .. it would be perfect but the 200 has maybe 250 hours on it so I'm not inclined to buy new power. Tohatsu has a 6hp motor that weighs 60 lbs.. It runs on Propane, and with a small tank of say 10L would still run for 2 - 3 hours. Its about getting home without towing.. I won't use it for fishing .. The Sea-Legs is a heavy boat but I figure it should still have a hull speed of 5kts.. If a 6hp Tohatsu would achieve hull speed then I would be happy..

Appreciate your comments ..

Rick