Use your Aux IN ANGER!

[Bigmuz7]

I'm sure plenty of you learned gents (willk excluded ) will have done the research but I thought it politic today to actually simulate the need for my backup. Being as the weather was kind and I was on my own I thought I'd punish the little one to see if he could do what I expected if it all went sour .... and for some reasons I just assumed it would .. and why not ? Well as I like to plan carefully,.. it did go fine , but I learned some things along the way.. whilst waiting patiently for the little fella to get us back to port.

Mounting the 4 stroke aux on the transom is a pain .. well its not in the centre of the keel you see .. so steerage is a nightmare .. and the shaft isnt long enough especially if the weight in the boat is wrong,.. cavitation needs to be managed on the throttle

All this ofcourse after I got him started and discovered no tell tail. .. No tools to fix that either .. well plenty of tools, but no paper clip in the end carefull use of the bravo pump up its jaxi did the trick

Then I thought .. how much range do I have ? plenty in the aux tank .. but much more if I kept my usually carried spare neat, instead of premixing it for my 2 smoke main .. again silly little things, but they could mean so much in the event of need.

The 4 Hp worked fine in the end, but using the main engine as steerage is a false idea like many have suggested to me, it slows you down too much when you are on such small power IMHO.. for my rig anyway

Just make sure you keep the little guy serviced too .. break him out and practice your drill

For those with substantial aux'es another task of mine was to load it onto the transom bracket in heavy seas .. we used ropes over the A frame so we didnt lose it over the stern .. and it paid to do this in the shittest of conditions .. because thats when the big guy upstairs usually tests you .. and your aux

[spartacus]

Wise words indeed. My Mariner 4hp is permanently on the transom. I serviced it a couple of weeks ago as I'm off to the west coast next week - so need my back-up. There's nothing due west from Lewis apart from St Kilda. And if you miss that... then it's Halifax, Nova Scotia. I've started to carry a spare 1 gallon pre-mix fuel tank especially for the auxilliary. Never really thought about it, but if there was a heavy swell the fuel might last 45 minutes tops on full throttle burning what's in the tank.

[Screaming04]

You can use your premix in your 4 stroke without any consequence. You can't however, use straight gas in your 2 stroke!

[BogMonster]

Interesting points and I try to use mine a few times a year to keep it happy - have discovered twice (once on each aux I have owned) that it wasn't happy due to contaminated fuel, so regular testing is well worthwhile! Mine lives on the transom - never sure if I'd get it on in rough sea without a problem.

I have a 12L external tank for mine but having said that it doesn't live on the boat most of the time - though it would if I was going a long way from home. I'm not sure what the range / endurance would be with that - but 20 min trundling along at 4 knots seems to use about a third of the internal tank so somewhere round 45 min to an hour a litre seems reasonable and if I can't get home in 10 hours I'll be asking for assistance!

I didn't find much performance difference steering with the main - can't say I measured it scientifically but a fraction of a knot at worst. More importantly it makes life much easier - and drier - sitting at the stern at 4 knots in a choppy sea which is on the beam can get a bit wet.

One thing I need to rectify is that I didn't get a bilge pump with the Vipermax having been convinced that a trunk was adequate. Well it might be when the main is running, but it doesn't do much at 4 knots! So a run on the aux in rough weather could easily see the boat filling up, and a ton of water aboard ain't going to help performance running on the aux, bilge pump is on order...

[MustRib]

good points all well made.
Going to look at permanently fitting my aux to the transom.

[mitchc]

Had to use my aux yesterday after the opti decided to foul it's plugs after lots of idling waiting for divers!
The 8hp yammy worked great and got us safely back to Kimmeridge!

[MustRib]

Hey Mitch ... how are you doing?

havnt got round to sorting those seats yet - still sitting in my garage
am actually thinking they may be a little too big... the seats on my gemini are a little narrower and these may look a little wrong dimensionally !

did you get the last two sold yet?

Andy

[mitchc]

Hi Andy, things are good!
weekend spent diving on the south coast, finished the day cruising back to the slipway in the company of 15-20 dolphins! I'll get some photo's on here soon

I've still got the other two seats....

[Bigmuz7]

Originally Posted by BogMonster

so regular testing is well worthwhile!

For sure

Originally Posted by BogMonster

I have a 12L external tank for mine but having said that it doesn't live on the boat most of the time - though it would if I was going a long way from home. I'm not sure what the range / endurance would be with that

Yep .. lots forget/and ignore this fact .. how far will your aux get you ? have you tested it ? ..thats my thinking after today

[willk]

Originally Posted by Bigmuz7

I'm sure plenty of you learned gents (willk excluded ) will have done the research

Cheekeh!

Originally Posted by Bigmuz7

Just make sure you keep the little guy serviced too .. break him out and practice your drill

Must be a relief that your four stroke did the job. Always carry a paper clip or remember to be careful to make sure the Bravo is on "inflate", not "deflate" - for thus do Terrible Mistakes occur...

More seriously - I presume that your Aux can't be mounted on the Port side? If it could, a wee length of PVC wastepipe could be employed as a tiller extension and you could steer from the rear jockey (maybe?) When not in use they make a great rod/boathook holder if clipped to the A-frame.

[Bigmuz7]

Originally Posted by willk

Cheekeh!


Must be a relief that your four stroke did the job. Always carry a paper clip or remember to be careful to make sure the Bravo is on "inflate", not "deflate" - for thus do Terrible Mistakes occur...

More seriously - I presume that your Aux can't be mounted on the Port side? If it could, a wee length of PVC wastepipe could be employed as a tiller extension and you could steer from the rear jockey (maybe?) When not in use they make a great rod/boathook holder if clipped to the A-frame.

The little 'un doesnt have a long enough shaft .. despite the height looking ok on dry land.. because its working off set so much, if its anywhere close to the base of the hull I've found cavitation to be a significant issue.. so weight needs to be pretty much aft anyway to keep the blades gripping .. these small motors are tourqey but the blades need fully buried to work effectively unlike some bigger engines, and the cavitation is enough to make you lose 40% or so of your forward speed, and that has a big effect if it happens every 30 seconds or so, particulary when you are only doing 5 knots

This is where a bracket is quite handy, as lots of them can be raised or lowered and it opens up the range of small engines you can use on your hull. IIRC many are rated to 20 HP or so, but TBH Ive found their mounts flimsy to say the least and I wouldnt hang more than a 10 on them.

Its not such a big issue for the south coasters ofcourse.. but up here in the North Minch .. theres a lot less traffic to help you out if you get in trouble,.. coupled with the way the sea can change so quickly here and as Spartacus said, if you get a prevailing southerly ..say tata to a hot dinner for a long time ..

Originally Posted by Screaming04

You can use your premix in your 4 stroke without any consequence. You can't however, use straight gas in your 2 stroke!

I didnt know that ? you think it would run on 50:1 ?