Which / what aux engine

[Metz Antenna Man]

One of the two times that we had to use our auxilliary was on Loch Torridan in strong winds, a 1m chop with a sudden fuel problem a few hundred meters from cliffs on a lee shore in a place which was too deep (70m)to deploy an anchor to stop our inevitable and quick drift into a steep cliff face. It was hard enough to get onto the rear of the rib, drop the auxiliary and get it started, to steer away from the lee shore in time. If we had our auxiliary in a locker it would have been end of boat with me and the wife in the water being bounced on and off a sheer cliff face. It would have been impossible to get it out of a locker, clamped onto the transom in the large chop and started without either dropping it over the side or running out of time. As JeffStevens says, these situations rarely happen in a safe place with bags of time to react. We use a 1m aluminium tiller extension handle which we do keep in a rear locker which you can clamp on to the auxilliary tiller handle in a matter of seconds. It means that once you have sorted yourself out and got away from danger, you can clamp it on, sit on the rear seat and steer in relative comfort while you ponder your lucky escape then start figuring out your nearest place of safety. Extension handles are £20 to £30.

[Limecc]

+

Originally Posted by jakew009

Still need to sort the bracket though. Planning on offering it up to the boat and then working out what the bracket needs to look like...

I made mine and fitted it yesterday. Stainless polished up as if chromed. Secured the HDPE with 5.5mm Torx screws. Just need to clamp on the engine and test how it goes with 5hp.

[jakew009]

Originally Posted by HDAV

Presumably for sometime in 2057?

Or did find actual stock on the shop floor ready to go?

I just ordered it on eBay, being posted tomorrow?

[jakew009]

Originally Posted by Limecc

+

I made mine and fitted it yesterday. Stainless polished up as if chromed. Secured the HDPE with 5.5mm Torx screws. Just need to clamp on the engine and test how it goes with 5hp.

That looks fantastic, how did you bend the tube?

Do you want to make another one

[jakew009]

Originally Posted by Phil and Jane

One of the two times that we had to use our auxilliary was on Loch Torridan in strong winds, a 1m chop with a sudden fuel problem a few hundred meters from cliffs on a lee shore in a place which was too deep (70m)to deploy an anchor to stop our inevitable and quick drift into a steep cliff face. It was hard enough to get onto the rear of the rib, drop the auxiliary and get it started, to steer away from the lee shore in time. If we had our auxiliary in a locker it would have been end of boat with me and the wife in the water being bounced on and off a sheer cliff face. It would have been impossible to get it out of a locker, clamped onto the transom in the large chop and started without either dropping it over the side or running out of time. As JeffStevens says, these situations rarely happen in a safe place with bags of time to react. We use a 1m aluminium tiller extension handle which we do keep in a rear locker which you can clamp on to the auxilliary tiller handle in a matter of seconds. It means that once you have sorted yourself out and got away from danger, you can clamp it on, sit on the rear seat and steer in relative comfort while you ponder your lucky escape then start figuring out your nearest place of safety. Extension handles are £20 to £30.

Yes, I'm coming to the realisation the aux is probably better sat on the back of the boat most of the time.

The only time I think I wouldn't have it there is when we were using the bathing platforms on the rear of the boat and are in the water...

[Matt]

Totally agree with this. When carried (different thread), I have mine on the bracket. It's an adjustable bracket so I can drop it down nice and easily, pull the cord and off we go. I think I'd be pushing my luck to get the motor mounted at all once on the water.

The extension tiller is bloody useful too. I got a telescopic one and it makes steering possible from the back seat at least.

Originally Posted by Phil and Jane

One of the two times that we had to use our auxilliary was on Loch Torridan in strong winds, a 1m chop with a sudden fuel problem a few hundred meters from cliffs on a lee shore in a place which was too deep (70m)to deploy an anchor to stop our inevitable and quick drift into a steep cliff face. It was hard enough to get onto the rear of the rib, drop the auxiliary and get it started, to steer away from the lee shore in time. If we had our auxiliary in a locker it would have been end of boat with me and the wife in the water being bounced on and off a sheer cliff face. It would have been impossible to get it out of a locker, clamped onto the transom in the large chop and started without either dropping it over the side or running out of time. As JeffStevens says, these situations rarely happen in a safe place with bags of time to react. We use a 1m aluminium tiller extension handle which we do keep in a rear locker which you can clamp on to the auxilliary tiller handle in a matter of seconds. It means that once you have sorted yourself out and got away from danger, you can clamp it on, sit on the rear seat and steer in relative comfort while you ponder your lucky escape then start figuring out your nearest place of safety. Extension handles are £20 to £30.

[GuyC]

I have a Trem bracket on mine. It lifts the engine up by 320mm. I thought I was going to have to tilt it but I lucked out and just the bottom inch of the motor is in the water when stationary.

[jakew009]

Originally Posted by GuyC

I have a Trem bracket on mine. It lifts the engine up by 320mm. I thought I was going to have to tilt it but I lucked out and just the bottom inch of the motor is in the water when stationary.

Is that a short shaft engine?

Would you be able to measure how much the bracket sticks out from the transom?

Does it rattle at all?

[GuyC]

I'll measure the shaft length tomorrow

I'll do some measuring when I'm next on the boat which will be next weekend probably but I guess the pad that the outboard clamps to is probably 100mm off the transom when fully up and 200mm off the transom when fully down.

There's nothing obvious that rattles. The spring that helps with the raising and lowering is pretty substantial and holds everything firm.

[Limecc]

Originally Posted by jakew009

That looks fantastic, how did you bend the tube?

Do you want to make another one

It was 2mm wall stainless and too much for my 22mm plumbing bender. Nothing with that size former in the hire shops, fortunately last year my friend picked up a rotary bender at Totnes flea market for £30 and it worked a treat.

Managed to get it right first go, just as well as I only had the one bit of tube and there would have been extra welds.

25mm HDPE came from Trent Plastics, I used a router to create a groove on three sides for the tube. Wishing you well with yours..

[beerbelly]

Originally Posted by GuyC

I have a Trem bracket on mine. It lifts the engine up by 320mm. I thought I was going to have to tilt it but I lucked out and just the bottom inch of the motor is in the water when stationary.

do you travel with it like that surely there will be half the leg in the water when underway ?

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by beerbelly

do you travel with it like that surely there will be half the leg in the water when underway ?

Only if he goes everywhere in reverse[emoji6], if its like that at rest its going to be even higher out of the water when under way.

[GuyC]

Originally Posted by GuyC

I'll measure the shaft length tomorrow

It's 23" from where the clamp bracket touches the top of the transom to the centreline of the propeller.

[GuyC]

Originally Posted by beamishken

Only if he goes everywhere in reverse[emoji6], if its like that at rest its going to be even higher out of the water when under way.

What he said.

As soon as you are moving, the motor is clear of the water. Even at rest, it's only the tip of the propeller and the skeg that is immersed.

The only downside is that if I'm port side to, the motor can get in the way of the lead to the cleat.

I do need to go and have a proper practice with it though.

[Matt]

My setup is very similar.

Have replaced the 2hp with a 5hp since this pic and painted the wood bracket gloss black. 5hp on a 28' boat is marginal, it gives me 3.5 to 4 knots. Guy's 15hp might be the other extreme for an aux I guess since starting to be quite heavy I suppose?

Original idea was to make the bracket removable - It's mounted on a plate, so I can remove it just by undoing the 4 external nuts, but actually, if I run without the aux, I just drop the plate down fully and it's quite discrete. It's "full up" in this vid.

4 things that are worth being aware of with this type of setup, with a short shaft aux:

Ventilation - you tend to get air sucked in to the aux prop once the boat is moving and you get water swirling around the transom, even if the prop is well submerged above the cav plate. So make sure you can get the motor relatively deep without risk of a wave swamping it. It's one of the reasons why an adjustable bracket is good.

Reversing - You get very little reverse. Can spin round on the spot, but almost no reverse. The prop thrust mostly hits the transom. I think I could get "some" reverse if I run as deep as I dare and trim the motor out slightly to direct the reverse thrust down a little, but the time I was running the aux in anger I wasn't in the mood to experiment. It's no problem, but just remember to adjust your technique when you're coming alongside and not expect a big lump of reverse to bring you to a stop. You shouldn't drive like that in close quarters anyway....

Tiller - Get a tiller extension for the Aux. It improves comfort when in use substantially.

Prop - if you have a choice, get a high thrust prop. Big diameter, lots of blade area, lower pitch.

Lock Down - when running fast on the main motor, especially if lumpy, it's easy to get spray and so forth flying around enough to kick the motor up. Make sure you can lock the motor down, or up, as you choose, so it doesn't bounce. It feels to me like down is better, but I've not overthought it.

All things it's easy to overlook, but important to make sure the aux engine is not just mounted, but usable.

https://youtu.be/Wd8SIk0HI_k

[Bern Hanreck]

Originally Posted by Matt

All things it's easy to overlook, but important to make sure the aux engine is not just mounted, but usable.

https://youtu.be/Wd8SIk0HI_k

So Ideally the aux will have it's own separate fuel supply and you will fire it up regularly , disconnect the fuel line then run till it stops . In my experience , aux engines are subject to permanent salt water spray ( when under way ) and you actually need to run them in both forward and reverse gear , wash well with fresh water as often as possible and keep well sprayed with oil or when you go to use it in emergency it will be seized in neutral Don't ask me how I know

[Matt]

Absolutely right and I do exactly that. Seperate, standalone, 12L tank, plus the aux's internal tank. And I fire it up every month or so on the test stand at home....I quite like the smell of 2-stroke, too.

I also like ACF-50 as a decent corrosion inhibitor spray.