Brian Whatcott wrote:
To avoid the embarassment of paddling in, or sailing close hauled into
a narrow channel for a landing, we put together a Chrysler 3 HP
outboard from two nearly complete projects.

3 HP seemed like a frequent choice for sailboats at about the size
of boats we have - a SouthCoast 22ft.

But on a day with a stiff breeze (yesterday) I blew onto a lee shore
at launch, and could not hold the heading to windward when returning a
few hours later, on outboard alone.

So here's the dumb question: how many Horses does it take to be
steering a 22 ft sailboat into a brisk wind? 5HP, 7 HP 10 HP, more?

Thanks in advance


Brian Whatcott Altus OK

The motor sold with my sailboat when new was/is a 1986 Evinrude Yachtwin
6 hp Long Shaft. A few people with my size have moved up to 8 hp...
but 6 hp seems to be the norm.
http://sailquest.com/market/models/spipe.htm