On Thu, 02 Aug 2007 10:40:27 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Thu, 02 Aug 2007 18:16:04 +0700, wrote:

So there you go. A sixty ft. mast and enough dacron to build a circus
tent, a 75-100 H.P. auxiliary engine and a generator set.

My point was that if you put a couple of *big* alternators on each
engine you don't really need a generator, and what would have been the
generator engine can now drive an off center shaft with a folding
prop. That way you can have it all more or less. If you want super
reliability, it is also necessary to have seperate fuel tanks for each
engine with appropriate transfer and filtration plumbing, along with
seperate batteries, etc.

Not to start a war, but I still don;t understand why you want sails
and two motors...

Your engine sizing estimates do not take windage into account which
can be considerable on a 60 footer trying to motor into a 30 or 40 kt
headwind. And yes, sometimes it is necessary. I also take some issue
with your comparison to single engined commercial boats. Those boats
almost always have spacious engine rooms with room to work, lots of
essential tools and spares, and someone aboard who knows how to get
the job done. That is not the case with most 60 foot sailboats that
I've seen.


Well, I did admit that it was a quick and dirty calculation. But, if
you have 30 - 40 Kts of wind you've got super sailing weather for a 60
ft. boat.

You are right about engine rooms but I'm not so sure about people who
know how to get the work done. Example: The average Thai fishing boat,
say 50 - 60 ft. that makes voyages to Indonesia or Bangladesh to poach
fish usually had a Thai Captain, maybe a Thai 1st Mate, and the rest
of the crew are Burmese who are hired for probably less then $100 a
month. I'm not so sure about their expertise.

But, you have hit the nail on the head -- there are vast quantities of
people driving around in boats that don't know a thing about the
hardware. The neighbor boat to me had some people working on it, I
asked the Owner what was doing and he told me he was having the engine
oil and filters changed. A nice guy but didn't know where the oil
filter was.


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)