On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:19:32 -0500, cavelamb
wrote:


For what it's worth, I'd rather live in my boat than in my car...

Unless you've got a BIG car :-)

Yes, I was curious about installing a diesel.

It may make an interesting winter project some time, but I'm not in a big hurry.
Once I get the boat down to the coast it will be more do-able. Up here it's all
long distance.

I've always had outboards (part of being too poor for really expensive toys) and
I'm comfortable with that - as long as I can make the boat do what I want it to do.

But to me that means being able to vector the thrust of the motor for
directional control below steerage speeds.

So while the most common advice was "keep 1 to 2 knots for steering" (which is
not always possible - like when backing out of the slip?), my personal solution
is to steer the motor.

A mate has a cat with a inboard engine with steerable leg (not sure
what it is called) but you can apply thrust at 90 degrees to the hull
while it is stationary. He really likes it for going in and out of
marinas.

If you do much cruising I suspect that you will wish you had an
inboard though. Or a bigger fuel tank. An outboard surely burns a lot
of fuel..

I hear people talking about being "sailors" and sailing, but most
times you do have a schedule. Your wife is going to have a baby, the
Boss expects you back, you want to see your sweety, something! So you
make your plans and you are right on schedule and the last morning you
wake up and..... No Wind.. and it's fifty miles to get home.

I've not attacked that in detail yet (need to find or make a tiller for it), but
it turns out it's only a single bolt that locks the motor in place.

Pulling that bolt frees the motor, bit THEN you need a way to lock it down
again! (It just goes to show Rozann Rozadanna, if it's not one thing, it's
always something else).

The real conniptions I have watched are the guys with the outboard
that they can't reach easily trying to get in or out of a marina when
the current is running strong, trying to juggle throttle, rudder,
engine tiller, shift.........

I've never tried it but I'd guess that with a few bits and pieces one
could put a long tiller, with a shift and throttle, on an outboard
that would reach the cockpit.

If everything could be where you can lay your hand on it when you need
to it would be much handier.


Cheers,

Bruce in Bangkok
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)