Displacement and hull shape counts for a lot.


jps wrote:
Yes, of course. Don't know what I was thinking...evidently I weren't.


One of the coolest "trawlers" I have seen is a former
heavy-displacement type sailboat that had the mast shortened
to about 20', half the ballast keel sawed off, and a hard
top over the cockpit. Comfy and capable, got quite good fuel
economy.


Spending weeks & weeks of time and thousands of dollars
fixing something that ain't broke is trending away from
"hobby" and closer to "mental illness."


I don't go there. If it ain't broke and it's expensive in either time
or BUs, call it good.


I just get carried away upgrading things. Most have been
definite & worthwhile improvements.


When there's nothing to worry about, I still like tinkering with smaller
things to improve them.


I'll get there. Right now I'm still tinkering with the big
things, and trying to keep everything as clean as possible.


Single screw?


Yes. More fuel efficient, less maintenance.


Are you concerned about get-home power in the event of a failure?


Nope.

99% of engine failures are due to either bad/no fuel, or
dead batteries. A second engine is no help in those
circumstances, and a "get-home" engine is usually a bad
compromise and gets skipped on maintenance so it's actually
*less* reliable than the main.

My "get-home" plan in the event of main engine failure is to
stay put while I fix the damn thing. And with the full
maintenance effort devoted to just one engine, I feel that
it's far more reliable than twins anyway.

DSK