With the new legislation coming in we are looking at 2 stroke vs 4
stroke. I am aware that few people use 4 strokes on inflatables and
fewer would manhandle them down beaches removing and replacing them
daily as we do.
Does anyone have any experience of using 4 strokes on inflatable boats
in this way? Are there any implcations to the angle you can carry/store
them?

I have replaced a small auxiliary outboard on my trailer sailer with a
4-stroke, it's heavier, seems a little less powerful, quieter, far more
economic & easier to start. I've never carried it anywhere a beach but
its a pain to get into the tender.... (They aren't called tender for
nothing)

My club has recently bought a 5m rib with a 4-stroke 40 on the back to
'patrol' the races. Its nice, but the engine IS heavy, is more
economical, less fast, more quiet (See a pattern here?) My only gripe
is that once you've rescued someone, with the rescued dinghy alongside
and 3 people on board, the thing won't plane.

Unless you have light divers with light diving gear and light lead
weights, I'd recommend you buy a 4-stroke 60 for the back of your new
boat. It'll still use less fuel and you should leave it bolted to the
back of the boat, anyway.

Artie

Arturo Ui wrote:
snip
My club has recently bought a 5m rib with a 4-stroke 40 on the back to
'patrol' the races. Its nice, but the engine IS heavy, is more
economical, less fast, more quiet (See a pattern here?) My only gripe
is that once you've rescued someone, with the rescued dinghy alongside
and 3 people on board, the thing won't plane.

If it's all the same to you, I'd rather you didn't do 25kts with my
dinghy alongside... reminds me of a story I once heard of someone who
was towed in by an RAF launch...

However 40 doesn't seem an awful lot for a 5m RIB full of divers and
tanks. It seems to me if you get a bigger motor you won't have to run
it flat out all the time, so it'll last longer too. Not that I know a
lot about these things.

Andy