drag from the outboard

[Interim]

The outboard on my 26S as mounted won't lift fully out of the water while under sail. I don't know if this is normal, or in need of a new mounting bracket, but it has me wondering about drag.

When I raise the bracket all the way up, the anti-cavitation plate is just out of the water when the boat is on even keel, and perhaps the top inch of the prop blade will come out as it rotates around.

Is this creating much drag, or not enough to affect speed?

I never race; just like finding ways to improve performance.

--john

[Freedom77]

Don't know what your bracket/motor setup is. Had the same problem with Honda 7.5.. Put a removable 1 inch oak spacer between bracket and motor clamps. tilts fine now. Any drag of any kind is going to affect speed, especially if motor is dragging in the water on a close haul. Fair Winds and Full Sails..Old Salt

[Tomfoolery]

Can't you tilt the OB also? I've found, on smaller boats, that ratcheting the bracket up, plus tilting the OB, brought the lower unit completely out of the water. Maybe not on a severe heel angle, with the OB mounted off-center, but that's the last thing I was thinking about when the rail was in the water.

[Interim]

I haven't been using the tilt; just the bracket lift. If the trim is easy enough, that would be the good answer.

Thanks.

--john

[budgates]

Can't you tilt the OB also? I've found, on smaller boats, that ratcheting the bracket up, plus tilting the OB, brought the lower unit completely out of the water. Maybe not on a severe heel angle, with the OB mounted off-center, but that's the last thing I was thinking about when the rail was in the water.

The 26 classics have a small well for mounting the outboard (emphasis on small) rather than on a bracket. The problem that I found was that when tilted the outboard tiller would interfere with the front of the well.

I took care of this by making a different tiller for my Honda. Others have added brackets to raise the outboard a few inches which usually requires an extra long shaft.

My wife always gets nervous when I lean over the outboard to raise it so I have occasionally left it down while sailing. It seemed to slow us down about 1/2 a knot. It's up to you to decide if that is significant or not.

[Interim]

Mine has a longshaft with a bracket added on. The bracket lifts the motor about 6 inches, but I could use 6 more.

On your recommendation, if I understand your hint correctly, I will send my wife over the transom to tilt the motor.

--john

[yukonbob]

that extra drag is really gonna kill your fuel mileage

[Be Free]

My 26X with a Honda BF40 loses about 1/2 knot if I leave the engine down. You are probably losing less.

[mastreb]

No, it's not a significant amount of drag. My only worry would be corrosion if it sits in the water when unused.

[Interim]

My 26X with a Honda BF40 loses about 1/2 knot if I leave the engine down. You are probably losing less.

I take it you have a speedometer that you use to measure the difference. Thanks. That is good data.

Can I ask what types of speedometers people are using? Or, to put it another way, if you were to buy one now, what would you get? A wet device with a guage in the cockpit? A GPS? Others?

--john

[Be Free]

I have a paddle wheel speedometer that measures my speed through the water and a GPS device that measures speed over ground. Both display on the same screen at the helm.

If there is no significant current they stay pretty close together. I've seen both give wildly inaccurate speeds at times. I've seen a wave passing under the boat make the in-water reading claim I'm doing 12 knots under sail and I've had debris totally stop it. The GPS makes fewer mistakes but I've seen it log a position a mile from where I am and then jump back to my current position. When I look at the logs at the end of the day can show 1000 or more knots for a second or so.

As long as you understand what they are measuring and throw out the obviously erroneous data that either are capable of registering, then either (or in my case both) are useful tools. If you are primarily interested in knowing how long it's going to take you to get somewhere then the GPS (speed over ground) is more useful. I like knowing what forces are actually acting on the boat in order to obtain that speed over ground and the paddle wheel device shows me if there is a current that is impeding or assisting me.

A GPS only needs power; the paddle wheel needs a cable run to the transom so the GPS wins on ease of installation. In the end it's going to boil down to what you are trying to accomplish and how much work and money you want to put into accomplishing it. If I were to do it again I'd still put in both.

[budgates]

As Be Free stated, both can be useful. I would definitely recommend a GPS for reading speed over ground. As for myself speed through the water is less important so I'm not willing to install a paddlewheel. For those rare occasions that I do want to measure my speed through the water I use a cheap and simple knot stick. http://www.knotstick.com/

[mastreb]

Speed over water is really only important when racing, so you know the direction of current and can determine whether to keep trying to trim or not bother. I find that I sail entirely by tell-tales and windex, and only use the instruments to know that I'm actually getting all the speed I'll get for the wind and current I have.

[grady]

I have a paddle wheel speedometer that measures my speed through the water and a GPS device that measures speed over ground. Both display on the same screen at the helm.

You realy do not need a GPS for speed over ground, Everytime you try to go over ground it will be reading 0.0kts.

[grady]

Speed over water is really only important when racing, so you know the direction of current and can determine whether to keep trying to trim or not bother. I find that I sail entirely by tell-tales and windex, and only use the instruments to know that I'm actually getting all the speed I'll get for the wind and current I have.

So what you are saying is the speed over water is very important!

You know the saying, If two sail boats are going in the same direction they are racing!!!!!!!