More on tipping up the motor while sailing

aya16 · Post by **aya16** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 10:21 pm

Catigale in your case I would sail with it down, But in any other where you dont need the motor for me its up and disconnected.

what do the other sailboats do around you? the ones that dont have mass amount of hp to get them out of trouble.

Catigale · Post by **Catigale** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:11 am

When I was on Ontario and the Vineyard Sound last month, up went the motor (and off came the bracket)..the helm does feel great without the motor.

We dont get a lot of sailboats on the Upper Hudson, for the reasons cited above no doubt. The Hudson is wider down at Catskill, but thats a 4 hour trip for a keel boat, so no day sailing.

I can get there in an hour and a half if I want.

Somewhere out there is a keelboater on a beam reach for the rest of his life, who took 15 seconds to answer a post of mine on a newsgroup some 10 years ago..

Me: I live on the Hudson and want to cruise up and down the river ...why cant I get a bigger motor to get where i want to go faster?

Sailor: (explains hull speed) You should look at the Macgregor 26. Its a boat that can do both. Be warned, people will tell you all kind of bad things about this boat, while they are typing these things because of the limitations on their boats you will be sailing...

They Theirs · Post by **They Theirs** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:12 am

Aya16 says:
“Maintaining Boat speed for long periods while on the Autopilot always benefits from reducing drag by tipping up your engine.

mtc · Post by **mtc** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 5:00 am

Has anyone polled the number of our engine configs which leave the prop in the water when tilted up?

I thought everyone's prop came out of the water, guess I was wrong.

deacm · Post by **deacm** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 12:27 pm

I've been playing unscientifically with this myself just this week on Lake Champlain with my Odin which is about 900 pounds heavier than the Mac..........I found the 'drag' effect depended alot on the amount of wind. In low wind conditions it was a more of a drag than when the wind was 10-15. At the higher wind conditions the motor down maybe slowed the boat down by half a knot or less. I like keeping it down not only for emergency start purposes but it balances better and doesn't lend itself to the Fosburgh "Flop" as much......of course mine is a 400+# Suzuki 90 which is a little top heavy anyway

Don T · Post by **Don T** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:19 am

Hello,
There are so many variables. If your helm is not balanced so it can be at center then you will experience more noticeble drag when the motor is lowered. If you boat is experiencing lots of drag the motor will seem insignificant. However as you reduce drag by redistributing weight, standing rigging / mast position, sail trim, board trim, rudder parallelizm etc. then the motor drag becomes a significant factor. Personally, I experience a lot of drag with my motor down.

delevi · Post by **delevi** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 1:32 pm

Tilted up & disconnected always when sailing. Just the light helm feel alone is well worth it, speed gain is a nice bonus. It takes about 10 seconds to tilt the motor down if you need it in a pinch and the rudders can steer the boat at 5 mph while the engine is still disconnected. I belive it was Aya16 who said that once you sail disconnected, you won't go back. I second that.

Leon

mtc · Post by **mtc** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 7:13 pm

There's got to be a slicker way to disco the steering to the motor w/o lifting the cockpit seat.

Anyone figure this out?

baldbaby2000 · Post by **baldbaby2000** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:11 pm

I tried mine last weekend. I went from about 5 knots with the motor up to 4.5 knots with it down. I don't normally sail with it down. That's right up there with sailing with your fenders hanging out.

aya16 · Post by **aya16** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 12:49 pm

yep sailing with the fenders out...and red neck fish finder (3 sticks of dynamite taped together with a short fuse) and leaving your engine down
while sailing.

mtc · Post by **mtc** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 9:43 am

baldbaby2000 wrote:I don't normally sail with it down. That's right up there with sailing with your fenders hanging out.

Never could understand what was wrong with that, leaving the fenders off the rails while underway. . .

bad taste? It's so easy.

No good place to stow them, all wet, nasty, no cockpit lockers,

etc.

pokerrick1 · Post by **pokerrick1** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 11:04 am

mtc wrote:
baldbaby2000 wrote: No good place to stow them, all wet, nasty, no cockpit lockers,
etc.

I stow my fenders (I only need two starboard) in a standard WM blue mesh (that makes the boat go faster) dual fender bag that hangs around the safety line and looks great.

Rick

baldbaby2000 · Post by **baldbaby2000** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 11:45 am

I don't really look down on people that leave fenders down. As I get older I may start doing it too. I remember when I was a teenager my Dad used to dress like a nerd and embarrass me. Plaid shorts with striped shirt, black socks, etc. I used to think, "doesn't he know how bad that looks?" Now I realize that he knew, he just didn't care. I realize that now because I tend to dress the same way, put on whatever is convenient. A few more years and I'll be sailing with my fenders down.

BB

Post by **kmclemore** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 1:11 pm

baldbaby2000 wrote:I remember when I was a teenager my Dad used to dress like a nerd and embarrass me. Plaid shorts with striped shirt, black socks, etc. I used to think, "doesn't he know how bad that looks?" Now I realize that he knew, he just didn't care. BB

Yep! I find as I get older that there's two sets of folks that don't give a dang what you think of them... little kids and old folks. And frankly, IMHO it's the only good thing about growing old!

mtc · Post by **mtc** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 5:28 pm

baldbaby2000 wrote: I remember when I was a teenager my Dad used to dress like a nerd and embarrass me. Plaid shorts with striped shirt, black socks, etc. I used to think, "doesn't he know how bad that looks?" Now I realize that he knew, he just didn't care. BB

Ah, as we mature we do get wiser, eh? We've four daughters and they all think the same way. My Dad used to look like Henry Kissenger. Black glasses, white shirts, etc. Not at all cool like I was in the '60s with my bell bottom pants, ridiculous shirts and those flat buffalo sandals we'd get in the head shops that hurt like hull, but damn did I look cool.

Now I don't really care much about any of that, and even have worn my Crocks to work to the horror of everyone. The General Manager came up to me and asked me how I got up the nerve to do that. I thought I'd get a lecture on dress code, but he just said that his wife bought him a pair - most comfortable shoes he has - but he said he didn't want to look funny wearing them. He said it was good that I was confident enough to pull it off.

pokerrick - any pics of the fender bag?

Michael

MacGregorSailors.com

MacGregorSailors.com

More on tipping up the motor while sailing

Fenders