Thread: what size aux outboard?

what size aux motor would suit a 5m pontoon?

4to8 I'd say

Originally Posted by Munsey

4to8 I'd say

how do they perform on the bigger boats? are we talking limping back or could we make it back resonably fast in a bit of a chop and wind?

Do you need one?
Yea -6-8hp
I have only ever needed an aux once a 6hp on a 6m took about 4 hours to cover 15 miles in perfect weather.

So if weather is bad and against you reach for the radio cos you will be going backwards!

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Do you need one?
Yea -6-8hp
I have only ever needed an aux once a 6hp on a 6m took about 4 hours to cover 15 miles in perfect weather.

So if weather is bad and against you reach for the radio cos you will be going backwards!

yeah im on the hunt for one, ill mostly only be going on good days but as they say plan for the worst but hope for the best.

My advice is if you know the history of your main and it is good,keep up the matanance,use it,get a good marine radio and flares and spend the money you would have spent on an aux that will rot on the back of your boat on fishin g gear and fuel

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

My advice is if you know the history of your main and it is good,keep up the matanance,use it,get a good marine radio and flares and spend the money you would have spent on an aux that will rot on the back of your boat on fishin g gear and fuel

haha yeah well that is a nice thought i guess the main motor is a 75 merc, its mint been well looked after. the guy i bought it off said he used to go 50-60 miles offshore with only the main motor, thats fucking mental if you ask me. tells you he had confidence in it tho

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

My advice is if you know the history of your main and it is good,keep up the matanance,use it,get a good marine radio and flares and spend the money you would have spent on an aux that will rot on the back of your boat on fishin g gear and fuel

Yep, when I said I was going to buy an Aux for my boat to its previous owner he asked if I had a spare motor for my car?? So I follow VC's school of thought, I don't skimp on the maintenance ever, Have flares, EPIRP, VHF, Cellphone Carry spare fuel. Dual batteries, ya da ya da ya da. And about to join local coastguard. If it breaks and I need a tow then I won't feel bad calling them but it is unlikely as the Yamaha SWS are fairly Reliable motors anyway

got a 7.5 on the back of my figlass dominator, 5mtr fiberglass.
with it on full noise I can get about 8 kmph on a flat calm lake.
an aux is there for trawling at low speeds, quite and cheap running. that they could get you home in a pinch is a bonus but I would rather rely on my main, than hope to have calm enough weather to trawl back to the ramp when the big motor shits it.
I have done plenty of fishing going to all sorts of far reaching spots with no help potentially for days, this is the first boat I have had that has a aux.
greg

I've got a 8 hp on my 5.6 fibreglass boat, use it for trolling, it's got enough grunt to control the boat in the wind, bugger when you have a smaller motor and can't fight the wind

Be less helicopter crashes if they did carry an Aux motor

I think some helicopters do have a back up motor. Pretty sure that's what they were saying on that heli rescue program over in England

Originally Posted by Toby

I think some helicopters do have a back up motor. Pretty sure that's what they were saying on that heli rescue program over in England

Back up at the Hanger?

Originally Posted by Toby

I think some helicopters do have a back up motor. Pretty sure that's what they were saying on that heli rescue program over in England

The rescue helicopters are required to be twin engined.

Generally so far locally you seem to be able to tell the boats which may have issues by the way they look / general condition. I would suspect their Aux's would be no different, we had one come in with a wasps nest in it!!

Also most Auxs are really too small to be useful on anything but a calm day with no wind and tide. They don't have enough oooomph to properly and safely control the direction of travel.

My motor might one day give me trouble but I will have done everything to try and avoid it. If we are going way offshore there would be more than one boat going anyway.