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Princess Auxiliary Power


Joe Anderson

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Got it- I'll give you a yell tomorrow. Been really nasty down here too. Not as bad as others, but for us, bad. Houston has had freezing rain FIVE times this winter season- That's absolutely astonishing.  It just doesn't DO that here. Well, Maybe once in 3 -4  years, but FIVE times??? Never hit us- the line was always 25, 30 miles east, but got plenty nasty anyway .32, 33 degrees and drizzle, with 30, 35 mph winds wind SUX.

 

Hell- it snowed in Louisiana and Mississippi, on the gulf, TWICE so far. 

 

I've been watching the east coast- you guys have been getting HAMMERED.

 

Hopefully, it's winding down and we can go back to doing things outside again.

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  • 2 years later...

I have a very related question, so I'll be bold and resurrect this thread :-).

 

I'm planning to build a Princess 26 a few years from now.  In the meantime, I'm still sailing my Tanzer 22.

 

I'm looking to re-power the Tanzer this winter, and would prefer if I can swap the motor over when the time comes.

 

I've seen one posting that the shaft-length option for an outboard in a well on the P26 is short (15 inches).

 

What I'm wondering is... can I get away with a 20" shaft length?  That's my target for the Tanzer.

 

Any thoughts appreciated!

 

Melissa

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The plans for the P26 have the motor in a well, situated between the transom and the aft most bulkhead. Rather than tilting the motor up on it's own bracket as is most often the case, it is to be installed on a bracket or track, and raised and lowered vertically. In theory, you could use the same long shaft motor by mounting the bracket higher, but that raises two issue. One is that even with the short shaft motor, when fully raised, it will be up against the tiller as is. Second is if you raise if higher, you raise the weight of the engine block higher, which starts to alter the center of gravity.

 

Plan B is to do as Wayne did and mount the motor in a well that is offset from the centerline and make a cut in the transom. Then tilt the motor on it's own bracket.

 

Plan C would be to mount it on the transom, but I can already hear the howls of protest on that one. Consider that the option of last resort.

 

I have also looked at mounting a motor as far forward as possible in the well then tilting it as high as it will go, knowing the tip of the skeg may drag a bit. As long as you get the prop to clear, it may not matter. But that is with a short shaft motor.

 

BTW, there was some recent discussion on how big of a motor for the P26. Latest consensus was a 6hp may be all that is needed 90% of the time. For many motors, the 4, 5 and 6 are the same engine block, so about the same overall weight. One step up and the 8 and 9.9 are also the same engine. With 4 stroke engines, the weight of the larger engines starts to become an issue.

 

I can think of one instance when the 9.9 would have been my preference over a smaller engine and that was when dealing with a sudden storm squall and about 5 to 10 minutes of 60 to 70 mph winds. I was at the helm of a heavy 26' glass boat and had the diesel engine running full throttle and it was all we could do to keep her pointing into those waves. On the other hand, with the Princess, given enough time to prepare, I probably could have doused the main, put two reefs in the mizzen and hove to and it would have worked out just as well.....even with no engine.

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Regarding the hybrid discussion earlier in the thread.

I like the concept of an electric drive married to a small diesel generator and modest AGM battery bank.  For short periods of operation or even motor sailing you could run on battery power.  Longer and full speed runs would require generator run as would recharging the batteries.  I suspect the combined efficiencies of a Diesel engine and high torque low-speed prop would be good enough to make up for the additional steps of generating electrical power and running the DC motor.   Generator speed could be automatically modulated to maintain voltage offering good part load efficiency, propeller and charging could occur simultaneously, and AGM batteries can be rapidly recharged to near full capacity with the generator and later floated when you get back to the dock. Overall system would be quiet, safe, efficient, and expensive.   I toyed with it for a little while and stopped at the expensive part.

It will be interesting if someone develops a packaged hybrid solution for sail boats.     

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Lots of useful information and good ideas.  I am thinking that you can use the tilt function of the out board by cutting a slot in the transom to accommodate the forward tilt of the motor. This provides an opportunity to move the motor a littler further aft if desired, and freeing up some additional room in the cockpit.

 

This would require using twin rudders, which I don't think complicates things too much.  Just a thought. 

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On my Princess 22, I could tilt my short shaft 6hp Evinrude all the way up and install an "aperture plug" in the "hole" in the hull bottom while sailing. The transom was cut out just high enough for exhaust gases to exit above the waterline, but the motor did not project through the transom at all. in practice, I usually just tilted the motor, but left the plug out. It was a bit noisier with the water flow "burbling" a bit in the motor well, but the opening didn't seem to be hurt the sailing qualities at all.

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Good point. On the Princess 22, there is enough room for the outboard to tilt up and out of the way.

 

On the Princess 26, there is not enough room to tilt the outboard. I think I asked Graham about it and he said something to the effect of the #5 bulkhead was placed where it needed to be and the best solution for the motor was to have it raise and lower vertically in the space that was left.

 

Some of the benefits of having the motor in a well at the aft end of the cockpit is it is handy and you have access to all the controls right there. It can be turned side to side, so enhances steering in tight quarters.......the boat might spin around in it's own length. The motor also sits lower and forward of the transom so the prop is not likely to come out of the water to suck air.....ventilation......and spin out........(with a nod to the "cavitation" terminology police). 

 

There does need to be a way to cover the slot or less likely, cover the outboard well, so as to reduce the water noise. Most modern era 4 strokes will run pretty quiet.

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