Marinette Boat Forum

Just wondering whats involved and how practical it is to possibly install a kicker motor on the swim platform.
If a big enough motor would fit would it be good for cruising longer distances saving fuel and wear on the V8 motors?
If it could get up to 6 to 8 knots or so running at low enough rpm that might be a nice option to extend cruising range.
I seem to remember a post years ago where someone was going to beef up the swim platform and install two outboards and do away with the stock motors altogether. I wonder if that ever came to fruition.....
My boat is a 1987 32" FB

You would need a 20-25 hp kicker to be able to move the boat 6-8 mph. It would use less fuel than the v8's, but that little motor would be screaming away and probably get annoying after a little bit.

Someone converted their big M to outboards, but they had to massively beef up the transom.

Not sure an outboard would deliver superior mpg with those two props dragging in the water. Seriously; and it'd have to be a 4 stroke OB at the very least.

Jeff

I wonder what the performance with a couple 35 horsepower outboards that were slightly over propped would give you if the V8 motors and props were removed. Certainly would be a lot lighter.....
Just thinking/wondering at this point....never gonna happen to my boat in reality.....ive got 2 good motors and kinda like going fast sometimes...
It would be interesting to see what would give 8 to 10 knots and long distance cruising ability without going deisel

Mercury does have outboard diesels btw. Not sure they are any good though.

It have often wondered what a pair of Honda 50 FS outboards would do in a great loop setup with a huge center fuel tank for long range.

We have a Honda 60 on a MacGregor sailboat with no mast, which is 26' long and 7.5' wide and weighs about 3500 lbs loaded. At 3000 rpm it pushes the boat 8 mph. It has a 14 inch X 9 pitch prop. Max speed empty with 2 people is 20 mph, loaded max speed is 12 mph. At 8 mph it uses 1 gph at max loaded speed of 12 mph it uses 5 gph. We did the great loop in 2016 on the MacGregor. Hope this is helpful with your question.

Richard

Sailboat speeds are very much governed by hill design - not by motor power alone

Mercury Diesel Outboards are not offered in the US market due to EPA regulations.

One of the guys on the Marinette Facebook page posted this video awhile back. It's a 9.9 hp outboard mounted to the swim platform for fishing/trolling. He got about 2 mph out of it.

https://www.facebook.com/bryan.oetting/ ... =2&theater

Not sure if the video will open properly if you are not a member of that particular FB page. Seems to be a nice setup though.

I am considering one day adding a 25hp kicker as a "get home" motor since I have a single engine boat.

There's also this link to a post from an owner who repowered with a 200hp Yamaha. I remember him reporting that it performed very well. Click the link and scroll down a little bit for a picture.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=221&p=3890&hilit=ou ... ower#p3890