boat 'wing' engine

[Gary Stacey]

I recently broke down on the tidal trent in my barge and as a result of this experience am considering fitting a 'wing' engine to my boat. The boat in question is a flat bottom 55' x 10' barge whcih has a perkins 6354 as its main propulsion unit. I was cosidering something along the lines of a 20HP diesel driving its own prop. I have seen such an arrangement on see going boats but never on a barge. Has anyone any experience with this? What about the helpful chaps at ledgard bridge?

 

regards

 

Gary

[Sir Nibble]

I once suffered a breakdown on holiday in western France with a yacht. We clamped a bit of board on the stern ladder and put the little dinghy outboard on it. Slow, but it worked fine for manouvering when not under sail. After the fault was fixed, the board and its clamps became part of the equipment carried for emergencies.

[Maverick]

I once suffered a breakdown on holiday in western France with a yacht. We clamped a bit of board on the stern ladder and put the little dinghy outboard on it. Slow, but it worked fine for manouvering when not under sail. After the fault was fixed, the board and its clamps became part of the equipment carried for emergencies.

 

Agree small outboards could get you out of trouble on the canals but a big un would be needed to cope with tidal waters as mentioned in the OP. Not sure if an outboard would be much use on a narrowboat on any river with a reasonable flow

[Yoda]

In the first instance, look after your main engine and fuel system.

[magnetman]

A honda 8 is capable of pushing a 70ft nb against a bit of river flow (a friend of mine tried it in the summer flooding) but they are a bit heavy to fit when needed, it'd have to be a permanent fixture. High thrust Honda 15 would push a 60ftx12ft wide boat I reckon, as a backup.A honda 8 is capable of pushing a 70ft nb against a bit of river flow (a friend of mine tried it in the summer flooding) but they are a bit heavy to fit when needed, it'd have to be a permanent fixture. High thrust Honda 15 would push a 60ftx12ft wide boat I reckon, as a backup.

[Sir Nibble]

Agree small outboards could get you out of trouble on the canals but a big un would be needed to cope with tidal waters as mentioned in the OP. Not sure if an outboard would be much use on a narrowboat on any river with a reasonable flow

8.8metre yacht, 2hp yamaha, bay of biscay.

[chris w]

Yep, if you run the maths and make some assumptions like RPM = 2000, and that the power may be half of the quoted HP at those revs, then one can calculate the torque and the acceleration for a say 5 ton yacht. It works in theory as well as practice. Not supersonic but it will get you along.

 

Chris

[howardang]

I recently broke down on the tidal trent in my barge and as a result of this experience am considering fitting a 'wing' engine to my boat. The boat in question is a flat bottom 55' x 10' barge whcih has a perkins 6354 as its main propulsion unit. I was cosidering something along the lines of a 20HP diesel driving its own prop. I have seen such an arrangement on see going boats but never on a barge. Has anyone any experience with this? What about the helpful chaps at ledgard bridge?

 

regards

 

Gary

Gary, do you have a dinghy on the barge with an outboard? If so, a better option would be to lash the small boat alotow the barge by side towing (sometimes called hipping). It would be quicker to rig than trying to hang an outboard over the stern.

 

Howard Anguish

[Guest]

Not really relevant, but a guy near us moved a Liverpool wide beam some distance with an old Seagull 40 plus a few years ago. I doubt if I would have believed it had I not witnessed it. It is said though that the samllest seagulls have brought fairly large stricken boats home from sea on many occasions. Another guy by us moves a small butty with a 40plus.

[Adam]

Is it a ex sand barge by any chance?

 

Personally i would have something larger. What about steering the outboards ETC?

[Sir Nibble]

What about steering the outboards ETC?

You don't, you use the rudder. Worked fine on a yacht, dunno what it would be like on a narrowboat with no propwash over the rudder.

[Timleech]

I recently broke down on the tidal trent in my barge and as a result of this experience am considering fitting a 'wing' engine to my boat. The boat in question is a flat bottom 55' x 10' barge whcih has a perkins 6354 as its main propulsion unit. I was cosidering something along the lines of a 20HP diesel driving its own prop. I have seen such an arrangement on see going boats but never on a barge. Has anyone any experience with this?

 

regards

 

Gary

 

 

I've no experience of this, but I did once own a 4-cylinder National engine (double the usual Narrow Boat National) which had been a wing engine on a barge. I believe the main engine had been a larger model of National, which had a small petrol engine with friction drive onto the flywheel for starting. The 'barge' was actually the last (allegedly) Billy Boy to be working, finished its days as a sand barge on the Clyde.

 

Sorry, no help to you

 

Tim

[JohnT]

On the Nofolk Broads this year I saw on a couple of occassions one of the resident wherries (large sailing Barge for those not in the know)being propelled by the outboard motor (probably only a few horsepower) still on the tender tied to the rear quarter of the boat (no wind to sail), only managing 1-2 mph but when you consider the size and displacement of a wherrie no mean feat.

JohnT

 

edited for spelling!

Edited November 8, 2007 by JohnT