What’s this for?

[Norman Lives]

Sorry, another question 🙄😂. What is this item on the rear of the boat?

[rusty69]

It's an outboard motor bracket. 

Edited August 30, 2022 by rusty69

[Tracy D'arth]

Its a water skier step.

[rusty69]

1 minute ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Its a water skier step.

Stop that Sam. You will get yourself a bad reputation like what I have got. 

[Norman Lives]

15 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Its a water skier step.

Lol... I did think it was a kind of step when I first saw it 🤣

[David Mack]

41 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

It's an outboard motor bracket. 

Somewhere to fit a spare motor as a get-you-home insurance in the event of breakdown of the main engine. Maybe prudent if you are in the habit of going out to sea, but hardly necessary on the canal.

[rusty69]

22 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Somewhere to fit a spare motor as a get-you-home insurance in the event of breakdown of the main engine. Maybe prudent if you are in the habit of going out to sea, but hardly necessary on the canal.

 

That is true. Where we keep our sailboat on the coast, many of the small yachts have an inboard diesel engine and a backup petrol outboard on the transom/ Stern (rear of the boat).

[Tracy D'arth]

Or a fishing platform for the gnome?

 

Hydrofoil to counteract the torque of the outboard?  Whatever its pretty superfluous on a canal boat, unless you have a gnome.

[zenataomm]

It is as described above to carry an auxiliary outboard.

It is cantilevered  to sit in two positions, high as shown and low.

When low the outboard would be in use, and when raised, clear of the water so causes no drag.

[BilgePump]

The fact that it doesn't have a spare outboard on it suggests that your main Honda 20 should prove to be pretty reliable. Agree that there's no need to carry a spare motor on the canals where you can drift or pole yourself into the side.

[Mike Hurley]

Good place to carry the dingy engine, if you have a dingy/tender that is.

[pete.i]

46 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

The fact that it doesn't have a spare outboard on it suggests that your main Honda 20 should prove to be pretty reliable. Agree that there's no need to carry a spare motor on the canals where you can drift or pole yourself into the side.

Load of rubbish being talked here. Of course an outboard is useful. It's all very well saying you can pole yourself to the side or drift but what if you ten miles or more from a marina base. Are you going to bow haul your boat that far. I bow hauled mine, which I no longer have, a mile or so and it was knackering. Also what about if you are on a river and heading for that wier? If you have the facility then, in some circumstances, an out board could be a veritable life saver. And Hondas reliable LOL that's a laugh.

[rusty69]

And a very good reason we have 2 engines fitted to our car. 

 

I'm about to have a third installed, just in case. 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

You're all wrong. It's the stern fender. 😀

 

14 minutes ago, pete.i said:

I bow hauled mine, which I no longer have, a mile or so and it was knackering.

This is why sensible boaters always have a horse on board, for just this eventuality.

[Tony Brooks]

21 minutes ago, pete.i said:

I bow hauled mine, which I no longer have, a mile or so and it was knackering

 

If you really did bow haul it no wonder it was knackering. Next time try stern hauling it forward and use the bow line to keep it in the channel and stop it sheering into the opposite bank.

[BilgePump]

11 hours ago, pete.i said:

Load of rubbish being talked here. Of course an outboard is useful. It's all very well saying you can pole yourself to the side or drift but what if you ten miles or more from a marina base. Are you going to bow haul your boat that far. I bow hauled mine, which I no longer have, a mile or so and it was knackering. Also what about if you are on a river and heading for that wier? If you have the facility then, in some circumstances, an out board could be a veritable life saver. And Hondas reliable LOL that's a laugh.

Did that with a 60' steel boat a few years ago. Hard work but possible for even a short arse like me. A small GRP boat is like pulling a shopping trolley. Easy peasy.

[Norman Lives]

Thanks everyone. Don’t think I’ll be putting a gnome or a spare horse on it but get the drift lol.... yes boat is just on inland waters. 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

On 31/08/2022 at 08:47, Tony Brooks said:

 

If you really did bow haul it no wonder it was knackering. Next time try stern hauling it forward and use the bow line to keep it in the channel and stop it sheering into the opposite bank.

I’ve done it that way a few times, once you get the boat started it’s easy enough but Id not like to have to do it now with all the trees and bushes growing up from the bank. 

[BilgePump]

6 minutes ago, Goliath said:

I’ve done it that way a few times, once you get the boat started it’s easy enough but Id not like to have to do it now with all the trees and bushes growing up from the bank. 

I found it worked well using Tony's stern pulling line plus bow guide line technique, on stretches of our local canal, but imagine on more congested waters it would be a pain because of all the moored boats and whatnot on the tops of them. Size of the boat being hauled when coming up to moored boats isn't the issue, it's getting past them.

 

27 minutes ago, Norman Lives said:

Thanks everyone. Don’t think I’ll be putting a gnome or a spare horse on it but get the drift lol.... yes boat is just on inland waters. 

It's good that you've already got the aux bracket fitted. If you ever do have a problem with the main outboard, when away from the marina, you can beg/borrow/buy a little one to go on there to get back home without first having to remove the Honda which comes in around the 50kg mark.

[Barneyp]

On 31/08/2022 at 08:23, pete.i said:

Load of rubbish being talked here. Of course an outboard is useful. It's all very well saying you can pole yourself to the side or drift but what if you ten miles or more from a marina base. Are you going to bow haul your boat that far. I bow hauled mine, which I no longer have, a mile or so and it was knackering. Also what about if you are on a river and heading for that wier? If you have the facility then, in some circumstances, an out board could be a veritable life saver. And Hondas reliable LOL that's a laugh.

The thought of using a back up outboard to avoid a weir if the main engine fails scares me.

With the best will in the world is the back up going to be fully maintained so that it will start first pull? and even if it does will it have the power to get away from the weir, especially as steering will be difficult(the outboard will need to be turned by hand by someone who can't see where they're going)

Rather than a spare outboard, spend the money maintaining the main outboard, and on the correct anchor, chain and rope combination in case something goes wrong near a weir.

If you brake down miles from your mooring it should be possible to bow haul to near a road to make it easier for you or an engineer to fix the problem or attach a borrowed outboard.

Edited September 3, 2022 by Barneyp
They're not there

[ditchcrawler]

Are we talking plastic cruisers or 15 tone plus steel narrowboats here with escaping from weirs with an outboard.

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Just now, ditchcrawler said:

Are we talking plastic cruisers or 15 tone plus steel narrowboats here with escaping from weirs with an outboard.

 

A set of paddles on a cruiser would suffice?

or am I talking rollocks?

[Barneyp]

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

Are we talking plastic cruisers or 15 tone plus steel narrowboats here with escaping from weirs with an outboard.

 

We're talking plastic cruisers, the main issue for me would be getting it to start, you could waste a lot of time moving the canopy and other stuff out the way only to find it won't start.

[manxmike]

You could always fit an ejection seat to escape the weir, or maybe the rocket from one of NASAs failed moon shot attempts so the boat can be saved as well as the Captain. You have to wonder if one extra outboard would be enough - if it fails to start then the second (or third or fourth) spare outboard could be lifted into position. By which time of course the boat has gone over the weir and everybody on board has drowned, the cooker (which was on) has set fire to the boat, the gas cylinder explodes destroying the nearby cottage, killing the occupants.

Ooops, I think I may be drifting a bit - maybe I need a spare engine ..........