Outboard on a 30' Narrowboat?

[Fozzi in Lancashire]

Hi Everyone, still searching for the right narrowboat. Looked at a few Springers, (thanks for all your replies from my last post) but poor hulls and not in good condition. Looking at a few more now,(not Springers) one Eastern Caravans 30' & the other Mick Sievewright builders 27'. Both have 15 hp Honda engines, just thinking whether these will have enough power to push these along and more important, stop them! I had an Atlanta 24 a few years ago with a Yamaha 9.9hp which pushed it along quite nicely. Obviously with a steel hull there's quite a bit more weight. Another thing with the Yamaha I was using approx 1 litre per hour steady cruising, what can I expect from these Honda engines on a narrowboat? Are they just as economical or am I best looking at an inboard engine? Look forward to your comments. Thanks everyone. Fozzi.

[Neil2]

A Honda 15 works very well on a Springer Waterbug, but V shaped hull low draught and under three tons

I think a flat floor 30 foot NB is definitely over the limit for a Honda 15, and fuel consumption will be more than a litre an hour - think about fuel storage and how/where you would get it. 

Doubtless someone will tell you they have an o/b powered 30 footer and it works fine but it's more likely they have just got used to it. 

[David Mack]

There are petrol stations near the canal, but most will only sell you 10 litres at a time in cans, and you have to carry it back to the boat.

An outboard will have very limited electricity generating capacity and won't provide domestic hot water. A water cooled inboard diesel will solve all of these issues.

[zenataomm]

Quite a regular question, the main issues for and against have been pointed out to you above.

You might want to look at some of these to see what has been said in the past .........

Click here

[zenataomm]

Then put something like outboard + narrowboat in the search field.  You'll find around 10 pages.