M26S Motor suggestions

[paulkayak]

I got my Mac 26S with no motor and I have been borrowing a friends 6 merc that is not exactly suited for the boat. (Unable to slow the boat in a tail wind.)
I am looking for advise to help find a motor that would fit in the motor well and not hit the transom when maneuvering, without adding a bracket. What Power, drive, and prop set up have people found works. Is there any difference in the merc regular drive or the big foot option. Most dealers in this area do not understand the needs of a sailboat.
If there is already a discussion on this topic could you please excuse my ignorance and point me to it. every thing I search for returns the message "The following words in your search query were ignored because they are too common words"

[grady]

"Unable to slow down in a tail wind' I am guessing you can not spin the motor around for reverse due to the shaft not being long enought.

Any outboard with a long shaft should work it just depends on what you want from a outboard. If all you are looking for is to motor out of the slip/ramp and back the smaller the better. If you can not find a long shaft that will spin around the find the smallist one wtih a reverse gear. You will still need to watch your rudder motor interferance they will hit if steered the opposite way. If you are planing to use the motor to move the boat long distances I would get a 8 to 9.9. If you are wanting to use the motor to charge the batteries look at the amp output for charging. Also look at the gear ratio you want a higer number/lower geard to swing a larger diameter prop for effecentcy.

I have the Yamaha T9.9 four stroke It is heavy but works really well. It swings an 11x9 prop that will push the boat really well. It also has 15A output for charging.

[FinallySailing]

Hi,

I have a Tohatsu 6HP saildrive on "Rockhopper". Powerful enough and the size just about is ok for the motor well. It also charges my battery. Ok, it still hits the sides but definitely better than then old clunky 8HP 2 smoke Mercury that I had before. I actually bought the ultra longshaft and am planning to build a bracket to allow even easier steering, similar to what Sum did (whatever I will do, it will never ever look as great as his, he is the Mac-gician):

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... de-25.html

[taime1]

efore my , I had a 1990 26S (was a great sail, too), and it came with what I think was the original 8hp Mariner 2-stroke. It was a great light motor that moved the boat quite well, but the tiller did get jammed up in the engine well if you tried to steer with it. I was thinking of getting a 9.9 or possibly even a 15hp 4-stroke, but I never did make the switch because I sold it and picked up the .

I think the 15hp might have been slight overkill, and a bit of a waste of fuel and that I had ultimately figured the 9.9 was what I wanted.

Do miss the S sailing ability though.

[taime1]

Before my , I had a 1990 26S (was a great sail, too), and it came with what I think was the original 8hp Mariner 2-stroke, 20" shaft. It was a great light motor that moved the boat quite well, but the tiller did get jammed up in the engine well if you tried to steer with it. I was thinking of getting a 9.9 or possibly even a 15hp 4-stroke, but I never did make the switch because I sold it and picked up the .

I think the 15hp might have been slight overkill, and a bit of a waste of fuel and that I had ultimately figured the 9.9 was what I wanted.

Do miss the S sailing ability though.

[Steve K]

My Honda 8 is great (4 stroke)

It's an older one, but last year I tore it down and put all new seals and gaskets in it (was leaking oil BADLY )

Only problem is...... it's only going to last about another hundred years (Great OB)

I built a linkage to turn rudder and OB with main tiller. I keep the OB tiller straight up and only use it as a throttle. Works great

SK

[paulkayak]

I have been looking into boat motors since the fall when we got the boat.
I think the the merc bigfoot 9.9 is our best choice. The merc is the only motor I found that has power lift and electric start with tiller steer and all the controls are at the end of the tiller. The 9.9 bigfoot model has the bigger foot of the 15 hp and has a 20% bigger prop and lower gear ratio for bigger heavier boats like sailboats. The exhaust is also diverted when in reverse so the prop stays in clean water, and not spinning in a mix of gas and water, increasing traction in reverse. The other motors I have looked at have the same setup for small light boats going fast and big heavy boats going slower. The merc is also hundreds cheaper but price is not a deciding factor
The reason for all the power options is that when getting underway, Taking down the sail, and in a crux I have to do everything at the motor and on deck at the same time because my wife does not have the strength, comfort on the water, or confidence to work the motor or get on deck in adverse conditions.
Any insight?

[Sumner]

..Any insight?

Tohatsu makes the Merc now so you might want to compare them also....

http://www.onlineoutboards.com/Tohatsu- ... oards.html

....as you can see they also offer the power tilt and maybe the rest of what you want. The Merc is the 9.8 HP Tohatsu and we have the extra long shaft but not the remote controls or power tilt. I added a lift that Ruth can work and....



... also extended controls for her along with a quick attach link that ties the tiller to the outboard tiller for really good control while docking. It is all down this index page a ways.

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... index.html

We really like the motor a lot and in 3 months on the water it ran perfect. We took the high thrust prop off that came with it and carry it as a spare and put on a 4 blade 7 pitch that has worked well and it is higher thrust compared to the other props for the outboard. The high thrust would work on boats twice the weight of ours.

Ruth was reluctant at first to take control of the boat, but once she started she now does 90% of the helm work and took right....



...to the Endeavour,

Sum

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