smaller engines

[winlo123]

I do not own a Mac but I am researching and like what I am finding out about these boats. Does anyone have any perfomance data on lower horsepower eng? Something around 25-30 H.P. Does the boat handle well when not on plane? Does the bow rise too high and stern dig in when at low power?

[Scott]

I Had a 40 horse behind mine and it handled well at all throttle settings. Never rode bow high.

[Richard O'Brien]

I have a 25 hp Mercury. I switched from my 60 hp thinking I could get better racing performance. There is no way you'll ever get on plane with a 25. all you get is about 7 kts. and a huge bow wave, and everybody yelling at you. I don't think it made much of a difference sailing either. I still can't sail against any other boats in light air. The only time My M competes is when the wind is consistently 10-20 kts. Any less and she can't overcome the ballast weight.

[Terry]

After having a smaller engine you may find occasion to wish you had gone bigger, but after having a bigger engine you will never find yourself wishing you had gone smaller.

[James V]

It really depends on what you want to use your boat for. Long trips of fast speed.

50 hp lightly loaded
90 hp fully loaded.

Speeds below 8 mph
25 hp to 15 hp, Biggest and lowest pitch prop you can get.

[Finn]

I have a Mercury 8 HP engine on my "M" and I'm happy to report that it works very well. It gets me in and out of the harbor and it gets me back to the harbor when the wind dies off. It is not linked to the helm for steering like the larger engines and it has a pull start. I have to reach over the back of the aft seat to operate the throttle as well. Once we get under way, I pull it up and do not use it again until I return to the harbor. It is easy on gas (app. 0.8 gallon per hour) and moves the boat at about 7 knots.

As I'm very new to sailing, I'm trying to learn how to make the most out of the wind - even when there isn't much.

Finn

[Love MACs]

Finn will that 8hp give you enough push to empty the ballast??? That has always been my concern with a small engine.


Allan

[Finn]

Allan,

I open the fore and aft water ballast vents when I'm tied up and waiting to retrieve the boat unto the trailer (I'm not sure if any water drains out at this point). I do not motor the boat unto the trailer - I simply pull it on by hand using the bow line to guide the boat and a mate at the stern line to propel it forward. I then hook it up to the trailer and gently winch it as far forward as possible. At this point, the bow is elevated and the water is beginning to drain out. After about 1-2 minutes, I slowly pull the trailer and boat out of the water and allow the rest of the ballast water to drain out right on the ramp. This takes about 3-4 minutes which is usually enough time to move most of our gear from the boat to the car.

Finn

[Love MACs]

Not to beat the point to death...but wondered if you could empty the ballast while motoring I understand ure method of dumping the ballast while loading the boat and would think that would work well. I was just thinking that a small motor would push better, when not using the sails, and if the ballast was empty. Question in my mind is do you have enough power to empty it (ballast) while still on the water And wondering what the smallest hp motor you could use to do same?


Allan

[Finn]

Allan,

I'm sorry that I misunderstood your original question. I have not sailed w/o a full ballast and I have not tried to empty the ballast when under way under power.

So, I do not know if it would be possible to empty the ballast while motoring with 8 HP. I do know that moving at 6-7 knots does not raise the bow up high like I see others with the larger motors and at greater speeds.

I'm not sure why you would want to sail w/o ballast unless you do so while motoring and with the sails down? Do you sail "empty" when motoring and "full" when under sail?

It seems that I do not have an answer for you, Allan.

Finn

[craiglaforce]

There are other ways to empty ballast on the water if you choose to use a small engine that will not empty the ballast. (the engine has to be powerful enough to get the front of the boat to climb up on the bow wave a bit which lifts the front of the ballast tank and starts the draining process. Not sure what motor size would be needed to do this, but probably around 30 hp at least.

If you search you should find posts about using a raft inflator to blow the tank empty (like a submarine) or you can fit a PVC pipe tee to the aft drain , and cap the bottom part to make a little sump for a little sump pump to pump out the ballast.

Personally I never use the 50 hp motor for anything other than pushing the boat at around 6 knot (ballasted with the rudders down and a little centerboard down.) Control is great like that.

Madd Mike I think fitted 2 - 10 hp motors to the stern. SInce he was cruising long distances, this would give much greater fuel range.

[daydreamerbob]

Bigger is always better - just ask the admiral

[Love MACs]

Finn thanks anyway. Some of the other members have added some information. I don't sail at all right now, not boatless but sailboatless. Still working finances to purchase my MAC early spring '09 if the economy doesn't fall out from under me (and our IRAs)



Allan

[ALX357]

Alright, after many questons and attempts, it seems we have finally gotten some answers to this question about horsepower and emptying ballast.

Just to clarify .... Any motor lower than 10 horsepower can DEFINITELY NOT push a Mac 26 fast enouth to empty the ballast underway.

10 to 25 horsepower, not enough to positively empty ballast underway.

30 hp gets up to 8-9 knots .... maybe enough to empty ballast on some Mac 26 boats after a long time steady running.

Anyone with definite correctons, or added info, please help us out.

[Zoran]

My 30 hp used to push me 9.5 kt when i got the boat. In years it gets heavier and max speed went down to 8Kt (this is without ballast) it is my experience that this will be minimum horse power that will allow you to empty the ballast on the water. as I added some additional weight (2 deep cycle batteries and 25 gal fresh water, all located forward) I could never empty the ballast completely and I estimated that about 100 liters (25 gallons or 200 lb) would always stay in the ballast tank and I will be able to empty it on the ramp. With the ballast full my max speed will be about 6.5 kt and it will increase as the ballast is draining.

Zoran