Auxiliaries?

catastrophy

My understanding is that I'll need roughly 1hp per meter as an auxiliary motor. How far out is that rule of thumb? The boat I have is 4.6 meters, very easy to get up on the plane and is quite light. It flies with a 20hp. I'd imagine that if I could use an auxiliary to hit 6 or 7 knots that would potentially be more than enough.

I see much heavier boats with displacement hulls only using 5 and 6 hp auxiliarys in tidal areas. With a 4 or 5 hp would I be over gunning it realistically. What's peoples real world experiences?

fergal.b

It will all depend on the boat and the water you use it on, if you have a high cabin that can act like a sail you will need a bit of power to push you into a headwind same goes if you are running in fast flowing water. A 4 - 5 hp should be fine, if you can see if you can get a loan of one and give it a go then if your not happy with the performance move up to a bigger one.



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