Cabin Cruiser on the sea

I'm currently looking at buying a 19ft Cabin cruiser with a 9.9HP OB engine. I'll only really be using the boat along the east coast of Scotland. Is a 9.9HP engine sufficient for sea travel (say about a mile or so out from the coast)? Or is such a vessel only really suitable for river and canal travel? If 9.9HP isn't powerful enough, what would you suggest as a minimum?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Re: Cabin Cruiser on the sea

a 9.9 would be sufficient as a kicker motor only.
I would say for a 19 footer you want it least a 60 but 90 would probably your best bet

Re: Cabin Cruiser on the sea

I agree that a 9.9 would provide hull speeds at best (which is all you will get unless you get all the way up around 100hp min). My only concern with sea use would be wind and wave action, might be more than the 9.9 can overcome and maintain control.

Honestly, you would have to try it in wind to see if it is enough - it might be fine. Keep in mind that very heavy sailboats often have adequate hull speed with 18-30hp inboards. And I have personally used a 24ft sailboat with a 6hp outboard, enough to keep control.

IF you need more hp, you will only need to go to 25-30hp max. Like I said, after you start plowing water- any additional hp is wasted unless you can get up on plane.

Re: Cabin Cruiser on the sea

In a prior life I had a 12' Jonboat with a Johnson 6hp. Just on little lakes around here the easy wind could hold that thing back. I imagine a 9.9 on a 19'er will be much worse.

I wouldnt consider anything less than a 50 for that size boat.

Re: Cabin Cruiser on the sea

Thanks both.

I'm not really willing to spend money on something that "might" be able to handle sea travel so I think i'll start looking at 40hp min (chosen as it's half way between both recommendations!).

Re: Cabin Cruiser on the sea

sportsmanphil said:

In a prior life I had a 12' Jonboat with a Johnson 6hp. Just on little lakes around here the easy wind could hold that thing back. I imagine a 9.9 on a 19'er will be much worse.

I wouldnt consider anything less than a 50 for that size boat.

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Better make that 50hp then!

Re: Cabin Cruiser on the sea

Hmmm...

Depends a lot on what you want from the boat- if you want it to plane with some passengers aboard, you'll want something like 75% of its max rated horsepower.

If all you want to do is tool around at hull speed, I'll bet a 20 would get you around fine. I use a 15-hp kicker on my 21-footer and it keeps me going in significant wind and waves.

I don't think a 50 is a very good choice- it's overkill for slow cruising, not enough for performance.

My tuppence

Re: Cabin Cruiser on the sea

If you have a cabin on a 19' boat you have a heavy boat. Add 2-4 people and you need something to push it efficiently and safely. If you went out in the ocean with a 9.9 you may as well have the Coast Guard circling overhead.

Rig your boat for worst conditions and work down from there. you need to be able to get on a plane. I have a 50 on a perfectly flat bottom 19' Carolina Skiff and it does great, but it is stripped out. If it were a Grady cuddy it would be dangerously underpowered.

Being safe is more important than being cheap.

Re: Cabin Cruiser on the sea

what would you suggest as a minimum?

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i know you want as little as you can get away with. but keep in mind. most folks always want more. + underpowered can get you in trouble if the conditions are wrong. nothing worse than not having enough umf to get out of a bad time... if you boat much, you'll get a bad time at some point too.. i'd think approaching max hp would be better. then yer done with it. if ya wanna putz around, use the kicker..

Re: Cabin Cruiser on the sea

Many conflicting opinions on this! So assuming I wanted to carry 3 passengers, would 90hp be enough to plane? From what I've read here I'm beginning to think something in the hundreds might be my safest option.

Re: Cabin Cruiser on the sea

I would think there would be a spec tag that tells what the max hp and load capacity of the boat. My CC is almost double the size of yours and I wouldn't even think about going out in the sea/ocean being underpowered. Currents and wind will push your boat like a sail. If underpowered, you will be at the mercy of natures fury. Not a good time to find out that your under powered. The higher your boat sits with more surface area is the same as a large sail.

If it was my boat, I would find the spec tag and go from there. The boat manufacture will have more of a precise figure on the required horsepower.

Re: Cabin Cruiser on the sea

No matter what you buy, a mile or so offshore is far enough that if something happened, the Scottish equivalent of the Coast Guard would be looking for you for days. I am reasonably certain that here, the Coast Guard would consider a 19 foot cuddy hull with the 9.9 as the main propulsion as "Manifestly unsafe" for sea travel

So: again, no matter what you buy, do not consider going offshore without a good marine radio, a GPS, and possibly an EPIRB or its latest version. Yeah, the EPIRB is expensive, but the sea is a cruel mistress and an EPIRB just might save your life.

However, My tuppence is that on my 19 foot closed bow, a 9.9 moved it at 3 miles per hour and wakes and waves rocked her mercilessly. With a boat that size, the hull would normally be rated for somewhere around 120-125 maximum. 90-120 should move it nicely. Smaller is good from a green standpoint but it is not always better.

Re: Cabin Cruiser on the sea

flusteredpie:

A 9.9 won't cut it in open seas. Here's mine a 19 ft open bow. 4.3 V-6, 185 HP and mine is a Bow Rider. It will be lighter than a cabin cruiser. True you can putsy around with a 40 hp but if the weather turns fowl. You want to get back to shore quick. A 9.9 isn't going to be nothing but a trolling motor on a 19 footer.