Thinking about twins

[timfives]

All-

Looking for some wisdom here.

I am about to start on a restore of a Starcraft Chieftain. It has a 90hp Johnson on it, and i am kicking around the idea of outfitting it with twin outboards. Thus giving me adequate power if one engine should fail.

With that said, I've been reading up a tad, regarding the spacing of the engines, etc. Assuming i have the room i need, is it as simple as adding a second OB? Or do i need to matched counter rotating engines??

My hope is that i could just find a matching engine add a bracket and off we go. (yes it is still within the hp rating for the boat)

Thoughts?

thanks

Tim

 

[steelespike]

Re: Thinking about twins

If you boat where a backup is necessary twins certainly work.
But keep in mind double the weight concentrated at the transom then there is the control
complication.Double the maintainance, double the fuel. A single will produce more speed with less fuel use.
If your just thinking of a backup to get you home A kicker may be more practical.
Counter rotation is nice but not necessary.

 

[timfives]

Re: Thinking about twins

If you boat where a backup is necessary twins certainly work.
But keep in mind double the weight concentrated at the transom then there is the control
complication.Double the maintainance, double the fuel. A single will produce more speed with less fuel use.
If your just thinking of a backup to get you home A kicker may be more practical.
Counter rotation is nice but not necessary.

Steelespike, Thanks for the response. while your other points are noteworthy. I'm more curious at this stage about the why counter rotation is nice, but not necessary. Does it cut down on torque steer, better performance etc? thoughts?

T

 

[R Socey]

Re: Thinking about twins

My boat has same rotating twins. When I bought the boat I assumed all twins were counter rotation. When I found out they weren't I asked if that was a problem - the torque. The guy said because my boat had hydrolic steering - it was ok. He was right. I can let go of the wheel and it goes straight as an arrow.

 

[steelespike]

Re: Thinking about twins

I suppose any torque steer would be canceled out. if reversing both engines it would back straighter without correction.
Sometimes prop torque will cause a boat to lean to port counter rotating motors would cancel that.