Chrysler Sailors Forum

Well the mechanic says my best move is to buy a newer motor. My Chrysler 250 has thrown in the towel apparently. Any recommendations? How much horse power do I need to move a 22ft Chrysler in and out of the marina?

I bought a new Tohatsu ultra long shaft (27") 4 stroke 6hp and it works great. only 70lbs. I sail northern Green Bay waters that get strtong winds/waves.

Just my opinion,
I would not go with a motor just big enough to move it from and to the slip.

There may be times when you get caught in weather. The wind and waves can easily overpower a 2-3 hp motor.


I'd stick to the recommended HP for the boat and maybe a little more. Somewhere from 5-9.9 hp in my book.


Running conservative I stuffed a Garlik (sp?) motor mount with a tohatsu 9.8 electric start 4 stroke long shaft on her. That motor is great and easily pushes at hull speed with a LOT of throttle left over. Been out in lots of wind and very heavy seas and had ZERO worries about the motor pushing me home if necessary!

Admittedly my Tohatso is a bit over kill for Lady Jo but having remote shift and throttle PLUS electric start is FANTASTIC! LOL!

Again, just my two bits!
Scott

Hey!

I use a trolling motor hooked to three marine batteries. It moves the boat out of the lake marina well, though I don't trust it to keep me out of real trouble... That's what real sailing is for ;o) (plus these are pretty safe sailboats).
Zero money for Gas!! Straight-up green.

In other words, pretty much anything will move these boats.

Bill

We used to have a 6hp Evinrude on ours. It worked well enough, but I wouldn't run anything smaller. Now we have a sail drive we built out of a 9.9hp Evinrude. It was a complicated and time consuming build, but it has held up great over the years. It's so nice to have electric start, controls in the cockpit, a good generator, and no motor hanging off that back.

Dan

Thanks all for the suggestions, not sure what I'm going to do but it sounds like I need to stay over 6hp.

You don't need much to push the sailboat. Most props found on outboards are for speed boats, using a low thrust prop. With that said, you need low hp with a high thrust prop.

Tohatsu has it figured out with their sail pro models. Check out this one with an extra long shaft:

http://onlineoutboards.com/tohatsu-6-hp ... motor.html

That one is what I will be getting once I finish restoring an old 25 Irwin that I have.

I guess another question I have is: why does everyone use a long shaft for sailboats?

the shaft needs to be long enough to ensure the prop stays in the water in rough seas (when it may become critical). You are operating a displacement boat, not a powerboat on plane, so it'll pitch in heavy seas and the prop of a short shaft will come out of the water. And you want to be able to reach it easily (again think operation in rough seas). The 27 inch Tohotsu I bought works great. anything less than 25 would be a problem.