Paul - All of the comments made so far are true. Which means, of
course, that you can do whatever you want to do. <G>
My 2 cents (here we go...)
There's a boat ('Willful Simplicity') who's been cruising the Sea of
Cortez for five years in a Catalina 27 with an outboard. They're doing
just fine, and are actually much better sailors because of it. They
sail when others motor or motor/sail, have learned to hug the coast when
necessary to sail upwind when the chop further out would stop them dead
in the water, and only run the engine when they have to. They did get
caught in a 50 knot chubasco a few years ago and ended up on the beach
because they didn't have the power to get off a lee shore, but you
probably won't encounter that where you're sailing.
No one mentioned the extra room you'll have. When I repowered my LF38,
I made a joke on this list about just putting a 40HP outboard on the
transom, because there was enough room under there to fit a full sized
mattress where the engine was and a beer cooler where the fuel tank
was. I decided to put a new diesel in, though, because I couldn't find
a place for a big screen TV.
But, really, if you do it, do it right. I saw an Ericson 27 who had
replaced the A4 with an outboard, but didn't bother to remove the prop
shaft, log, or do all of the other work needed to do the job right.
It's not just the cost of the motor, but also the bracket, reinforcement
of the transom to keep the boat structurally safe, and the
fiberglass/paint work to remove a big hole in the bottom of your boat.
Also, the bracket should be easy to use and rock solid, because some of
those fancy brackets have a little pin that can fail, and it's a real
drag when you go into anti-crash reverse and the outboard lifts the
bracket up and starts bouncing up and down, trying to do a physics
experiment by finding equilibrium between gravity, thrust and foamy water.
So, it's a trade-off. I'd do a bunch of homework and make two
spreadsheets and look at the bottom line.
Wal
--
s/v Stella Blue
www.wbryant.com
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