It's a gas! Super cheap 2 stroke outboard on my TI

Tony:
I think the whole trick with using small outboards on Islands is to never operate the engines at full throttle, think about it, you have several propulsion sources at your disposal, by utilizing the mirage drives, sails, and auxillary propulsion all together at the same time significantly improves the TI's performance window.
Think about it most TI owners don't bother going out in winds under 10 mph, unless the like to peddle 'a lot'. And in my case I like the stock boats performance in 12-18mph winds, but my comfort level goes way down because the boat sits very low in the water, and you tend to get drenched and thrown around like a rag doll in the boat, which with my bad back becomes very uncomfortable. Also most of us have been way out offshore and had the wind shift on us, or increase up or down to the point of making it extremely difficult to get back in.
In my case what started out as a 3 hr fun outing turns into a 10hr extremely physically demanding ordeal. Let me tell you there is nothing harder than having to peddle your heart out with every ounce of energy you can muster just to get back to safety sometimes for hrs on end, I'm not up for that, the fun factor goes down to zero and you are in survival mode at that point.
In my case anymore I only go out in winds below 7mph anymore. I have the eclipse flow 90 mirage fins fitted to my TI and tend to peddle 100% of the time (for exercise). I do not like the noise of outboards running at high rpm under normal use, of course in an emergency situation the motors go to WOT and I'm doing everything I can do to survive.
What I did was re-prop my motors with very high pitch props. By doing this I only need to ever run the motors at just above idle. At this setting with no sails flying and not peddling the boat goes 6-7mph and I get 3 hrs of run time from each 1 liter fuel tank , (between 36 and 42 mpg). And better yet with the underwater exhaust the motors are extremely quiet, you can easily talk over the noise, and in most of my posted videos you can hear me talking and can barely hear the motors running in the background. Now if I introduce my sails and begin to pedal in nice winds (over 5-6mph) then my speed increases up to my normal cruise speed in light winds (8-10mph), and I powersail to the best of my ability using the wind for maximum effect, my fuel economy goes up over 60mpg most of the time. Obviously I'm a big proponent for the tri-power capabilities if the TI.
One important point about sailing in the hot florida sun (year round) is extreme danger of heat exposure in the 90 plus temps. If your out for hours in our typical 3-5mph winds peddling your heart out you are in extreme danger traveling at the typical 2-3 mph speeds peddling, in addition it's pretty difficult to cover any distance, for example from where I typically launch (long boat key (city Island)) to where we like to hang out at sand bars (siesta key) with our powerboat friends is around 5-6 miles each way, if it takes me more than thirty minutes or so to get there, then all the beer is consumed before I get there (lol), at 2-5 mph it's a couple hr trek (hardly worth going).
I kinda like my setup and feel it to be the best of all worlds.
FE

This summer sailing in Colorado lakes, I never had the outboard or the mount on the TI. Boat is nicer to use without all that stuff if you don't need it.

This fall I am going to do a trip that alone makes the outboard worthwhile. This trip goes up the Colorado river against currents running 2 to 4 knots and often a headwind. The 2.5 Susuki wil hit close to 7 knots so usually I run about half throttle but in places where the current is higher, might run higher. We go up about 11 miles in one spot and about 15 miles in another spot. Going back is always by sail or pedal with the outboard out of the water. Really super fun down wind/ down current sail.

FYI, I use Seafoam additive with ethanol gas, have not had any issues. But I have had problems before using Seafoam

Adding Sta-bil fuel stabiliser saves draining or running dry the tank for storage. It works on 2 strokes as well as 4 stroke.





Now that I've experienced using an outboard on the TI, I'm with you Bob. It solves that problem of the wind dying or getting too strong and still being a long way from your destination. After my maiden voyage with the outboard the other day I didn't want to come back in. It was the same feeling I had on my maiden voyage in the AI 9 years ago. I just wanted to stay out and keep enjoying the trip.
I like to think of my TI as a micro yacht. All yachts have a motor. It makes sense for an Island to have one as well. Sail, pedal, paddle and motor. All bases are covered.

Hey Tony/String,

How did you go registering your boat with the motor? (if you did!)

Stringy - I like the look of your motor mount - any chance of some more pics and details?

Cheers,

Mike.

Regarding motor mounts I was wondering if anyone has used the YakAttack Gear Trac as a base for mounting an outboard bracket ? It seems pretty well suited, especially if you use the tapped backing plate on the far side rather than the self tapping screws. The gear mounting side of this track uses 1/4-20 sst T nuts to attach stuff.

http://www.yakattack.us/GT175_16_p/gt175-16.htm

Chris

Thanks Mike. I've just posted details in Walt's TI Outboard thread here:
viewtopic.php?f=69&t=53785&p=281717#p281717

Re rego, as far as I am aware rego is not needed with such a small motor (less than 5hp), but I had better double check that.
A licence is only needed if motoring at +10knots so I'll have to make sure not to open the throttle all the way!

Just checking the RMS handbook there is this clause for rego:
-'any power driven or sailing vessel 5.5m or longer'
This sounds as if TI's at 5.64m should be registered any way, motor or not!
I wonder if Maritime carry a tape measure?

Stringy,
Dunno about other stares, but in California, CF numbers (registration) is required on any vessel over 12 ft in length if it is under power. ........ Sails are considered auxiliary power. Hoist the sail and it needs to be registered.
I have never seen it enforced, but that's the law in CA.
Don, 2014 TI

That's right-I was surprised when I read that, but in CA it is awful cheap to register (damn nuisance tho). Tough getting numbers and stickers to stick well enough to plastic to stay on if you power wash (lost my sticker on my Hobie). For my Triak, I just carry the registration papers inside an empty plastic water bottle since the numbers and stickers would be underwater while out. To date, though, coasties have ignored me. DMV was difficult about the Getaway since first owners didn't register. Worst part was getting the trailers registered...DMV doesn't seem to know how to deal with those.

_________________
R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II