[Public-List] Axillary power

[J B Knapp]

Howdy all:

The commitment is being made to restore Hull 368 currently sitting in 
Lake Conroe, Texas.  Ultimately, we are wanting to move it to somewhere 
around Galveston Bay, so it will be able to spread it's wings, so to 
speak.  Right now it is effectively serving as a "lake house" but it 
gives me the best night's sleep of any boat I've been on.

It was taken in as a donation to our Sea Scout program with the idea of 
putting together one working A-4 from the parts of the 2 that came with 
it.  It has a very good sail inventory and is just a beautiful boat (I 
have a particular weakness for full keel classic boats - witness 3 
Kittiwake 23's and a Victoria 18 in our inventory).  The A-4's were 
combined with 2 other A-4's from another Sea Scout ship in hopes of 
building 2 workable examples, but to date we don't have one out of the 
four and the other ship is replacing theirs with a diesel.  The previous 
owner had taken out one that didn't work and basically had gone without 
an engine for years, either rowing the boat to and from his mooring on 
the Chesapeake or sculling it - I still have the sculling oar he used, 
but don't really see where he set up the rig to scull.

Here is the start of my dilemma wrt axillary power.  The A-4 sounds like 
the logical choice as that is what was in there and has worked.  BUT 
trying to find one that is in good shape at price that is reasonable 
(read free - if at all possible) and is close enough to pick up 
refurbish and install is proving unfruitful.  I interject here that with 
whatever solution we end up with, we will have to pull the boat from the 
water, replace all the thru hulls, clean up the engine compartment, get 
the asbestos wrapped exhaust pipe out, ........., and do try to find a 
place where we can set the boat and be able to do it ourselves - or at 
least as much as possible, especially the work on the hull, at a cost 
that won't break the bank.

I have also been considering replacing the A-4 with a diesel.  Its safer 
and supposedly easier to maintain.  However, I am concerned as to how 
much maintenance is really required for a diesel with all the fuel 
filters, fuel scrubbing, bacteria growth that comes with diesel, etc. 
and the ease with which to do the work needed in the space available on 
the A-30.  I do not want to become a diesel mechanic at this point in my 
life plus I have never really been that mechanically inclined anyway.

Next possibility is an outboard.  All our other boats are 25 feet and 
under and we have outboards for them.  At least with the outboards we 
can pull them from the boat with relative ease - in some cases very 
easily as sailing on Lake Conroe we can get by with 2.5 and 3.5 hp 
engines.  Outboards still have their pluses and minuses, but for the 
organization of our ship and the support around the lake, they work out 
well.  The Kittiwakes have an engine well in one of the lazarettes which 
allows for a short shaft engine to be mounted and this works extremely 
well.  The A-30, though is higher off the water and while a modification 
could be made to accommodate an outboard, it would be awkward at best. 
I have seen what, I think Yves Gelinas, has come up with for an outboard 
mounting system, and am not too thrilled with it.  Also, I don't really 
know how well an outboard would work if the boat gets down to Galveston 
Bay and is berthed somewhere on Clear Lake.  A 10hp long shaft, or extra 
long shaft would work fine for Lake Conroe, but for the Clear Creek 
channel, I'm not so sure.  A 5hp worked fine for the Kiitiwake, and we 
even used a 3.5 on a second one when we moved it from Houston Yacht Club 
to the back of Clear Lake before Gustov made his appearance.  In theory 
it should work since the A-30 is about 2.5 times heavier than the 
Kittiwake and is similar in hull design.

What is beginning to intrigue me is the idea of an inboard electric 
motor.  Pluses - no gas, few moving parts, quiet, decrease in the number 
of thru hulls, cleaner.  Minuses - battery capacity, recharging options, 
cost, range especially the case if taking the boat to Galveston for Gulf 
sailing, very often having to motor all the way to Galveston (anywhere 
from 3-5 hours depending on conditions) as the course is southerly and 
the predominant wind is from the south, or in the winter coming back 
with the predominant wind from the North and the channel flow north to 
south.  Also for any intercoastal motoring that might be needed.

I know there have been some other discussions on powering the A-30, but 
going through them adds to my confusion and apprehension on selecting 
the "right" answer for our situation.  Slapping some type of outboard 
rig may be the quickest solution and one that can be done without taking 
the boat out of the water, but I look at that as a more tempoary fix 
than the right fix.  I'm seeing any solution as costing between $2,000 
and $4,000 before we take the boat out of the water and come up with a 
solution there.  As for taking the boat out, when Lake Conroe is full 
and, a bit higher than normal, with the right trailer and vehicle we 
could load it onto a trailer as we do our other boats and not need a 
lift.  At the club where the boat is located there is a mast stepper and 
a sling that has the capacity to hold the A-30, so we have a place to 
work on it.  If we have to use a lift, there is only one I am familiar 
with on the lake and I would just as soon not do business with him.

Thanks

Bart Knapp