E29 and Yanmar 8hp... underpowered??

[idearat]

Hi folks, first post to this awesome forum.

We've been boatless for 10 years, and it's high time for another. Our first boat was an E27, we cruised her lots on the BC coast including a 5-month lazy liveaboard sabbatical. We've had other nice boats since, including a lovely Alberg 37, but the Ericsons have a special place in our hearts.

On to my question. There's an E29 coming to market shortly that sounds interesting. The broker's short on details, but said it has a Yanmar 8hp engine. That sounds distressingly underpowered to me... our E27 had a 13hp Yanmar, and there's an E27 for sale now with a 25hp... but I've found a few other E29s for sale with 8hp specified, so I imagine he could be right.

Now I'm a sailor that always prefers to sail and treat the engine as a true auxilliary, and not, as some 'sailors' do, as the preferred propulsion when the wind's forward of the beam, or there's a chance of showers, or I had a bit too much rum in the coconut last night.

But here in the Pacific Southwest (Pacific Northwest to our American friends ;-) there are lots of flat-calm days as well as tidal passes with 2-5 knot currents. Obviously when it's rough there's usually wind, but short-tacking through some of these passes is just not an option. There will be times when it's necessary to power against a stiff chop and/or significant current, and I need to know there's adequate power.

Am I right to be concerned? Would you give the boat a pass? (I'm not interested in a re-powering project just now.) ...or am I worrying for naught, the 8hp will be fine?

Thanks for any input, especially if you have personal experience with an 8-horse E29. ...Perry.

 

[Frank Langer]

We have a 1984 Ericson 30+ displacing 9,000 lbs. with a 16 hp universal engine, and I wouldn't want any less. I also prefer to sail rather than use our engine, but I'm familiar with the various passes in the Gulf Islands area and you need to rely on the engine to get through some (most?) of them. I understand that the E28+ is a shortened version of the E30+, and I agree with you that 8 hp sounds quite underpowered. Hard to say no to an otherwise nice boat, though....
Frank

 

[Blue Jeans]

Underpowered!

I have and Ericson 36C (still under refurbishment from PO sinking) and an S2 9.2A. The S2 had a tired Yanmer YSE 12, probably about 9-10 hp. I was at the south end of the Narrows by Tacoma doing 1 1/2 kts on the GPS with no current but heavy winds and waves on the bow. That started a search for a better engine, I found a 1980 Yanmar 3GMD 20 hp that came from a 38' sailboat. The extra power makes all the difference in the world. I can do 7.3 kts in flat, calm water on the GPS, yes, I know it's above hull speed, it just cost more fuel. 25 gallons/year instead of 15 gallons/year. I too prefer to sail, but the Northwest has some heavy current challenges and sometimes the wind just doesn't blow. Gotta get out on the water somehow.

 

[idearat]

Thanks for the replies! You're confirming my intuition.

Frank, your Universal is a diesel, correct? I'm not sure how to compare diesel hp to gas (Atomic 4s are 30 hp, I think?), but 16hp diesel sounds comfortable to me, based on our 13hp E27.

But yes (sigh), hard to say no if the boat's otherwise 'impeccable', which was the broker's description.

 

[Frank Langer]

Yes, our 16 hp universal is a diesel, which is nice for cruising. I don't know how a 16 hp diesel compares to gas engines.
Frank

 

[Gary Peterson]

The diesel will have a greater torque rise but 20 BHP @ 2500 RPM in a gas engine, (ie - an Atomic 4) and 20 BHP @ 2500 RPM in a diesel is the same. Another difference is that the diesel can be run harder because it is built more stoutly as the internal pressures are greater. In larger diesels, the max RPM is usually slower than a gas engine, so there is a big difference between a 1000 BHP diesel @ 2000 RPM and a 1000 BHP gas engine @ 4000 RPM.