Mercury Outboard Powered 65' Motoryacht (no joke!)

Contraption

When I was in the Keys last year there was a SF Bertram, looked about 42ft, the port side running gear had been ripped off and the engine/trans off its rear mounts, original estimate 100K, ended up a lot more , I never seen so many "inspections" by mechanics and coffee discussions the day before work was to be done on something or other, Ins. Co. sure had to have deep pockets on that one.

I'm guessing 75 gph (total) to push the barge at a hull speed of 8-10knots. With a 500 gallon fuel tank, 6 hours of run time, so maybe 60 NM between fuel stops, certainly not nearly enough range to make several legs of that trip, such as Clearwater to Carabelle, Marathon Key to Marco Island and others. Then from Carabelle west to Texas it's at least 60 miles between fuel stops almost the entire way. So they're either going to need 3 more 500 gallon tanks or seatow......

The motors should still spool up to their rated top RPM, and torque band, providing they have very little pitch on the propellors.

I'm baffled. Another alternative would have been to check to see if any commercial tugboats or push boats were going his way. I needed to get a non running 72' yacht from north florida to Miami a few months back, everyone who quoted me was through the roof. On a lark I called a friend who owns one of the tug boat companies on the Miami river who hooked me up with a commercial push boat that was near Jax that was about to make the trip south without a load. I ended up paying a fraction of what everyone else wanted and got my boat down here safe, secure and without OUTBOARDS!

So much for professional courtesy...one yard owner to another...
All of this persons knowledge and experience went into the modifications of this yacht. All predicated on one thing saving money.
I would not want to be a customer of the person that made these decisions.
He ran the boat aground..and is now compounding his errors by making a ridiculous repair. Not a Captain I want to sail with, or a person I would trust to
make a repair in anything less than a survival situation.

Sometimes...sometimes its better to pay the piper and learn your lesson.
I would hate to be the insurance company of record for this passage.

I'm surprised this hasn't made it to the "There I Fixed It" website. It certainly qualifies it just for the sheer kludginess. The owner is probably going to pay double what the proper fix would be by the time he's done though.

You think it's insured ?
Yard owner...... Rube Goldburg temporary repair........ oil fuel tank strapped to the aft deck.

This guy prolly has liability only insurance and HAS to fix it himself.
Ofcourse he CAN fix it himself.

I agree w/Shazam, he could have come up with a better way.

easy to say from my office chair sipping coffee........

Hi,

The Owner might have actually been better off with just one big Outboard, it doesn't take much to get a boat moving along at 8 -10 kts and if that's all he is aiming at now I am sure he could have got there with a lot less than what is strapped on aft now.

I know of a 80m Yacht that can do 4.5 Kts on 250 kW Stern Thruster

Maybe he is only going to run them one at a time to save fuel and prolong the life of the propulsion package.

If anyone sees this boat get under way or hears what happened to it, please do not hesitate to let us all know

One outboard doesn't have the torque to get something like that moving and not nearly enough maneuverability to get it from the New River where it's located to the ocean.

I don't know, I would say that in it's normal form let's say the boat had twin 1150 hp diesels, 12 v183's. At idle and in gear I would estimate both engines (12v183's) are putting out 150hp each but a heck of a lot more torque than the mercury's and spinning much larger propellors, and only move it 7-7.5 knots.

I would say it's going to take all 280hp each that you can safely push out of those mercury's (maybe 220hp each at a safe cruise rpm) to push the boat 8-10 knots. They also need a 55 gallon drum of mercury 2 stroke oil as well. LOL They appear to be the real deal $30k 280hp 2.5 liters that are worth $20k a piece in good running condition......so by the time the boat gets to texas, IF it gets there. You're going to have $60k in outboards that are worn out and need a rebuild.

Hi,

You might want to read up on what Torque actually is.

Those engines will have enough torque to handle the props attached to them.

A Schottel Pump Jet is a Centrifugal Pump, if one of those can move a boat that displaces 1000 tons at 4.5 kts 250 Hp is going to move that plastic boat.

It might take a while to accelerate but in calm water it would probably surprise you how little power is needed to move at slow speed.

Hi J,

Where on the New River is it located?

Texas or Bust

WE WANT ACTION PHOTOS! LOL

It's sitting at Cable Marine (west).

Life Raft

This has been one of the more enjoyable and entertaining posts in a while. Although torque specs, fuel tank mounting techniques and maneuvering characteristics are all important, and many of you have raised concerns and thus drawn conclusions regarding this guys grasp of reality, I want to point out that he has a very logical backup plan...the yellow life raft. Rube Goldberg? Sure. Joshua Slocum? maybe not. Safety Conscious? Absolutely! I believe that is the Toys R Us SOLAS disapproved model.

That's not a life raft. It's the emergency propulsion system!

When Is He Leaving?

Has anyone heard when he plans to leave, I want to see this!

Is this vessel in it's current state insurable?

I'd be very surprised if it wasn't towed down the river.

I'd be surprised if it made it down the river in any case. But they did install a bow thruster I believe on it......

I thought it had a bow thruster and they installed a stern thruster?

I'll try and get by tomorrow for a look.

Hi,

Does it need to be?