I need a wing engine , well kinda.

I need a wing engine , well kinda. Invader is 39 feet by 11 feet by 4 feet, small kinda. She is split into three compartments in the hull. I wanted to place the wing engine in the tail or aft compartment . Use a small used rebuild sailboat engine on a V drive like a universal engine or something. But for my needs I am thinking now along the lines of a sail drive. Fuel or electric ? Get a gen and electric drive. Or just stay with a gas unit ? The wing engine is going to be tough to get in and then maintain. The sail drive might go behind the fin and be easy for maintenance ? Any thoughts from you guys. Its one of the next years projects but need to start looking. Willy Invader No 1 39 Kishi Conversion

Willy, I'd stay away from a saildrive. They all seem to suffer from corrosion/seal issues sooner or later. The charter boats that have them always have to have an extra haulout during the season to fix some issue with them. To many dissimilar metal to stay submerged all the time, IMHO. I personally had a Yanmar and Bukh drive go bad over the years and both were less than 3 years old!! YMMV Dave Swan Song Tortola, BVI

I don't have any business connection with the company, but you may wish to check out a UK firm, Silette (or Sillette ?), which makes the Sonic outdrive. I had one on my 1983 UK-built sailing cat. And both Prout and Performance Cruising have used them on, literally, hundreds of their cruising boats. Basically, it's an "industrial strength" outdrive (usually transom mounted) that connects to an inboard motor. (Check out any of the last two-hundred or so Gemini 105 sailing cats and you'll see the Sonic outdrive's installation.) It can be raised out of the water (with a simple, $100 hydraulic hand pump), which means little worry about galvanic corrosion, and zero drag when not being used. When lowered, it also pivots (if you wish), like an outboard motor, thus potentially useful if you've also lost your rudder/steering system. I'm not entirely clear from your description whether this would help you, but perhaps worth a few minutes search on the internet to ascertain. Good luck, Rod Gibbons Cruising Cats USA Dave Cooper wrote: >Willy, I'd stay away from a saildrive. They all seem to suffer from >corrosion/seal issues sooner or later. The charter boats that have them >always have to have an extra haulout during the season to fix some issue >with them. To many dissimilar metal to stay submerged all the time, IMHO. > >I personally had a Yanmar and Bukh drive go bad over the years and both were >less than 3 years old!! > >YMMV > >Dave >Swan Song Tortola, BVI > > > >_______________________________________________ >Passagemaking-Under-Power Mailing List > > >