Auxillary Kicker Question

[Park]

I recently purchased my 22 Cruiser with a Yamaha 90. I've got a brand new Mercury 2.5 that I purchased well before I bought the C Dory. I had planned to use it on a dinghy I had with another boat. Question is do you think it would be powerful enough to push the Cruiser in an emergency situation?

[srbaum]

Park,
That outboard is actually a Tohatsu, with a Mercury decal. The same exact outboard can develop 3.5 HP. The difference is only the jets in the carburetor. Now, more specifically to your question… that outboard may push your C-Dory, as long as wind and sea conditions are very modest, otherwise the currents or wind will have a greater impact on your progress, due to the wetted surface of the boat and the windage, from cabin.
So, will it move your boat, yes in ideal conditions, but add any sort of weather or current and not much will happen, unless those conditions are behind you.
PS, you can purchase Tohatsu parts for that outboard and save$$$ over the rebranded Mercury name, look it up on www.boats.net .

[Peter & Judy]

I have a Honda 9.9 as my kicker on my 22' cruiser and I have needed a few times to get me home. The first and longest was on Lake Powell when a sensor issue prevented me from using my Honda 90. I travelled from the San Juan River to Bull Frog Marina, which took me 11 hours. We waited out a day of heavy wind and had few problems getting back. I had a similar situation on Shuswap Lake in BC, when I lost my pee line and didn't want to damage the 90. I use the 9.9 every couple of days of cruising, just to keep the engine working well. It also saves fuel as I can travel a long distance while the the 9.9 sips fuel. I tend to travel at 5 to 5.5 knots with WOT, which is not much slower than I cruise with the 90. I think that if you want a get me home motor, I would pick something closer to a 9.9. If I had to repower I would consider a Yamada High Thrust, which would make a good kicker.

[thataway]

I have used the 3.5 hp Mercury as a dinghy motor and "Kicker" for a C Dory 22. I have also used (and still use) the Suzuki 2.5 hp p 4 stroke outboard as a kicker on a 22 (and currenty on my 18' Caracal Cat). I also used it on the Tom Cat and CDory 25. These smaller kickers will give stearage way, and will push the boat at 3 to 4 mph.

I once had an emergency, where I had lost the transmission on a 62', 65,000 lb Pilot house ketch motor sailor. I used a 4. 5 hp on a dinghy to obtain stearage way, a speed of about 2.5 mph and kept the boat safely on course unitil I could launch a 13' inflatable with 25 hp (which pushed the boat at 5 mph--got sail made and 7 mph. My dad's 26' sailboat, with a hull very simiar to a C Dory 25 was pushed for many years by a 5 hp outboard, and it would go 5 to 6 mph.

The small motors cannot push you against heavy winds and seas, but are enough to get the boat out of a jam in over 90% of the time. I have never relied on "commercial assistance", but always hoped to be able to "self rescue" in case of "emergency".

Also other than running out of fuel, (preventable), and fuel line relataed issues, catastrophic failure of modern outboards which are well maintained are extremely rare, but will occur.

[colbysmith]

I had a Tohatsu 6hp on my 22, and it could push it at hull speed, or about 5mph. I wouldn't go much less than that in HP, but you really don't need more than that either. Unless you get up to a much higher HP, you're not going to get much more speed than what the 6hp produced. Colby

[srbaum]

I second Colby’s comment. Additionally, Tohatsu 6 hp 4 stroke (also rebranded as Mercury has the option of changing of the propeller alone to make this the high-thrust outboard. The propeller is on my 6 hp on my trimaran sailboat, that has a significant amount of windage (boat is almost 25’ long x 18’ wide and can push it at 0.5 kts less than hull speed at 1/2 throttle.
https://www.boats.net/product/tohatsu/399B645121?ref=8b1d2b034a33e5f6e59230c655ded298d729a064