Single Vs. Twin Engine Pro/Com

I can't imagine a situation where someone would say "Damn, I wish I had only one motor". I 've had to motor home on a kicker on a Bayliner (yup, I deserved that one...a slow roll to nowhere) and paddle home a sailboat when my little 2-stroke 3hp Tohatsu died with no wind.

Twins...every day of the week and twice on Sundays!
 
"Damn, I wish I had only one motor"
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It happens when you are trying to troll and even one motor at idle is .5 mph to fast and you are not catching a dam thing. If you dont troll then no problem.

The other time is when you hit something in the water and take out both props or lower units. Now you are dead in the water. If you have a single and kicker you are not stuck in the water. You can get to saftey if not home. but safety is better.

With cdorys twins being so close together you are more likely to get both motors on a log or reef then not.

As I have said the question should be twins vs single with a kicker.. but no one is going to change thier minds.. I mean some people still drive eletric cars regardless of all the facts.... even chevy EVs. I need a pop stirring emoji
 
bridma":lx8tet0o said:
I had twins plus a outboard for the dinghy onboard every where I went. Any advance on 3 engines on a C-Dory ?

Martin.
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I often do too. Somewhere in that dialog above was to buy the best boat you can find regardless if it has twins or a single. I completely agree.
 
I agree. Buy the best condition boat you can find, regardless of power. When I was searching for a C-Dory I had already made that decision. Mine came with twins, I was super happy. I would have been just as happy if it had come with a single. I do not fish so I never had to give a thought to a kicker for trolling speeds.
I did have a kicker bracket that I was going to put on the stern but I sold the boat before I got around to it. I kept my dinghy outboard on a homemade bracket on the deck. It fits nicely in that gap between the gunnel and the cabin door when the door is in the open position and latched. My thinking being if the twins both crap out at the same time, the little outboard will get me somewhere. A bonus being a fisherman (or woman) could use it for trolling.

Martin.
 
As posted before, I personally prefer the twins over a single with kicker, though I do agree with there being pros & cons to each, but as for the con of taking a hit so hard on both of the twin motors hard enough to disable both props or motors to be a exceedingly rare event. If in known shallows & if possible, as when current is low enough, I proceed on one motor & it sometimes slightly tilted up. But going against the seemingly conventional wisdom here, I believe in normal running, rare enough for me, so as to not qualify on the con, for twins, especially on a boat with the speed capability of a C-Dory. Perhaps others have a long list, but I’ve yet to hear of anyone running twins on a CD 22/25 or even other boat in the CD22/25 normally run speed range taking out both motors by debri or bottom hit. Some may have damaged both props or spun one, but loss of thrust more than the thrust of a kicker only, very doubtful. I’ve spent a lot of time/miles exploring charted & uncharted shallow water at displacement speed & on plane where few boats of the C-Dory type venture with many hits to the props on debris or rocks in the process, ruining a few aluminum props & hitting rocks hard enough to take out a skeg on one motor, when running both at higher speed, but never damaged a motor on either twin or damaged both props at the same time or even spun a single prop, let alone both. Outboard motor manufacturers, especially mercury, test their lower units by purposely having them hit or be hit by obstructions to see what the lower units can withstand without damage to motor or the boat. Big difference when hits are made at very high speed, beyond the capability of the usual speed for a CD 22/25.

Jay
 
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