The right motor for a c-dory 22

The 50 or 60 on a 22 cruiser is "underpowered" and the one most used is the 90 hp.....or twin 40's at the least. Long shaft is what is required.

Look in the photo albums for different arrangements.
 
I noticed a 22 for sale on her this past year that had a 50hp on it in Florida. I have twin 40's and am happy with the performance. I just could not see the boat with that limited HP. One has to look at the use for the boat. On the other hand even if it worked well for 1 person, it would be difficult to sell.
 
When we were searching for a boat, there was a fellow in Ohio, I believe, that had a 22 with a single 50 on her. He used it to putt around the river system. Unless you never want to get on plane, get a 90.
 
With the 50 you would be marginally on a plane, and be working the engine all of the time at its max. With a very light boat, you might get by, but the resale would be terriable, and you would not be happy with the boat.

Now if you wanted pure displacement speeds--a 15 to 20 hp would do the job. But you are looking at 5 to 6 knot speeds.
 
You will see a lot of boats around 22ft with way more hp hanging off the stern; it’s amazing how well a 22ft CD performs with just 90hp. I’ve got a buddy with a 22ft Seasport who gets at best 2.5mpg with his inboard, the draw back to having a deep V. Have another friend with twin 115hp Yams on his 22ft Hewescraft Cuddy. Neither of these guys can hall any more gear than me, but they do have more fuel capacity. :lol:

You’ll not find a more economical 22ft class pocket cruiser than a CD; there’s no point in under powering this boat unless you want to run at max displacement speed all day… If that’s the case a 15hp high thrust will get the job done.
 
I have a 2003 22 Cruiser with a 50 hp Honda. It can run 15 to 16 k and I cruise it around 12 k. It will stay on plane at 10 k which is a good speed for a chopy bay. I purchased the boat for much less because of the 50. Both the boat and the motor had very low hours. I purchased it from Cutter Marine who carfully explained the limitations of the 50 vs the 90. It is also very economical to run. Thus for two persons and a 65 pound dog the boat works well.
 
As has been said, it all depends what you want to do with the boat.

A very small engine will move it even when heavily loaded, it just won't move it very fast. If all you wish to do is putter around on small water a 50-60 hp engine will allow you to do that in style.

HOWEVER:

To realize all that a C-dory 22 offers a boat owner, a single 75 should be considered minimum horsepower. And that would be for light loads.

Our boat has twin 40's and we love them. Without doing a poll, I think a single 90 is the most popular power for the 22.

:idea It would be fun to do an up to date poll on engine HP. How bout it Bill or Mike?

There hasn't been an interesting poll around here for a while. Maybe those of you influential with the good site admin folks could put on the pressure :wink .

Dan
 
I'm content with my Suzuki 90 but my boat is heavily loaded and with full tanks and four aboard it's a little sluggish. If I were to repower I'd got either with a 115 or maybe the new lighter Suzuki 90.
 
Yes our loads can often range a bunch... When I used my CD 16 I always had two props....one for those yep we got a lot of folks and gear on board trips, and another for less loaded trips. Lost a bit of top end...but, took care of the slugish when heavy loads were there. Never realy cared about going fast...just going fun, dry, and smooth.

So many motors, so many props, so many options....

No perfect answer....just more options.

Byrdman
 
Perry60sRocker":2p2ku4j4 said:
Has any one used a 50 or 60 hp motor on a c-Dory 22, and how did it work out for you. What shaft should be used a long are short. Thanks

You really do want at least 75 hp.
Take a look around and you won't see any (many?) other 22' planing hulls that can operate efficently with as few hp.
 
Yes Byrdman, the loads and altitude can range a bunch. Also agree with not caring about going fast...just fun, dry and smooth with I might add enough power to stay safe in the control of boat in different water conditions along with varying loads and altitudes.

As its been shown a very few will be satisfied with the very low hp (50 to 60). The other 99+% will want and need 75hp at the very minimum and prefer at least twin 40's to 115 hp. We have the twin Honda 40's and with how we use the Hunkydory more hp would be even better less would make it not workable for us as we already have been in a situation where even with prop set up for max load could not get on plane.

When not on an extended cruise the majority of our boating is done on Lake Yellowstone at near 8000 feet where we lose almost 20 of the 80hp and bring it near the 60hp asked about by Perry. The difference being the twin 40's I would think put out much more torque than a single high rpm 60hp. At that altitude with our propulse adjustable prop set at the very lowest pitch setting can do a max speed of 19-20 mph at 5100 rpm with what for us is a medium light load. What may be interesting to some is with our very heavy loads on the ocean we use the same prop setting as on Yellowstone Lake with the average max speed and rpm only raising a small amount. When on plane most of our cruising is done at 12 to 16mph(you more nautical thinkers can do your own conversion its to late for me to think of boat speed in anything other than mph) and never run over 80% of max rpm over extended period.

So.........as others have stated the 50 or 60 hp could work out well or even only 15hp, but for the other 99% it starts at twin 40's and many prefer to max out with 115hp and as Milehog pointed out that's still very low hp for 22 foot planing hulls.

Jay
 
I have an E-tec 115 hp on my 22'ft angler and love it. Runs 28-30 mph at 4600 rpm's. It weighs 8 pounds more than a Honda 90 and lots more "soup". Chica
 
Chica":231xc391 said:
I have an E-tec 115 hp on my 22'ft angler and love it. Runs 28-30 mph at 4600 rpm's. It weighs 8 pounds more than a Honda 90 and lots more "soup". Chica

Impressive performance, been looking at upgrading to a 115 E-tec but the dealer here says they wouldn’t mount on an 07 C-dory because it’s only rated for 90hp.
I’d love to be able to cruise at 28 to 30 mph with power to spare, only because we routinely cover 150+ miles in a three day weekend; more speed = more time at destination. :thup

Jay
 
We have sold both of the 2009 C-Dory boats that we had remaining in inventory, and both owners chose 115 Suzuki power for the boats.

Top speed with a light load was in the mid / upper mid 30 knot range. Plenty fast for the boat. I think the new Suzuki 90 (lighter weight) or E-Tec 90 (again, lighter) are plenty of motor for the boat.
 
Personally, I don't see the point of powering a C-Dory (or at least a 22 since that's the only one I have experience with) for a cruise speed of 28-30 mph range. I've had our C-Dory over 30 knots a few times, and it's just not meant to go that fast. Really, I find cruising anywhere over 20 knots to not be all that comfortable, and 18 knots seems like just about the perfect fast cruise speed. Our Whaler is a much faster boat than the C-Dory (cruise in the 32 knot range, max around 50 knots when really light) and with rare exceptions, it's much nicer going slowly. If you want a fast pilothouse boat, the C-Dory isn't the right boat...a TomCat perhaps, or a SeaSport.
 
20dauntless":hnlom2we said:
Personally, I don't see the point of powering a C-Dory (or at least a 22 since that's the only one I have experience with) for a cruise speed of 28-30 mph range. I've had our C-Dory over 30 knots a few times, and it's just not meant to go that fast. Really, I find cruising anywhere over 20 knots to not be all that comfortable, and 18 knots seems like just about the perfect fast cruise speed. Our Whaler is a much faster boat than the C-Dory (cruise in the 32 knot range, max around 50 knots when really light) and with rare exceptions, it's much nicer going slowly. If you want a fast pilothouse boat, the C-Dory isn't the right boat...a TomCat perhaps, or a SeaSport.

Have to totally disagree, I’ve run riverboats with totally flat bottoms at over 40mph and the 22 foot c-dory is way more stable than a sled. This summer I took the boat out light and it trimmed up nicely at around 28mph, fact is the feel improved the faster she went….guess that just come from navigating a screaming sled up a twisting tributary.
It’s all about what your comfort level is and how much you want to pay attention. When the seas are flat and times a wasting it’s nice to notch er up a little, and the 22ft C-dory can do that more economically than any boat in its class, that’s why I own one.
 
Well there does seem to be many??...either going to or wanting the 115 hp motor. Does that really mean for a majority the desire is to cruise at 28-30 mph. Somehow I find this hard to believe. Know I'm happy with the total of 80 hp and would only increase hp for the ability to maintain a plane under any load desired or present average cruise speed(12-16 mph) under varying loads and altitudes. Also there is no doubt in the past the traditional use of the 22 foot CD was at very low cruise speed with cruise desire more in the journey then the destination. One of the many things I loved about our Hunkydory while cruising the most remote places we could find on the Alaska Inland Chanel was the slow economical plane speed that allowed us to actually see and not miss the wildlife along the shore and in the water along with the safety factor of being able to avoid debris in the process. This was in a period when our time there was limited and the places we wanted to see almost unlimited. In nearly 5000 miles cruising there I can not think of anytime increased speed would have made for for a more enjoyable cruise. This includes the day we went from The Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Preserve in BC, Canada crossed the Dixon dragon, cleared customs in Ketchikan and then docked in Wrangle a distance of 214 miles. Have never yet felt the time was wasting on a cruise in the Hunkydory. Can only wish others equal or more enjoyment in their choice of cruising speed, distance and motor to achieve it.

Seems motor hp choices and cruising speeds would make for an interesting poll.

Jay
 
I didn't mean to imply that the C-Dory was unstable at 28 or 30mph. On the contrary, it actually responds predictably and doesn't feel too unstable at those speeds. The real problem I see at those speeds is the ride. Unless it is really smooth, it just isn't comfortable. And, at least for me, it's rarely that smooth.

Like Jay, I enjoy slowing down. I was worried about the lack of speed of the C-Dory compared to the Whaler. But it turns out I find it much nicer. Granted, a lot of the use of the boat is the 16 nm from the marina to our cabin, which is normally done in about an hour in the C-Dory compared to 35 minutes in the Whaler (and I burn half the gas). When cruising, it's nice to slow down and see things, and being able to cruise really efficiently at 12-14 knots is nice. If I was covering greater distances I might want a faster boat, but I have a feeling that boat would be a cat or a deep V so I could achieve higher speeds more consistently.

To each his own though, you can always throttle back a big engine but you can't make a little engine more powerful. Truth is, I didn't know the HP rating had been changed to 115 when we ordered the boat. Had I known, I may have ended up with a 115 (Suzuki or Evinrude), but I've never been wanting more power with my EFI Honda 90.
 
Yes, unless it’s flat calm speeds above 18 to 20mph are uncomfortable. My wife and son often play cards or observe wild life along our journeys’ so running at these speeds is usually the norm. When we hit unexplored areas speed decreases drastically, often to displacement speed as we investigate a new cove or bay.

Like Jay we’re into exporting new areas, getting there often requires traveling through waterways we’ve seen countless times. Being able to transverse these waterways quicker gives us more time to explore on the other end, and weather permitting we can extend our stay before returning to port. In the short season we have here every hour on the water is precious, so for us it makes since to utilize the full capacity or our boat in every way so that we can enjoy these times.
 
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