Sailboat Engines- Seems like a Lima would be good.

[Blmpkn]

He means recoil start

 

[bilbo]

The extended range that comes with diesel's fuel efficiency is a big plus. Also, diesels handle the power demand of a boat really well (run at one speed torque output for a long time without changing much). Also the safety issue with fumes. That said, there are quite a few sailboats that used inboard gas engines. I've seen very few of them for sale down here, but back home on the Great Lakes there were a lot of them. The Atomic 4 was probably the most popular from what I had seen. Repowering them with a diesel is popular.

Sailboats are displacement hulls designed to "cut" through the water very efficiently up to "hull speed," which is where the boat is essentially sitting in the valley of its bow wave. It's a function of the boat's length at the waterline. As long as you stay at "hull speed" or below the power requirement is remarkably low. A few hardcore sailors don't even have an engine and use a yuloh (a long oar that's used from the stern) to get their boats, some 40ft. and longer, in and out of port.

With my tiny sailboat many get by with 1-1.5HP and that gets them the 5-6kt the boat is capable of in good conditions. If you put a 10hp motor on the back, you increase the weight a bunch but might only get 6.5kt because the power requirements to plane the boat out of its bow wave are so high. A 40ft. sailboat might only have a 45-50hp engine and top out at ~10kt. The same length offshore fishing boat might have 500-100hp or more but can go 50+. Most fishing and fun boats are planing hulls which are much less efficient but designed to more easily climb up on top of and over their bow wave. Speed comes at the cost of large power requirements.

Also, I've read availability of gasoline in cruising grounds outside the US can't be counted upon. Finding quality gas is even less reliable. However, diesel is everywhere and most of the sailboat engines I've seen appear to be simple mechanical injection that aren't too picky about fuel quality as long as water is removed.

 

[Chapap]

Is pull starting a boat a thing?

Push starting

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Theres something called a “bilge blower” in boats with a engine inside the hull, the exhaust manifold is marine-specific, its water cooled. Theres no air cleaner but a metal spark arrestor made up of thin metal plates, (in case of backfiring). the starter and alternator are supposed to be sealed in a manner that prevents any bilge fumes from being ignited. Back when point distributors were used they only had a mechanical advance, no vacuum. It’s possible theres a “marine profile” camshaft but other than that, theres not much difference between a automotive engine vs a stern drive boat engine.
I have seen 2.3 lima’s in boat application, back in the late ‘80’s starcraft had a aluminum cabin cruiser/fishing boat called the islander. Most of the 19-22 ft ones I saw had the 2.3 lima, I think their rating in a boat was 120.
Boat horsepower ratings seemed to be higher than automotive, the chevy 350 was rated at 260 back in the day, a 454 was 330.
I have no idea what is up in todays boats, I worked at a family owned boat dealership right out of high school in the late ‘80’s to the mid-90’s.

My 89 Bayliner 17’ has a 2.3, think they called it an OMC 2.3 but the valve covers have a Ford oval, lol. Looks just like the 2.3 in the 89 Ranger I was trying to part out once upon a time

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Push starting

Just gotta sail it downhill…

 

[oldgeek]

Just gotta sail it downhill…

Which gear is best to put it in and then release the clutch?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Which gear is best to put it in and then release the clutch?

Well, I’d probably treat it like a vehicle and kinda gotta consider your options depending on how far and how fast you can go… although you usually don’t end up in the one situation I had with my F-150 where I had to start it in reverse while rolling backwards down the driveway where there was all kinds of things to smash into handy. That’s not usually a concern in a boat unless you really screwed up I’d think.