Thread: Hartley 18' half cabin - help re outboard hp

Welcome to the registration nightmare Andrew. Wavedancer was layed up at Iluka NSW on transit from Harvey Bay Qld. I was up here in the mountains and I thought I would do the right thing and tranfer rego from Qld to NSW, the Qld mob didn't want to know about because the boat was in NSW. The NSW mob wanted me to take the boat to Coffs Habour so it could be measuered and a new hull number fitted even though it had the original nsw hull number. Short version is I paid $35 for the bloke who fitted the plate to say yea I put it there.

Dear Wavedancer,

Lucky you to get out of it so cheaply! I would have paid $50 not to have been so off with them! the

I suppose we just have to deal with the fact that when we go to such Govt organisations (inc passport's office!!!!!............don't go there!), we just have to realise that they don't care about the outcome - the outcome is our problem, and we shouldn't get irritated about anything.

I'll check my outboard engine number this weekend, and I'm sure that there'll be some transcription error next week when I try again to re-register my boat and engine................ where a "7" might look like a "1", for example, but it wasn't my transcribing that caused that error, was it?!! Every person with 2 boats must obviously have 2 engines, and as long as the engine numbers don't match, the computer can't pick it up

And, beyond this, who actually cares what the engine number on my Tohatsu 5hp is??? If you have a boat that has a rego label, and all the safety gear, it is unlikely that anyone is going to check further. It's only if you are beligerant, or difficult to them that they would even consider checking an engine number.

When observing the police launch going within 50m of the 12' tinny with 5 guys without life jackets a few months ago, I realised that you have to be pretty special to stand out!

PAR, I'm not expecting the 5hp to do anything special. The guy in the sea-kayak who paddles passed me this weekend, might stop me in my blocks with his back-wash, but hopefully there'll only be one guy who does so!. The 5hp is basically a "transition" engine, which will allow me to use my new boat in good weather (and the forecast is for this) until I can afford a "proper" engine

In due course (ie when I can afford a proper engine), I might ask more about the hp issue - my gut feelings at the moment are that an 80hp would be more than I need, and 50-60 possibly enough.

In Oz, there is still a significant $ difference as you go up the hp, so I'd still love some sort of equation that would allow me to plot out the hp vs speed curve based on boat length/width/weight/profile etc etc

Any further input would be appreciated.

A

Don't change a number on your engine's ID, change a letter. If you change the numbers, the computer may find that number registered to someone else's boat and think you've stolen an outboard. An "M" could be an "N", a "Q" looks and lot like an "O", a "B", could easily be mistaken for an "R", etc., this way you could apply the "transcription error" routine to the authorities if it comes up.

A 50 HP would be just fine, with plenty of reserve to punch through chop and contrary currents.

Victoria has complex boating regulations. Unfortunately there is no eqivalent of an International Driving licence so I had problems when visiting there for a world championship and wanted to take out a coach boat.

I agree with PAR just add a number to the end of the existing sequence. There is a nationwide log of stolen outboards so just changing the number is a marginal risk.

Regarding your request for a speed/hoursepower calculation. While you do not have a Hartley 18 cabin cruiser [Fisherman based on the Trailer Sailer hull] , your boat is very similar to the Hartley Flareline series which has a Vee shaped hull. Go to www.hartley-boats.com and check the Flairline 18 details which include speed and power up to 200hp, then decide what you are going to use her for. You could also look at the Hartley Vixen which is the Deep Vee series, so look at the Vixon 17 for a comparison with up to 220hp. One criteria, check for dry rot then your bank account.

A marginal problem is that different methods of calculating hp on outboards are used so the published output can vary by 10%, but that is another story!

Regarding putting my little 5hp on my new old boat, I'm trying to sort out transom lengths, and where the prop should sit under the boat . As it sits on my little dinghy, with a 43cm transom, the fount things on the side of the outboard shaft are at about the level of the bottom of the boat. The new/ old boat has a 53cm transom, which still leaves all the prop exposed below the boat, but the side fins are above the level of the boat bottom.
Basically, is it worth my while fluffing around making an extended/ false transom 8 cm lower on my new/old boat or will it work just as inefficiently (!) if I just bolt it on?

Particularly pleasing aspect of today was that I've towed my new/old boat 100km on it's trailer without any problem. We only have another 2km to the boat ramp. At $650 for boat and trailer, things are starting to look up!

A

The side fins you're referring to is (I'm assuming) the anti-ventilation plate. This is what appears to be a flat piece just above the prop. This plate should be at or as much as an 1 below the bottom of the boat.

Speed and general performance predictions are that hard, but you have to know what you've got. By this I mean the hull type, the weight and a few other "qualifiers", or the predictions are difficult to attempt.

You have a classic double wedge, warped bottom hull form. The transom shows about 7 degrees of deadrise. This and a rough guess at weight and you can get fairly close, but really, what's the difference between guessing 26 MPH and actually going 25 or 27? Your hull likely is about 700 pounds, plus 300 for engine, controls and fuel, you'll be operating this boat with 1,200 to 1,500 pounds of full up load. Warped bottom hulls need less HP comparatively then more modern constant deadrise designs, so the figures I posted about will be close enough.

Hmmmm.

As there's little wind this weekend and I know when slack tide is, I'll just give it burl the day after tomorrow and see what happens!

I really appreciate everyones input.

A

Well, we got out in the boat today with the 5hp.

Steering was aweful ( we went in a S shaped course!), but it otherwise went along ok. Best of all there were no leaks, we all had a ball, and we caught 2 whiting and a flathead!

Now to start saving for a proper outboard!

A

Re registration issues, I believe that if you reg the big boat, you can operate the dingy as a tender to it on it's registration. Doesn't get around the problem of supplying the engine number of the outboard, but should get around the issue of using a common engine number with two boats. However I suspect that it could be hard to explain that the dingy is being used as a tender to a boat high and dry in the carport 20KM or more from water if that were the case.

Hi mate, i have a 24ft vixen hartley with a 25hp on her and she is fine. maybe put some sought of fin in front of the motor and bit of weight in the boat.sits quite comfortably on 6/7 knots.