Handy Billy Builders Sound Off

[Billy Bones]

Hello all,

What engine did you use? The original plans specify 25hp short shaft honda but they no longer make that in a remote configuration. Harry recommends the 20hp short which has all the bells and whistles but since this will be an ocean boat(for a handicapped boater), and since all published reports say the 25 hp HB performs best on long cruises wide open, I am hesitant to hobble the hp and shorten the cruising radius. My choices are the 20hp 15" shaft, the 25hp 20" shaft, or other.

If the 25 is the answer, obviously the transom must be raised a bit, but does the well need to be extended or the motor transom need to be moved for'd to accomodate the longer lower unit?

thx

[ 02-28-2005, 05:46 PM: Message edited by: Billy Bones ]

[Steve Lansdowne]

I could be very wrong, but I seem to recall a similar posting on this topic a few months back. You might try the search function.

[Billy Bones]

I've searched and searched--some similar queries but no direct info.

Anyone?

Thx

[rbgarr]

You might have to ask Harry Bryan. There's also these folks:
http://www.goldenpondclassicboats.com/

[Billy Bones]

Thanks David,

I've spoken at length to Harry who recommends the 20hp, preferring to stick with the short shaft. I called Golden Pond Classic Boats this morning and they said they'd cornered the market on the remaining remote short shaft 25s in the NE. They were very helpful, but they stopped short of parting with one of their engines! He had heard about a Nissan which fit the bill, but having owned a Nissan ob I'd rather row. But that got me to looking at Yamaha who, it seems, does make a 25hp 15" shaft remote/electric start 4 stroke engine, and it is a 2cylinder instead of a 3cyl so the case is smaller, much like the original Honda which Harry used.

So it seems that Yamaha is the answer. And it's reputation for reliability is second to none, which is nice.

[schifsky]

Billy Bones,
What was your experience with the Nissan?
I'm considering a new 25 HP short shaft 4-stroke Nissan for a 19' Bartender.
Thanks, Mike S

[Billy Bones]

Hi Mike,

I once had a rhodes 19 which came to me with a little 3.5 hp long shaft nissan. It was tempermental always, it developped leaks, particularly in the onboard gas tank, but most of all it corroded like crazy. It was appalling. I had an old battered yamaha at the time on a dinghy and it lived in the water (warm, salty tropical water) year round and it didn't corrode nearly as badly as the nissan with it's dainty sunbrella cover and pampered life.

However, giving Nissan the benefit of the doubt, when researching for my initial query, I went over to boat design net and searched around about various obs. The concensus seemed to be that Nissan was bad at honoring the warranty, mechanics found no support from the factory, dealers paid for warranty repairs out of pocket (which is why the Nissan is so popular with catalog companies--no service!) and so on.

And the Nissan seems to weigh less per given hp than the other guys, which doesn't suggest to me that the corrosion problems have been addressed. (thinner, probably cheaper metal corroding faster failing sooner).

In short, seems to me that once again cheapest is most costly, and most expensive is least costly.

hope this helps.