Reply To: saildrive

Hi Sassy,
The sail drive route really won't work as the floor of the engine bay is intended to be 4inches or so above the water line (although it's less on heavier boats!) and the sail drive legs are designed to be mounted lower – for example, the 130S sailldrive fitted to the 13hp and 20hp Volvo D-series engines has a mounting flange to shaft centreline distance of around 20″. Once the mounting flange installation height and the pod to waterline clearance have been taken into account the shaft will only be around 12 inches below the surface of the water. This will mean that with a 13″ prop the blades will only be 5.5 inches below the water level at rest – not enough to prevent severe cavitation. A better option if fitting a single engine would be to install hydraulic drive (quite expensive but very effective) or a “longtail” drive like that fitted to Grey Lag. This a very cheap (just a long drive shaft and a prop) and quite effective solution, if a little unorthadox looking!!
Regards
Mark