cracked_ribs
Well-Known Member
Okay, here is the question that's been on my mind recently; hopefully people here will have some insight.
Right now I have an old Double Eagle 206. Good boat and my wife's become emotionally invested in it which happens with her. For me it's just a boat but it does do what I ask which is frequent runs from Steveston to another place near Nanaimo.
But it's got old I/O power and I won't trust it forever. Plus once stuff starts to break down, parts will be a pain since it's one of the rare Ford 302 + 280 leg combos Volvo did for a bit. And being a 280 it's bulletproof but trim adjustments are tabs and tabs alone.
It's also about the smallest boat I'd want to run out of the Fraser on a regular basis. We've done it in 25kt winds and it's a fairly slow, moderately stressful experience as of course the waves pick up and the river mouth gets nasty. But it's doable and we do it a lot. Running into waves at even 15 knots though would be bone-jarring at cruising speed and so if we're running into head winds I cut it back to 13-14 knots and slowly grind through it and it takes forever.
I'd like to extend my comfort zone around the 20-30 knot wind range and also to have a smoother ride heading into the chop. Everybody knows how steep and sloppy the Strait gets and while the 206 is a great hull, I don't want to just beat it to death (nor my wife etc) trying to run quickly across the strait when it gets churned up.
So I have a couple of options in front of me:
OPTION 1: pod the Double Eagle and put on modern outboard power.
Upsides:
a) this is the cheapest solution - probably no more than $20k
b) it would extend the effective length of the 206 a bit and might improve the ride a little
c) I get to keep the boat my wife likes
d) I doubt the boat will ever capsize so the main safety factor is the modern power, not the hull anyway
e) smaller boats are cheaper to store and operate
Downsides:
a) I'm spending money on a boat which I consider the minimum for my application
b) I'm committed to the boat for a few years because I've upgraded it
c) I'm not sure if I'll get the ride I want on a podded 206.
OPTION 2: locate a project hull, likely a Hourston 26, and start a serious build.
Upsides:
a) the money is going into a boat that will probably last me as long as I would ever want
b) it's as good a ride as I'll ever be able to afford
c) I'm doing the Strait run in a boat that doesn't seem like the minimum for bad weather Strait crossings
Downsides:
a) a lot more money - probably more like $50k
b) my wife would be sad to see the end of the DE and all the work I've put in refoaming it etc.
c) any money that gets tied up in boats limits my ability to do other stuff like move out of Vancouver which is what I really want to do
d) even a longer boat won't necessarily make it possible to run fast into rough weather in the strait
e) more expensive to store and to operate a larger boat
There's probably other stuff which is why I'm asking. I've never run a podded boat before and after the conversion so I don't know what to expect. I've never spent much time running boats bigger than my Double Eagle and never in rough weather so I don't really have a good sense of how much things will improve going from a 20' to a 25'. I'm sure that something like the podded 25 Bertram in Salt Water fishing would handle anything I could throw at it though at that would really be great.
So I guess I'm looking for inputs on the size and safety factors, as well as the effects of podding a boat. I'm really torn on how best to approach this but I feel like the clock is ticking on my I/O setup and if I get through another season without a significant failure I'll really be starting to get nervous, not so much about the engine and leg per se but accessories like the cooling system, say, on which the raw water pump alone would cost me as much as a replacement 302.
So anyone with ideas, fire away.
Right now I have an old Double Eagle 206. Good boat and my wife's become emotionally invested in it which happens with her. For me it's just a boat but it does do what I ask which is frequent runs from Steveston to another place near Nanaimo.
But it's got old I/O power and I won't trust it forever. Plus once stuff starts to break down, parts will be a pain since it's one of the rare Ford 302 + 280 leg combos Volvo did for a bit. And being a 280 it's bulletproof but trim adjustments are tabs and tabs alone.
It's also about the smallest boat I'd want to run out of the Fraser on a regular basis. We've done it in 25kt winds and it's a fairly slow, moderately stressful experience as of course the waves pick up and the river mouth gets nasty. But it's doable and we do it a lot. Running into waves at even 15 knots though would be bone-jarring at cruising speed and so if we're running into head winds I cut it back to 13-14 knots and slowly grind through it and it takes forever.
I'd like to extend my comfort zone around the 20-30 knot wind range and also to have a smoother ride heading into the chop. Everybody knows how steep and sloppy the Strait gets and while the 206 is a great hull, I don't want to just beat it to death (nor my wife etc) trying to run quickly across the strait when it gets churned up.
So I have a couple of options in front of me:
OPTION 1: pod the Double Eagle and put on modern outboard power.
Upsides:
a) this is the cheapest solution - probably no more than $20k
b) it would extend the effective length of the 206 a bit and might improve the ride a little
c) I get to keep the boat my wife likes
d) I doubt the boat will ever capsize so the main safety factor is the modern power, not the hull anyway
e) smaller boats are cheaper to store and operate
Downsides:
a) I'm spending money on a boat which I consider the minimum for my application
b) I'm committed to the boat for a few years because I've upgraded it
c) I'm not sure if I'll get the ride I want on a podded 206.
OPTION 2: locate a project hull, likely a Hourston 26, and start a serious build.
Upsides:
a) the money is going into a boat that will probably last me as long as I would ever want
b) it's as good a ride as I'll ever be able to afford
c) I'm doing the Strait run in a boat that doesn't seem like the minimum for bad weather Strait crossings
Downsides:
a) a lot more money - probably more like $50k
b) my wife would be sad to see the end of the DE and all the work I've put in refoaming it etc.
c) any money that gets tied up in boats limits my ability to do other stuff like move out of Vancouver which is what I really want to do
d) even a longer boat won't necessarily make it possible to run fast into rough weather in the strait
e) more expensive to store and to operate a larger boat
There's probably other stuff which is why I'm asking. I've never run a podded boat before and after the conversion so I don't know what to expect. I've never spent much time running boats bigger than my Double Eagle and never in rough weather so I don't really have a good sense of how much things will improve going from a 20' to a 25'. I'm sure that something like the podded 25 Bertram in Salt Water fishing would handle anything I could throw at it though at that would really be great.
So I guess I'm looking for inputs on the size and safety factors, as well as the effects of podding a boat. I'm really torn on how best to approach this but I feel like the clock is ticking on my I/O setup and if I get through another season without a significant failure I'll really be starting to get nervous, not so much about the engine and leg per se but accessories like the cooling system, say, on which the raw water pump alone would cost me as much as a replacement 302.
So anyone with ideas, fire away.
