Fitting out Drifter 22
'Appuski Too'
Engine
Few
1970's and 80's Drascombe Drifters seem to mount outboards larger than
6hp. The Duthie's
'Tanera Mor'
for example mounting only a 4hp. (see DA website About Drascombes,
Drifter, Owner's view)
Drifter
22's however, most often have the excellent Yamaha 8hp - or larger. I haven't
yet seen anyone have reliability problems with one of these. I love it's
smooth, relatively quiet running especially at low docking speeds. Importantly
it is also a twin cylinder engine which brings inherent extra reliability and,
in a four stroke, easier starting.
'Appuski
Too' came with a 9.9hp Electric start engine. This was a Selva
which although a nice enough engine and theoretically the lightest 10hp you can
get, it's lightness came from the fact that it was a
single cylinder engine. The inherent lightness however, was completely offset
by the electric start and charging equipment which left it, in the end, nearly
as heavy as the Yamaha 8hp but without the twin cylinder benefits.
At
the end of each season I remove my outboard motor and take it into my garage
for servicing and storage. This makes lightness a prime concern, along with fuel
consumption since, on a cruise, I sometimes carry fuel for 20 hours motoring.
The Yamaha 8hp weighs 50% more than a Mercury/Mariner/Tohatsu/Nissan
5 or 6hp and noting that 6hp was considered more than enough for a Drifter, I
decided to see if it was enough for a Drifter 22. So the Selva found
a new home and I bought a Mercury 6hp with the battery
charging facility (max 2Amp) and high thrust propeller options. (Not, you will
note, the saildrive package because the D22 uses a
standard shaft motor).
So
far I am well pleased with my choice. It has proved economical, reliable and
adequately powerful by batting into very strong winds and by towing larger
craft (see below). With hindsight though I probably
should have settled for the 5hp since the prop with the most fine pitch
available for these engines has a 6 inch pitch and even with that prop the 6hp
will never reach the rpm where the extra 1hp is developed. This I learnt from
the rev counter that I had on the Coaster and probably applies to all Drascombes. I have a rev counter for the new engine but
haven't had a chance to fit it yet. Note that my engine requires a spacer behind the
motor mounting board to prevent the lower unit from (just) bearing on the rear
of the outboard well floor when under power. The spacer I have fitted (shown
below) is a piece of 10mm ply.
It
has proven to give greater manoeuvrability than the larger engines as it can
turn further in the D22's outboard well (see pic of the outboard well platform)
and can also turn with the motor in semi tilted 'shallow water drive' when the
prop of the larger engines will foul the floor of the well. As a bonus there is
less weight dragging the stern of the boat down when sailing and the mizzen
mast doesn't seem to object too much to being the vertical spar in a derrick
when the time comes to lift it out. The only issues are greater noise than the
Yamaha 8hp and the swivel clamp which still ships from the factory covered in
grease That requires action to prevent the motor from
deciding to steer to starboard at low (docking) speed - See the Apendix at the bottom of the Engine servicing page.
If that doesn't work see the "Steering lock up gubbins"
on the Engine stand and engine mods page.
The
Suzuki or Yamaha engines of similar size would probably also be suitable but I
was being cautious about engine fumes. The previous owner complained about
fumes in the outboard well from his original 10hp Tohatsu
and to a lesser degree from the Selva. In each case
the suspect source was the exhaust relief port below the power head which, for
ease of starting, allows enough exhaust for low rpm to escape early, thus
avoiding the back pressure at the main under water outlet.
Other owners with larger engines also complain of fumes. Whilst the owners that
I have come across so far who have 8hp Yamahas
have reported no problem, another with a 10hp Yamaha has actually felt
the need to pipe his exhaust relief port to the transom. Unlike the larger engines,
the 6hp Suzuki and Yamaha engines do not have through hub exhausts. I didn't
want to take any chances that this too might become a fume issue so I chose the
Mercury which buries its main exhaust through the propeller like the larger
motors. So far with my small Mercury I have had no issues with fumes either
from the main exhaust or the relief port. Please let me know your experiences.
I should be particularly interested if anyone has good experience of the small
Suzuki or Yamaha motors as I would hope that they would be an option which
doesn't suffer from the swivel clamp problem. I don't mention the Honda as I
have seen other problems with this.
Engine trolley
The
addition of a pair of wheels from the ironmongers to my folding engine
stand, and longer coach bolts to mount them, have turned my stand into a
trolley so that the engine can be wheeled instead of carried into the garage.
The reason that the wheels are on the inside is to conserve space in the
cramped garage in my house which serves as my workshop. If you have further to
go, stability would be aided by putting the wheels on the outside. Now that it
has become a trolley it also needs a handle which is yet to be fitted.
