Boat with six outboard engines - photo

[Altair]

Boat with six outboard engines.




Previously:

Hand-operated outboard propeller - GIF
750+ HP outboard motors
1930 Robertson outboard motor waterplane - GIF
Outboard motor cutaway - photos
1935 airboat - photo

[greenie]

So what's the fuel consumption like, 10 gallons every mile ?

[Frank S]

That boat had to have some real structural strength in the transom

[Frank S]

And to think everyone said the twin 200s I installed on a bass boat I finally managed to find a sucker to buy was ridiculous

[IntheGroove]

My boat had one 400 hp 4 liter 13.8 to 1 compression ratio 25 to 1 gas oil mix V8 2 stroke 6250 RPM 1/2 a gallon a minute at 77 MPH 6200 feet elevation. Then the governing board(TRPA) outlawed carbureted two stroke engines...

[nova_robotics]

My boat had one 400 hp 4 liter 13.8 to 1 compression ratio 25 to 1 gas oil mix V8 2 stroke 6250 RPM 1/2 a gallon a minute at 77 MPH 6200 feet elevation. Then the governing board(TRPA) outlawed carbureted two stroke engines...

What kind of motor was that? Bored out Evinrude 300XP? I love 2 strokes. It's a shame Evinrude is pushing up daisies. I want to put an E-TEC into a small car.

[IntheGroove]

It was a Johnson 3.6 300 HP. Bored out to 4 liters, finger ports added, 2 per cylinder. Boyson two stage fiberglass reed valves. Land and Sea dual spark plug high compression heads. Velocity stacks. Modified exhaust. Nose cone on the lower unit. Custom stainless steel engine bracket that moved the engine back 12 inches and put the prop shaft centerline to the keel. 13 1/4 X 29 4 blade stainless propeller. 12 X 24 cast aluminum K-Planes. Hydraulic steering. The boat was George Linder 21 Challenger with a balsa core hull. Wonderful boat in rough water.

Bombardier bought OMC Johnson/ Evinrude. Then they bought Volvo Penta. They make marine drive systems but Etec is dead. Mercury makes the engines marketed as Evinrude and they are 4-strokes...

[hemmjo]

I guess if you can afford 6 x $35,000 per engine = $210,000. Then buy a nice boat to hang them on, you don't worry much about buying fuel for it.

[hemmjo]

I have some other thoughts on a rig like that. Some say multiple engines add a level of safety to an off shore rig. I do agree with that philosophy to a point.

The main issue I have with the rig shown above is the configuration of the 6 drive units. The center units are just a few, very few, inches below the outside units. In a turn the boat will heel, the outside props will be lifted out of the water. In rough seas, as the boat rocks side to side, the same issue will occur. With a one or two ending set up, the props are centered, most of the time, the center of the boat is in the water.

In addition, if you have a boat that large, and need that much power, you may as well have diesel power. It is more reliable with much less risk of explosion from fuel leaks.

Are there 6 throttle/shift controls to deal with?

There must be some advantages to having 6 engines, I am open to hearing them.

[IntheGroove]

That boat was designed around the engines. It has at least a 14 foot beam. Having outboards gives much more room in the boat. Although there is a steering wheel the main control is a joystick. The steering, shifting and throttle is through an algorithm that controls each engine individually, quite the thing to watch docking...