I have recently purchased Super seal No 14 which is equiped with an outboard well but no engine. The previous owner, from new, stated that it had an evinrude but this had expired. This seal had not been used for the last few years. Could anyone advise on which engine to fit as most of the latest 4 strokes seem to be too big to slide down the well, Is it acceptable to fit a long shaft engine so that the propeller is fully immersed with engine in the up position, this could get over the problem. any comments would be appreciated.

Mike Gilbert

Mike, had an outboard in the well on my 26 (Elsa) for over 20 years but a few years ago converted to diesel.

You are right that without modifying the back of the well you won't be able to fit in a 4-stroke of 8 hp or more. The single cylinder 4-stroke 6 hp engines (eg Tohatsu) would fit.

I had a short shaft Mercury 2-stroke to start with. This had the advantage that you could pull it up and sit the skeg on the inside of the 'plug' to fair off the hull for racing while still remaining upright under the tiller.

I replaced with the Mercury 8 longshaft (2-stroke) as it improved the problem of engine stifling in its exhaust gases in the well as the head of the engine now sat above the narrow part of the well. It's very important to get this right and even then you might have to fit some sort of flexible extension to the exhaust to prevent gases coming up the well when trolling slowly.

The long shaft got better drive as it sits down further in the water but meant that in the up position you could no longer sit it on the plug without fouling the tiller. With it in my up position the blades only tickled the water. You need to check this with yours. I'm surprised that you think it will be low enough to drive the boat in the up position.

Also you need to be sure that it raises high enough for drying out.

Hope this is of some use ... but feel free to contact directly if needed.

Good luck, Chris.

Mike, we had to make a similar decision when we bought Miss Fidget three years ago, as her outboard had been stolen a little earlier. We had the advantage of being able to look at two-stroke engines, and chose a Tohatsu 9.8HP. It's close to the limit of the size that will fit, and the mounting bracket made by the boatyard to replace the one cut off by the thief wasn't initially the right size, so that the depth of the propeller in the water was wrong, and the performance was badly affected. We didn't feel we had it right until the second year we owned her. However, we're now very pleased - it's not excessively noisy (at least, not for a two stroke outboard!) and she drives forward very well. In calm waters, such as in a marina, she also manages pretty well in reverse at slow revs. There's quite a bit of oil smoke on starting up, but the exhaust is vented through the propeller and we don't have any problems of smoke in the cockpit once we've got going. However, we're not able to get the closure plate into place to fill the outboard well when the engine is up, so, although we usually raise the engine while we're sailing, we still have a fair bit of turbulence in the well.

I believe that the early Seals may have had smaller outboard wells than the later ones - but I don't know whether Miss Fidget, no. 69, counts as an early or later model in this respect.

There's an article in the Super Seal Technical Handbook (ref 82/4), written by B. Campbell-James, that is available from PSSA that describes the use of a Chrysler Sailor longshaft outboard on Siola, no. 27. He seems to have been very pleased with the eventual outcome, although it took a bit of time to get the details right.

We're based at Wicormarine, between Fareham and Portchester, and you're welcome to look at Miss Fidget, if that would be useful and convenient.

Gilliane

Miss Fidget, Super Seal 26, no. 69

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