clifgray
New Member
Hey all,
I've read all the outboard posts here and was hesitant to add to the stack, but finally needed to. I've had a wonderful year and a half of sailing in my Capri so far. I've been using a 40# thrust Mina Kota in the waters of North Carolina's Outer Banks to get out from my boat ramp, through some crowded channels, and out to the open waters of the sound. After many battles with the wind, tides, and other boaters I finally had a point where the wind and tide were pushing me backwards in a busy channel and nearly pushed me up into a broken dock (left over from Hurricane Dorian) and into a nearby Fish and Wildlife boat, all despite full throttle on the Mina Kota. I only escaped by raising and main and the jib and tacking straight into the wind for 20 minutes while dodging the considerable boat traffic in the channel.
Trying to avoid all that excitement in the future, I'm in the market for a more powerful outboard and am curious just how many HP is feasible on the Capri. I'm also interested in occasionally going out with 3-4 folks and no sailing gear to see the sunset or to have a bite and a beer on some of the ephemeral shoals that come up during low tides. So I'm curious how many HP I can have and how many HP are even useful to reach hull speed. I've seen 3.5, anyone go up to 5HP? If so with what result? What kind of reinforcement did the transom require for that additional strain?
Thanks for any thoughts!
I've read all the outboard posts here and was hesitant to add to the stack, but finally needed to. I've had a wonderful year and a half of sailing in my Capri so far. I've been using a 40# thrust Mina Kota in the waters of North Carolina's Outer Banks to get out from my boat ramp, through some crowded channels, and out to the open waters of the sound. After many battles with the wind, tides, and other boaters I finally had a point where the wind and tide were pushing me backwards in a busy channel and nearly pushed me up into a broken dock (left over from Hurricane Dorian) and into a nearby Fish and Wildlife boat, all despite full throttle on the Mina Kota. I only escaped by raising and main and the jib and tacking straight into the wind for 20 minutes while dodging the considerable boat traffic in the channel.
Trying to avoid all that excitement in the future, I'm in the market for a more powerful outboard and am curious just how many HP is feasible on the Capri. I'm also interested in occasionally going out with 3-4 folks and no sailing gear to see the sunset or to have a bite and a beer on some of the ephemeral shoals that come up during low tides. So I'm curious how many HP I can have and how many HP are even useful to reach hull speed. I've seen 3.5, anyone go up to 5HP? If so with what result? What kind of reinforcement did the transom require for that additional strain?
Thanks for any thoughts!