Searider Refit

[Texel Tom]

Just refitting a 1991 Searider and have a couple of questions:-

1. Would like the reassurance of an auxillary engine but wondered about stowage/mounting position. Space is limited, has anyone fitted an aux motor to a Searider and if so how?

2. Otherwise I am trying to keep the boat as original as possible and it was fitted with back to back bucket seats. The back two are missing - any ideas on where I could find replacements.

Any help would be appreciated.

[MustRib]

Hello Tom..
I am not exactly refitting, but modifying a similar boat myself at the moment.
The original seating had already gone from my boat and been replaced with someones wooden bench interpretation of it.

I was wondering how to mount an auxiliary myself, even thinking about making some sort of cradle for it and laying it on the floor in the bow.

it would look a little weird perched high on the A frame!

What size Aux did you have in mind?

Andy

[Texel Tom]

Hi Andy

I got a good deal on a Honda 2.3. I don't know if it will be man enough but I only need something for emergencies and also for some shallow close in manoevering, we have some interesting sea caves locally which are worth exploring. Because of this I would like it to be ready for use and am thinking of a bracket fitted to the transom. I am just a bit unsure about making this sort of permanent fixture to an otherwise original boat.

Tom.

[MustRib]

hmm... to be honest, if its close in...sea caves... what about some paddles?
If you put "SR4" into the search facility on here you can turn up quite a few threads and I have seen a few posts with pictures on the very same subject.
the last concensus seemed to be fitting an aux bracket offset to one side was the best way.
Where I launch from, I'm not sure a 2.5hp aux would fight a searider back into the Tyne against the tide. I would have suggested a 4hp as a minimum, and even then it would be very slow progress.
I'm not quite sure myself about what I'm going to do on the same subject.
I would like to have an aux as I do like to go off and explore a bit, so may well
look for the smallest 5hp unit I can find and prefab a cradle for it to live up front in the bow, or in a locker/seat combo at the very back if I can squeeze it in.

[Nos4r2]

Actually a 2hp will get you up to about 3-4mph which is about the displacement hull speed of an sr4 and if you get the old type Johnson/Evinrude 2hp with a single transom screw it fits on the transom (just) without a bracket.

I did have a 4hp on mine as an aux once but when I changed engines there wasn't room for it. It did push it better but not appreciably faster than the 2hp did.As long as it gets you ashore then it's served its purpose.
I doubt a 5hp would make any difference-once you hit the displacement hull speed you aren't going to go any faster unless you've got enough power to get on the plane.

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by MustRib

so may well
look for the smallest 5hp unit I can find and prefab a cradle for it to live up front in the bow, or in a locker/seat combo at the very back if I can squeeze it in.

If you put an auxiliary anywhere in an sr4 it needs to be on the transom or on a bracket on the transom.
If you put an aux inside on brackets or in lockers etc it'll get drenched and be useless if you stuff-and that's the time you're most likely to need it. It's very easy to fill an sr4 til water is coming over the transom.

[bedajim]

This was mine with 5hp on

It used to lock in postion and then i'd tie it to the A frame top and bottom

James

[Nos4r2]

Didn't you build that A-frame yourself?

[bedajim]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Didn't you build that A-frame yourself?

Yep 4 mm stainless it didn't bend

[9D280]

Bedajim,

Is that sitting on a Combi trailer? If so what make and where did you get it?

[bedajim]

Originally Posted by 9D280

Bedajim,

Is that sitting on a Combi trailer? If so what make and where did you get it?

Yep combi trailer i made it so was a one off, well nearly made another one now just a bit bigger

[9D280]

I did toy with adding extra rollers to a large dinghy combi trailer a while ago, simply 'coz I'm not a fan of dunking road bearings, but the biggest problem was the weight capacity - most combis top out at 250Kg, and even with a 25 on the transom it just wasn't going to happen, even with no fuel aboard.

Does your Launch trolley come right off, or does the bow end stay supported by the road base?

Apologies for hyjacking the thread - I'll restart it again later when I try to figure out how to fit a 5.5m boat into a 5.7m garage. (no prizes for guessing where this thought is going.....)

[9D280]

I did toy with adding extra rollers to a large dinghy combi trailer a while ago, simply 'coz I'm not a fan of dunking road bearings, but the biggest problem was the weight capacity - most combis top out at 250Kg, and even with a 25 on the transom it just wasn't going to happen, even with no fuel aboard.

Does your Launch trolley come right off, or does the bow end stay supported by the road base?

Apologies for hyjacking the thread - I'll restart it again later when I try to figure out how to fit a 5.5m boat into a 5.7m garage. (no prizes for guessing where this thought is going.....)

[bedajim]

Originally Posted by 9D280

I did toy with adding extra rollers to a large dinghy combi trailer a while ago, simply 'coz I'm not a fan of dunking road bearings, but the biggest problem was the weight capacity - most combis top out at 250Kg, and even with a 25 on the transom it just wasn't going to happen, even with no fuel aboard.

Does your Launch trolley come right off, or does the bow end stay supported by the road base?

Apologies for hyjacking the thread - I'll restart it again later when I try to figure out how to fit a 5.5m boat into a 5.7m garage. (no prizes for guessing where this thought is going.....)

Hi comes right off the road trailer and forms part of it when on the trailer

[9D280]

Thought it might. Isn't it a ton & a half to lift in trolley mode? (I assume it balances quite well for towing, and with the trolley wheels being aft of the road wheels the CoG must be well forward of the trolley wheels). The 6m RIB must be almost impossible to lift the bow when fully topped up with motion lotion, even with a 200 on the transom to balance it?

Probably should start another thread for this....

[bedajim]

Originally Posted by 9D280

Thought it might. Isn't it a ton & a half to lift in trolley mode? (I assume it balances quite well for towing, and with the trolley wheels being aft of the road wheels the CoG must be well forward of the trolley wheels). The 6m RIB must be almost impossible to lift the bow when fully topped up with motion lotion, even with a 200 on the transom to balance it?

Probably should start another thread for this....

Don't need to lift it very often but two people can lift it if required, it is normally a straight off and on, if there is abit of side ways movement on the launch trolley it corrects its self as it is winched back on, I run with about 75 kg on the hitch even with 225 L fuel

I've had one problem with a very shallow launch site but now have a second winch which goes onto the trolley but haven't used it, biggest problem was securing the trolley to the trailer for towing

[al40]

In terms of the Aux, I had 2 different engines on mine - a 4HP Merc and 3.5 Tohatsu. The tohatsu is a good bit smaller than the merc. I think both gave approx 4 knts in flat-ish water. You'd only notice the extra power of a larger engine if you were powering into a sea at hull speed or below (ie bigger engine would keep you moving).

Weight wise (important consideration on SR4), the Merc was 20 ish KG (may even be 25) and Tohatsu is 13 - every little helps :-)

You can steer with the main engine pretty well when using the Aux - only looses you maybe 0.2knts.

Good luck

Al

[Texel Tom]

Thanks for the info (and the stuff at the start of the thread)

How were yours stored/mounted?