Forty Plus "too much of a good thing" for an Avon

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

This is almost "looking for an excuse to buy a second Seagull" territory.

I have a Forty Plus, which belongs to our main tender - a 9ft clinker dinghy, but have just bought a secondhand Redstart which has an outboard bracket.

The reason for this extravagance is that our children now like to sail the clinker dinghy, so their parents want a means of getting to them, should they get into difficulty - by way of example, the 11 year old cannot push the clinker dinghy back down into the water if he beaches it on an ebb tide.

Is a Forty Plus too big for the smallest Avon - should it have a Featherweight or a Minus? Avon's instructions are not crystal clear when read in conjuction with Seagull's horsepower ratings!

Since "Avon + Seagull" almost defined British boating for generations, someone must know!

[charlesp]

No it's not too much at all.

The only question is the height of the transom - can you stick a Forty Plus on it at the correct depth?

I'm sure it's the best option - It's light, they are much cheaper than Featherweights on ebay etc, and there's those extra pounds of thrust.

I have photos from the 1960s and 1970s showing a small Avon with a Forty Plus being demonstrated at the Experimental Bridging Establishment at Christchurch. They obviously thought it was OK!

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Thanks very much, Charles.

I will have to find out about the "hydrophobia" issue by experiment, but I would guess that the difference between a Redstart and the bigger Avon dinghies will only be an inch or two, so a bit of careful weight distribution should solve it.

I've grown very fond of the FP. It even got the chrome on its drive leg polished at laying up time, last autumn!

[John@sos]

Just a thought, you can raise the FP a little by using a pair of engine lug caps, the half round black plastic bits, bolted together above the bracket. I can sell you a pair for £5 inc P&P! Just add your own bolts!

Then the FP will be fine, Avon stated 3 hp for the Redstart and 4 hp for the Redcrest, so the FP will not overpower the Redstart, just be a bit low!

Regards,
John
SOS

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Thanks, John.

I will experiment this weekend!

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

After through testing, I am happy to report that Charles is correct; the Forty Plus works very well indeed on the outboard bracket of an Avon Redstart, with no evidence of "hydrophobia", nor is the dinghy grossly overpowered - it is just a little overpowered!

Economical speed seems to be achieved at approximately one quarter throttle, and at even less throttle than this it will keep pace with a 9ft lugsail dinghy being sailed by an 11 year old.

A tiller extension is desirable when singlehanding...

[CatiGull]

Both my Forty Featherweights and F Plus push my Island 17 (about a 220 kg boat) to hull speed just dandy..the FF has to work a little harder near full throttle compared to the FP



PS - if you wrap a nylon safety strap around the exhaust tube as pictured it soon melts through....