New guy here !

[jbloyd]

The only place I have heard of "outrun the weather" is from sales reps and a few newbies who believed them. I think you will find on this forum that "outrun the weather" is way down on the list for preferring twin engines. What if the twins are FL 120's? I don't think you are going to outrun any weather with those in any of the the boats that have them. There are many great discussions and opinions about single/twin in several threads (one is pretty recent). Enjoy the discoveries.

 

[NCheaven]

Have your fuel tanks Professionally inspected and fuel polished. After that, run the boat a few hours and replace all fuel filters. Use the best fuel source that experienced boaters in your area recommend, and in the south use a biocide. Consider installing a fuel pressure gauge if you don’t already have one. Those steps will reduce the biggest single engine risk.

 

[Medic]

Caphenning said "As for live aboard, the combo washer/dryer units are nice if you don’t already have laundry aboard. They’re slow, but you can start it and forget it, and when you open it the stuff is dry."

The combo washer/dryers can be amazing. I have a Splendide on a boat I own, but is for sale, and it has proven itself.

Don't be confused by the term "combo washer/dryer". It does NOT mean a stack washer/dryer, which is a small washing machine with a seperate small dryer "stacked" on top of it (or below it). A "combo washe/dryer" is a single unit. You put laundry into it, add detergent, set the controls and turn it on. After it washes your clothes or whatever, it then proceeds to dry them. With the Splendide it takes about between 90 minutes and two hours. I was astounded that it even worked. But it did, and beautifully.

The term "combo washer/dryer" is frequently mis-used, so be sure you know what the person using the term really means.

 

[Swfla]

In many european countries, these combo machines are in apartments and homes. Perfect where space is limited and 1-2 persons as it is a 2-3 hour cycle.

 

[RLKramer]

a few thoughts

I am from Lake Superior where there historically has not been a tow service (just recently one arrived in the area) and you needed to be self-sufficient if you wanted to get home alive. So, you either had twin engines or you had a "get home" engine. Over the years in the north we have had both solutions.

In our Florida/Bahamas boat we would only consider twin engines. I understand that a single can be just as reliable but while one engine is out, you still have the ability to power your way through the situation.

I was crossing between Chub Cay and Nassau and the weather turned the waves into 5'-6' waves. The boat was rocking wand rolling even with stabilizers. I was glad that we had no engine problems but had we had one engine go out, the other would have kept us going forward with steerage.

So I vote for two engines.

As for the class at SWFY in Cape Coral, we had our boat in their charter fleet. We saw them take very good care of the paying charterers, took very good care of the owner of the company, but the people that actually owned the boats-- the boat owners in the fleet were the last to be taken care of.

Their teacher (s) are all contract captains not staff teachers. The boats are all getting chartered for the class with some revenue going to the boat owner but the majority goes to the company owner.

I think you will have good training there, but please consider carefully before you put your own boat in their fleet. You wont see much revenue sharing.

As for the combo washer and dryer, you can only do VERY small loads and they will take 2-3 hours. They are good to have but you need to have lots of time.

 

[Recb]

Hello everyone, my name is Todd. My wife and I are soon to be retired and are doing careful and relentless research before purchasing our new liveaboard home.

We wish to cruise from Florida to the Bahamas frequently and seem to have settled on a Mainship 400. I have concerns over the models that have the single engine as opposed to two. Any helpful advice on the 400 or the liveaboard lifestyle in general would be greatly appreciated.

Look forward to learning from all of the experience you guys can share. Thank You!

Regarding single or twins in the Mainship 400, I think a single with bow and stern thrusters is easily manoeuvred and piloted and has the advantage of more space in the engine room with all around engine access. A comfortable cruising speed is @8 knots.

 

[boatpoker]

over 22,000hrs in single engines. Had one tow (2yrs ago)
A good handler with a single can do anything a twin can do.

Hundreds of thousands of deep water fishing vessels for the last 100yrs have been singles.

My Great grandfather ran a single engine single cylinder make/break diesel 40 footer between Fraserburgh (Scotland) and Iceland in the early 1900's. The family story is he was running whiskey.

 

[boatpoker]

over 22,000hrs in single engines. Had one tow (2yrs ago)
A good handler with a single can do anything a twin can do.

Hundreds of thousands of deep water fishing vessels for the last 100yrs have been singles.

 

[catalinajack]

Yup, boatpoker is absolutely correct, a good handler with a single can do anything a twin guy can do. Except, boatpoker doesn't say how many more hundreds of hours and botched landings it takes to acquire these skills. New boaters should take this into consideration.

over 22,000hrs in single engines. Had one tow (2yrs ago)
A good handler with a single can do anything a twin can do.

Hundreds of thousands of deep water fishing vessels for the last 100yrs have been singles.

My Great grandfather ran a single engine single cylinder make/break diesel 40 footer between Fraserburgh (Scotland) and Iceland in the early 1900's. The family story is he was running whiskey.