Following our trip to Windermere and highly fortuitous meeting with Peter, the skipper of PocketShip "Mollie", I have decided to fit an outboard motor.
I have been thinking about this for a very long while - since the start of the build - and I can now see that a motor is pretty well essential.
Launching and mooring will not be practical without powered manoeuvring, and I can see that under less-than-ideal weather conditions a motor will be a very good safety consideration.
Initial research has shown that lightweight four stroke motors are available in 2.5hp and 3.5hp, so I am going for the more powerful model.
There is only one 'serious' outboard dealer near me, and it's about an hour away. It is a Mercury dealership, selling Mercury and Tohatsu motors. I think one of these will be fine.
This is the Mercury 3.5hp motor.
I will make a trip to purchase a motor and ask for advice on fitting i.e. do they recommend a make of lifting bracket etc?
As a result I have cancelled the planned move onto the trailer, and will now leave it until the Spring.
The only reason for moving "Journey" now was to completely finish fitting out, by installing the mast and rigging so I could get a survey done.
But that is not urgent and can wait until next year, and I can spend the next couple of months fitting a motor and perhaps making a couple of modifications which I gleaned from "Mollie".
We live and learn...
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