What year did 9.9's get FW flush capability?

PDQ issues applicable across all PDQ Yachts (or if you can't find a place for something, it probably belongs here for now)
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Pete Weis
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What year did 9.9's get FW flush capability?

Post by Pete Weis »

Sounds like the Yamaha 9.9's have ok thrust for cruising under power (there may be differing views on this here), but the early ones didn't have the capability to be flushed with fresh water and tended to get clogged. It seems new 9.9's run somewhere between $3000-3500 per motor (?), which isn't too bad considering an owner can do the installation themselves.

But being able to flush the motors regularly is important.
amytom
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Re: What year did 9.9's get FW flush capability?

Post by amytom »

The old motors were easily adapted to allow fresh water flush. Some used the flush fitting on the lower unit with a hose strapped to the leg. Others drilled and put a fitting on the housing over the thermostat with a hose leading out from under the cowling.
Pete Weis
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Re: What year did 9.9's get FW flush capability?

Post by Pete Weis »

amytom wrote:The old motors were easily adapted to allow fresh water flush. Some used the flush fitting on the lower unit with a hose strapped to the leg. Others drilled and put a fitting on the housing over the thermostat with a hose leading out from under the cowling.

amytom. Thanks for the info. Even though we've had diesels on a number of boats we've owned, I like the outboards for a number of reasons. One of them, I haven't seen mentioned on this site or any other, has to do with cruising in waters which have a lot of lobster or crab pots. That's the case here in Maine.

Our IP 40 had a full keel with a protected prop and so we could motor through hundreds of closely compacted lobster bouys and never worry about getting our prop wrapped up in lobster warp. I had a previous boat which didn't have a protected prop and had to dive in to pretty cold water and cut lobster warp wrapped around our prop, a number of times.

You can have "spurs" mounted to the shaft just forward of the prop which will cut the warp most of the time, but I've always had a bad feeling about cutting the lines to these traps, because it hurts the livelihood of lobstermen. Not to mention the disconnected trap at the bottom continues to catch lobsters with no possibility of being retrieved.

So the outboards being mounted forward and inside the hulls have little to no chance of catching the props as they would a prop on a sail drive or shaft located beneath the hull.

Understandably, you don't see many or hardly any catamarans cruising the New England coast, because cat owners view their boats has warm water and warm climate boats. And my wife and I would/will love to cruise the Bahamas and the lower Caribbean.

When we cruised the East Coast, there were 5 areas which stood out as highlights of our cruising. Those were Maine, the area south of Cape Cod (Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Block Island, Elizabeth Islands,and Narragansett Bay), Chesapeake Bay, The North Carolina sounds and barrier islands, and Miami south (Biscayne Bay and the keys). Of these five areas, Maine and the area just south of Cape Cod really stand out in the quality of the steady winds (Florida is the best for winds), and quality of harbors, anchorages, and things to do and see.

I remember a survey done some years ago in either Cruising World, Yachting, or Sail Magazine among famous yachtsmen. They listed the Mediterranean and the Caribbean as among the top three favorites, but Maine was number one. They were mostly American yachtsmen and so that probably had a lot to do with it.

But it's too bad more catamaran sailors don't head north in the summer months, except to maybe the Great Lakes. PDQ's with outboards would be especially suited to cruise the Maine Coast, which is a fabulous cruising ground.
amytom
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Re: What year did 9.9's get FW flush capability?

Post by amytom »

For catching the crab (or lobster) pots; if the buoy is outside the hulls while motoring you're ok. If the buoy is inside the hulls while motoring chances are you'll catch it. I've been able to clear a couple of times through the engine well without getting wet but sometimes you just have to jump in. The outboards are tilted out of the water when sailing so no trouble there. The rudders can catch a line but the only lines I've had to jump in to clear from the rudders are my own fishing lines (don't ask).

On further thought, if cruising really cold waters and you catch a line on the prop you could also pull the engine out of the well to clear. You'd want to be anchored to do that and I'm not sure I want to anchor around the lobster pots.
Pete Weis
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Re: What year did 9.9's get FW flush capability?

Post by Pete Weis »

amytom wrote:For catching the crab (or lobster) pots; if the buoy is outside the hulls while motoring you're ok. If the buoy is inside the hulls while motoring chances are you'll catch it. I've been able to clear a couple of times through the engine well without getting wet but sometimes you just have to jump in. The outboards are tilted out of the water when sailing so no trouble there. The rudders can catch a line but the only lines I've had to jump in to clear from the rudders are my own fishing lines (don't ask).

On further thought, if cruising really cold waters and you catch a line on the prop you could also pull the engine out of the well to clear. You'd want to be anchored to do that and I'm not sure I want to anchor around the lobster pots.
Yes. The key to avoiding the pot warp is making sure the engine in the water passes to leeward of the bouy since the line angles out on the windward side, as you know. But it does seem that the ability to pull one engine out of the water and the other is inside and fairly close to one hull, means it's less likely to snag pot line than if the prop is mounted directly below the hull.

In the event of a motor getting snagged, duck taping a sharp knife onto a long boat hook or pole devised for the purpose of cutting the line to free the motor and then dropping the unaffected motor in the water to continue on could be the way to go. It looks like their is a small U shaped cutout just aft of the motor in the down position to allow the motor to be pulled up a bit higher when not in use. This hole looks like a good location to use the pole with knife to cut the line. Later at anchor, with the snagged motor lifted out of the water it should be relatively easy to cut away any line still wrapped around the prop. All of this would be much tougher with a prop on a shaft or sail drive located directly below the hull, which would require diving into the water to completely free up the prop.

Again, it's sad to have to cut the line, so avoiding the situation to the maximum extent is best.

By the way, there are a number of warmer small bays suitable for swimming where the water temperatures reach 70+ degrees, along the coast of Maine. There are also some easily accessed fresh water swimming holes and small fresh water lakes on Maine coastal islands. The water south of Cape Cod is also warmer. Also with shallow draft there are some excellent thin water anchorages in Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, where you can avoid the ridiculously high moorage fees.
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