Ok, finally I can compose my thoughts on a get home engine.  First, I should
say I don't have a get home engine, I have a get someplace engine.  The
thought you could maintain any kind of steerage or make any real distance on
the wing engine is really fantasy.  However, that said, I've used it once
and was glad I had it.  We threw a belt early in our trip and I started the
wing so Marian could man the helm and keep us running downswell while I cut
the remains of the belt out of the main engine.  Of course since the main
was shut down I lost the stabilizers so it was far from pleasant.  I also
know a 43 skipper that lost his tranny and used the wing to get back to a
marina.  In his situation he could have called a tow, but as others can
affirm, the currents in Puget Sound run pretty quick and you can find
yourself aground in no time!

I've heard there have been several Nordhavns that have had their wing
engines rust from the inside out because they aren't used.  The owners are
advised they have to run the engines at least a few hours a month in order
to keep the parts lubricated and systems functional.  I try to do this and
have about 30 hours on the wing, so I guess I'm keeping up with the minimum.
Anyway, there are a few issues with wing engines.  First and foremost is how
they fit into the overall scheme of things.  If you've chosen a single
engine boat then a wing seems attractive.  However when you consider that
something like 90% of all engine problems are fuel related, unless you
maintain a dedicated supply of wing engine fuel, you're likely to only get a
few hours runtime out of it before you have to use the same fuel that killed
your main.  Maybe by that time you're ready with an inexhaustible supply of
filters?  Regardless I think you really have to consider what your trying to
achieve.  It seems to me you need to make a table of features and benefits,
addressing some additional questions like:

1.    Do I NEED a second prop and shaft so I can run the wing if I
   

fouled the main wheel?

a.      Well, if you wrapped a bunch of line or a net around your main,
isn't it likely it's flopping around back there ready to snare the wing as
well?

2.   Am I willing to keep it running?  Will it be there when I need it?
   

a.      Not really hard to do, just being aware of it is half the battle.
Chances are it will work when you need it

3.   Can I really operate the boat with it?
   

a.      Will it overcome moderate winds and seas?

b.      Is the asymmetry in the thrust going to require me to use 20 or 30
degrees of rudder?

c.      If my stabilizers are dead can the boat really even move or are you
better off throwing out a sea anchor and flopper stopper and trying to hail
a catamaran to tow you to shore?  I figure those cats are magic and do
anything anyway, so you might as well experience the total humiliation of
being towed in by a cat.

If you made a table that included the likely failure scenarios and then
mapped the proposed solutions against the expected failure, I'm certain one
solution would rise above the others.  I'm really surprised no one has
suggested fabricating a bracket for the stern of the boat and then using a
small sail drive or diesel outboard to move the boat?  I guess a diesel
outboard would weight like a thousand pounds, so that probably doesn't make
any sense.

If I was going through the design exercise I'd look really hard at having a
combination Genset/Wing Engine/Watermaker system.  It seems crazy to me that
I burn diesel to make electricity to run a pump to turn salt water into
fresh?  With all that power in the engine room doesn't a watermaker pump
running off the wing/gen/main make a lot of sense?  Properly engineered
couldn't this system be adaptable to drive a huge bilge pump in the case of
flooding and a wing shaft or turn the main wheel?  Who cares if it doesn't
have reverse.  If  you have this kind of failure and you bring the boat back
to a marina all you have to do is get it close to the dock and your going to
be thrilled.  This is one reason why I've never spent much time showing
Marian how to dock the boat.  If I'm incapacitated she can get the boat
close enough to land that someone can come aboard and land the boat if
necessary.  What she can do is figure out where we are, get on the radio and
then use the boat chartplotter to get us where ever we need to be.  More
than that would be wonderful, but not absolutely necessary.  I guess what it
all comes down to is PAE/Nordhavn has been building hundreds of
Passagemaking boats and I bet the VAST majority of them have wing engines.
They must have looked at the economics of designing their own family of
systems to replace all the add on components but they still continue to use
the individual components.  Perhaps this is because every buyer brings his
or her own requirements to the buying cycle and if they had to educate the
buying public on a custom designed system it would drive them crazy?  So in
summary, for those people that are buying production boats that have wing
engines designed into them it's pretty much a $30,000 go/no go question.  If
your skilled enough to be designing and building your own boat I have to
believe there are some economies and advantages in looking at propulsion,
electrical power generation, water making and other needs from a systems
approach, then designing and building a system to meet these needs.

As for you John, if you really needed to you can tie the tender up to the
side of the boat and kick the motor in gear and probably get 50 or 100
miles?  Maybe that's enough for a near coastal boat?  I remember seeing the
panga drivers in Puntarenas towing boats in the river with small outboard
motors.  It was amazing how easily they pulled them through the water.  In
the middle of an ocean if you lose the main I don't know what you'd do?

Perhaps Allan with Passage of Time can tell us what kind of system he has in
mind?

Sincerely, Scott Bulger, Alanui, N40II, Seattle WA

Scott brings up at least two valuable points: propeller fouling and multiple
uses for the engine supplying wing power. I agree that the latter is a good
idea and have thought about the former slot. If the "wing" engine drove a
water jet (expensive?) it would eliminate two issues: reverse and fouling.
PTO's on wing and main engine could offer significant redundancy for several
functions: electric generation, water jet power, and emergency bilge and
fire pumps. The wing engine should be cooled by a keel cooler to avoid water
intake fouling and have a water-injected exhaust. Of course the water jet
intake would have to be well-protected as well.

I've also wondered about using the dinghy's outboard attached to the swim
platform as a backup. If a dinghy strapped-on can move the primary vessel,
why not move it attached to the primary vessel itself? One could store the
outboard there with a little crane to move it from one boat to the other.
One might have to spec a longer shaft than the dinghy alone might require.

Ron Rogers