Tom, The 5hp Honda must come in somewhere under 70 lbs. I weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 240. Somehow, I bet I can compensate for the extra motor weight with the extra Steve weight... I am getting ready to buy either a Honda or Yamaha 5hp for Sojornen. The 3.0 amp charging kit seems worth the extra weight. It would be nice to keep the battery topped off when motoring. Steve ----- Original Message ----- From: "Smith, Tom" <Tom.Smith@itron.com> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 2:55 PM Subject: RE: M_Boats: M-17 aux. motor--rant Respectfully, I can't imagine using a 5hp motor on an M15. That much weight hanging off the transom has to be murder on boat trim. The 2hp Honda works on our M17 because I use the motor infrequently and selectively. It gets in and out of the slip when the wind is seriously working against me, and it's driven me home a couple times when the breeze drops completely. You have less horsepower to call on, so you plan more carefully. All the time-tested arguments about auxiliary power aside, the more situations you can sail in and out of, the better equipped you'll be when the motor goes south on you when you need it most. Truth be told, a little advanced planning will neutralize at least 50% of those situations where a bunch of mechanical muscle is needed. There. I feel better now. t Tom Smith and Jane Van Winkle M15--345 Chukar M17--064 Unnamed -----Original Message----- I used a 5HP Honda on an M-15, and would have preferred the 2HP if the version with a clutch had been available at the time. On the other hand, it was manageable and the main issue was lifting it on and off the mount during launch/recovery. The 2HP is a very different motor. Smaller, lighter and simpler. It's also noisier and vibrates more. I have one as a dinghy motor, and don't like it nearly as much as the 5HP -- but am not sure that I'd expect to actually _like_ a dinghy motor. I would not use it on an M-17 because it just doesn't seem powerful enough. These opinions are based on first hand knowledge of the M-15 (not the 17) and are worth almost as much as they cost! Giles _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats This message was scanned for viruses!! _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats