Trojan Boat Forum

Just purchased a 1987 Trojan Convertible/Flybridge under the premise that both engines ran but one needed a new starter. Turns out that engine is fully siezed and because it is 60 miles from my home, it's a real pain the neck to work on.

I want to run the boat back to my dock to work on it at my home, but am nervous about trying to navigate canals.

Can anyone here with a 10M 1987 convertible/flybridge tell me how they handle on one engine?

I am not looking to do 360's in both directions over and over, I just need to know if it will track straight with the rudder hard over, and perhaps a trim tab down, and have a slight turn in that direction for idle maneuvering purposes, or if I'm screwed and need to fix the other engine before I try to take it home.

My sense is that there will be a fair amount of maneuvering in what sound like relatively tight quarters (canals). Obviously, the less room you have to work in, the more desirable it is to have the twin screws both functioning.

Personally, I'd be more comfortable doing this if I had more open water travel to contend with as opposed to canals. What kind of boat traffic can you expect? If little, then I'd say it can be done, but it would be nice to have a seasoned crew along to assist.

IMHO.

The majority of the run will be in the intercoastal between Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale. Relatively open water I would say. No sharp turns, or major traffic. The last 7 miles is the New River in Ft. Lauderdale west to Marina Mile. a handful of relatively sharp turns, but as long as I can get it to the new river, I figure my worst case scenario is having a friend tow me ( guide my bow ) those last few miles.

I've traveled that and parts of it with one engine.

If you can do it during a weekday and not during the weekend you should be fine.

The last part from Las Olas into the new river can be busy and a bit tight.

If you are going to have any issues it would be there.

Also, if you had a nice flat day, you could go offshore at least from Boca south to avoid all the bridges from Camino Real through Oakland Park Blvd where they are much lower than the south few bridges.

Buy your Sea Tow membership first and have your radio ready to let any bridges know if you are having problems.

Tom

tsawyer wrote:Buy your Sea Tow membership first and have your radio ready to let any bridges know if you are having problems.

Sound advice. My younger brother (who made the trip across Lake Michigan with me recently) gave me the same (which I took). As he said, best $49 you'll spend.

And remember if/when you make this trip: when in tight quarters, don't always be shy on the throttle when maneuvering. If you're used to twin screws and don't have much experience operating a single engine, a bump on the throttle of a single engine can be the difference between successfully executing a maneuver in tight quarters and not.

Good question, I have an 11 meter which I can control quite well on the starboard engine, I can maintain a straight line on the starboard engine, the best I can do on the port engine is a fairly quick turn to the right. I discovered this while trying to negotiate the miami river. The best advice has already been posted, make sure you towing insurance is paid up. I would be interested in opinions as to why the boat is difficult one side and OK on the other. I have had many twin screw boats and never had this much of a problem.

http://www.collegefair.org/11_meter_progress_page.htm

I want the $49 SeaTow! I think I pay $169/yr.

Good point on the throttle. I brought mine down from Boca which isn't that far, but compared to the twin outboard Mako I had before, this felt like a battleship.

It took me a bit, but it doesn't feel all that big any longer.

Watch the bridges, the current and the traffic.

smiller192 wrote: I can maintain a straight line on the starboard engine, the best I can do on the port engine is a fairly quick turn to the right. I discovered this while trying to negotiate the miami river.
http://www.collegefair.org/11_meter_progress_page.htm

If memory serves, it has to do with the direction of prop rotation.

On my single outboard pontoon, I can cut a serious turn in reverse if going to starboard. Not so much the other direction. The boat seems to do everything easier if the wheel is turned to starboard.

Not sure how this would correlate w/your boat, but sounds like your starboard prop rotates the same direction as my single outboard on the 'toon.

Plan the trip for a day without wind
You have

More windage than an express

RWS

tsawyer wrote:I want the $49 SeaTow! I think I pay $169/yr.

Actually, my $49 towing is through TowBoatU.S. I believe the benefit is for the most part unlimited and has a 50-mile offshore range (at least out of my home port of Manistee).

For $49/year? Not even a question. That's two hours in most any mid-grade eating establishment with a decent burger and a few beers.

Who's coming with!? lol....

Will stock the fridge with beer and food...

All hands on deck! ( for under bridge collision avoidance purposes and boat/dock rubbing down the new river )

Also... and this is a rather drastic but serious thought... what if I had a diver take the port prop off, instead of leaving the port trans in neutral. Think that would help significantly enough? Or not worth it. And yes I know what it'll cost me, my conern is with just being able to get the boat home without waking up insurance agents at 2am.

I would think removing the prop would give you more noticeable results if you were running a little faster past idle on the single engine. If you don't plan no pushing it much, I probably wouldn't bother.

In close quarters, at idles speeds, certainly it wouldn't do much.

I'm guessing it's not worth the trouble/expense, but could certainly be shown wrong.

I run single screw a lot. Fishing in open water though, not travelling on a canal. I generally run on the Stbd. with the helm pretty hard over to Port. I am able to track relatively well like that even at slow speeds or into the wind. Thats in an older F-32 though, not an 11m. I have no idea what the differences in handling is between these models as I have never piloted an 11m before. Every hull is a bit different and they react in ways which reflects this. Even the same hull types may act differently depending on engine package, running gear, fuel load, etc....

Experience with your particular hull counts for a lot too. I doubt I personally would try what you propose in your particular boat because I have no experience piloting that particular model and really have no idea how its supposed to react under ideal conditions, let alone with a single screw. It would be a bit of a steep learning curve I think and errors are likely to be costly should they unfortunatly happen.

Just to play devils advocate a little...... What happens if the running engine takes a crap on your way home or something bad happens somewhere in the driveline/running gear? Even if its something simple? Are you going to be marooned aboard your new vessel?

Great point on sole engine S'ingTB.

Don't bother with the prop.

Where is she? Somewhere between Jupiter and Palm Beach?

I might be up for the trip if the schedule permits. I'm local to where you are heading.

As a CPA, I always like the tax names. Of course I went with rum because I like that even more