Question about snowflake?

[johnnyandjebus]

Hello all
I was reading thru a thread started by ntica, that referenced snowflake, A IF boat owned by a swede, I think?

Regardless it is a wonderful boat that appears to have gone thru a serious re-fit. I have two questions;

1) The "tower" he mounted on the aft end of the boat, what is it's purpose?
2) ntica mentioned that the engine well is sealed off from being flooded. It appears to be  great way to mount an outboard engine onto this style of boat but how would it prevent water from flooding the engine when healed? Actually  I said that wrong, I understand that in normal sea conditions the engine would be fine but in running seas breaking onto the stern, is there still not the real possibility of the engine flooding?



The tower looks well built and gives the boat a salty, tough as nails  look. But for a boat it's size what would be the practical reason for the tower, anyone know? I can envision mounting solar panels to it but beyond that I am struggling to understand it's purpose.

I own a contessa 26 with a 30 plus year old farymann and when it die's I hate the idea of a outboard mounted on the transom almost as much as spending 8-10000 $ on a new inboard. Snowflake seems to have come up with a great compromise but I am struggling to understand how the engine well will not flood with water when the sea has got it's self into a bad state..

ntica, thanks for pointing sailfar to snowflake, she is a real beauty, too bad for me that the blog is not in English  :)

Thanks,
John

[Snapdragon]

If you're talking about the aluminum arch over the cockpit, I've installed a similar tower on my Snapdragon 26, although it's not nearly as elegantly constructed as the one on the IF boat.  So far I've found several uses for it and it seems to come in handier each time I sail. 

The original intent was to have it as a place to rest the mast when trailering the boat.  Then I discovered that it was a handy place to attach a block and tackle when lifting the 9.8 hp four stroke outboard motor out of the motor well (that thing is HEAVY).  It also works well as a place to mount solar panels (so far, just a 5 watt to float the starting battery).  I've also used it to winch up a stuck anchor using a come-along.  It's really handy to have something sturdy to hold on to when boarding from a dock or climbing up from the swim platform.  Next I plan to replace that stupid looking lawn chair with a comfortable sitting hammock or bosun's chair hung from the lifting padeye in the center of the arch.  The view is great from up there!

As for the danger of flooding the engine from taking on breaking seas, I'm pretty sure that any water that enters the cockpit will immediately pour over into the engine well and out through the bottom and never be above the level of the bottom of the motor itself regardless of the angle of heel.  What little water that remains should drain redily through the cockpit drains.  I am, however, not looking forward to testing this theory until I have a bit more experience.

[CharlieJ]

Tehani's motor lives in a well and I've never had any problems with it getting water on the power head.  and it seldom gets the prop out either, and mine is a short shaft. Takes some serious stuff to get the prop out.

And with my Yamaha, the shifter is on the motor tiller, so it is out in the cockpit-LOVE it

Here's a pic of the front of the motor in the well-

[johnnyandjebus]

Thanks for the replies.

Snapdragon the tower looks great. When spring arrives I may have to mock one up out of 2x2's or abs to see how it looks/fits on my own boat.

Charlie As you mention the setup allows for the "controls" to be at easy reach within the cockpit, eliminating one of the major downsides to an outboard IMHO. You setup looks good.


I wonder in snowflake's setup, would the tower interfere with a windvane? He has the tower quite forward so physically I am sure it wouldn't but I wonder if it would interfere with wind flowing over the vane. Thoughts anyone?
Interestingly it appears he has the back stay connected to the tower. A plus IMHO assuming the setup is strong enough to handle the loads involved.


I hope I am not coming across as being critical of the boat(snowflake) From what I can tell it appears to be an wonderful example of restore on an  IF boat. It just has me thinking about my own setup.

John