Huntsman - Outdrives to Shaft Drive?

Tim Russell · Post by **Tim Russell** » Fri Sep 23, 2011 11:47 am

Quite out of the blue I received a phone call from an old friend who owns a Huntsman â€“ not (yet) a FOC member, but I will work on it. Unusually, it has petrol engines (Volvo Penta?) and outdrives. I remember driving it slowly from Cowes to its berth at Gosport ages ago on one engine, while he started to strip down the other â€“ not sure why, but it may have been a manifold problem. Apparently he still has it, and itâ€™s been in his garden for many years.

First point of interest is that he says it carries the number 57. From the archive it would be the boat originally sold to Mr A Smith at Looe, which might explain the outdrives since Looe is a drying harbour. I need to check.

But the main reason for this note is that he is planning to remove the existing engines and revert to shaft drive. Apparently he has picked up a pair of diesels â€“ not sure exactly what, but he says they are about 110 hp, which I suspect may not be quite enough for a sparkling performance. But clearly this is going to involve a lot of work installing new engine bearers, shafts and rudders, and re-arranging the cockpit layout. Is there anyone out there who has done this sort of thing before?

Ben · Post by **Ben** » Fri Sep 23, 2011 2:31 pm

Tim,

I saw your boat in Cowes on the weekend and it made me think we don't see much of you on the forum, I think of you as the authority on Naval Huntress and the Perkins motor, hey presto here you are!

I'm not aware of anyone that has done it, aside from making good the transom installing new beds etc is relatively straight forward but quite a big task. I would think a pair of 110hp motors in a Huntsman would get to about 24 knots WOT with a cruising speed of 20 knots or so.

One big challenge would be the availability of P Brackets with the correct dead rise and installation angle.

Not a job for the faint hearted I think.

Ben

Paul Foulston · Post by **Paul Foulston** » Fri Sep 23, 2011 3:46 pm

Artemis was sold as kit and fitted out with pair of outdrives, then transom replaced when fitted with experimental surface dive using single IVECO.

When I got her just left with empty hole.

AVB did me Admiralty pattern rudder and offered to do me P bracket until we realised I was using 1 1/2 shaft so I had one cast from scratch. Pretty sure Alan has all the patterns.

Stern tube is real simple, fibereglass tube bonded in with epoxy.

Boring hole in the bottom and lining up the beds is a little challenging! String and a B&Q laser level. No not a job for the faint hearted.

Seems like a heap of work without that much oomph at the end.

Paul

david timothy mark rhodes · Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:37 am

hello Tim

I have to endorse what Paul and Ben say, lots of work, I would have thought 150hp an engine much more near the mark, the 110 parsons in a huntsman in my view don't really get her up and going.
I must say I do prefer the handling and sea keeping of the shaft drive, its better balanced??
Alan Burnard has some very good drawings which might help??

tonyhh · Post by **tonyhh** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 12:38 pm

Tim
I am sure this could well be the boat I found a colour photo off around 10 years ago. Shot in Cornwall with outdrive holes in the transom was all I was told...Can't remember the name (think the name was on the bow) but the photo is in the Archives somewhere....over to you Scott!!
Could well be another 'found' boat!
Nice one Tim

The name that springs to mind is SAN DREA
Photo given to me by Jeff Meyer...thanks and apologies for the earlier error!
Thanks Scott and Jeff

j.meyer · Post by **j.meyer** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 5:55 pm

last saw san drea about 20 years ago outside the owners house at Haemore, near Penzance,no engines and in a serious project state,on a homemade trailer-was for sale for Â£1000-took some photos,think i sent them to TonyHH-regards Jeff

Tim Russell · Post by **Tim Russell** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 10:46 pm

I can be fairly certain this boat is not San Drea, since she has been sitting in the owner's garden near Liphook for 20 years or more. I've not yet seen it since our last encounter even longer ago than that.

Agree it's not really worth all the work involved unless new engines are powerful enough to make it a sensible change, and it's interesting to hear that there are others who share my view that 110 hp is not enough. Interestingly, the owner tells me that one of the main drivers behind a desire to change to shaft drive is that he was very uncomfortable with the way the boat handled with outdrives.

tonyhh · Post by **tonyhh** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 11:29 pm

The plot thickens....
Agree about the outdrives...even worse when coming home with one shut down..nightmare handling! Handling was awful on s Senior 31 with two let alone with one!!

PerHansson · Post by **PerHansson** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:35 pm

Photo of San Drea here, at the end of the album:

https://picasaweb.google.com/1164935000 ... 0108201106