Kankama forum posts in last 60 days

I have a cat and have only ever had outboards. I would recommend you NOT use a 2 stroke. The Yamaha 9.9s are a great little motor and very reliable. There are some great things about the Yammie as opposed to any other outboard.

Gear ratio - the 9.9 high thrust has a 3-1 reduction ratio. This means the props spins slower (which is great and)
- you get a much larger prop - prop efficiency on slow boats like ours is directly related to prop size. You just can't get around the Physics. To get thrust we have to push a mass of water backwards. You can push say 10 litres of water at 1m/s or 5 litres of water at 2 m/s. The change in momentum (m x v) is the same and you get the same thrust BUT and this is a big but, the ENERGY required to move the water is different |

E = 1/2mv^2
Energy for 10 litres = 1/2 x 10 x 1 = 5 energy units -
Energy for 5 litres = 1/2 x 5 x 4 = 10 energy units

So going for a typical outboard with fast spinning prop is not good for efficiency. I swapped from a single outboard with a 9.5 inch prop to another with a 12 inch and the 12 inch one has SO much more grip

The Yammie has super reverse - probably 3 times the reverse thrust of a two stroke - we needed to change our anchor technique when we changed to a Yamaha.
4 stroke is much more efficient that a 2 stroke. Especially when lugging. Our 38ft catamaran motored across Bass Strait for her longest motoring trip. We did about 4 litres per hour at 7 knots in a calm with my 25 Yamaha. I also have a 9.9 and it doesn't sip much at all when we sit on 4 or 5 knots (which is rare). Nowhere near 3 litres per hour. I hardly have to fill the tank as we use the other hulls 25 most of the time.

So I would recommend the Yamaha 9.9 Hi Thrust - it is a proper pusher donk. Put it on a slide or pivoting bracket. Look up how cats do this and get it out of the water when sailing.

Get good at stripping a carby - I can do this in about 15 minutes. I have stripped carbys for about 30 years and it is very easy. The 9.9 wasn't starting last Sunday which is really rare (It has never happened before). So I pulled off the carby, laid it on a white piece of cloth and pulled it down. Couldn't find anything wrong, blew through everything I could with my mouth, put it back together and she hummed right up. In my 26 years of owning this boat with four stroke outboards there have been 2 times the carby needed cleaning because it was not running. Sometimes it gets a clean to run better and sometimes for a service but replacing plugs and doing the carby will take 15 minutes when you are practiced.


Cheers

Phil

I have replaced mine with the mast up. You don't need to take both stays off. Just one from one side will do. Do a quick check to ensure symmetry. So you still have half the stays and do the rest with halyards. My rigger was only 10 minutes away so I would drop one stay, take it to the rigger, get him to make 2. Then go back and put both up. Do the same for all the rest of the rigging

She seems like a brutal boat, and a dangerous one, to singlehand. A lot of effort with the sliding flying jib, the heavy gaff rig and the poor self steering. Great workmanship but she doesn't seem the safest boat out there with no crew protection, no lifelines and all that old world rig stuff. Makes me love my furler and compsote lightweight boat a little more.

I think it was Colin Mudie in the Sopranino book who said he wanted two boats - one to sail and one to look at. Certainly Tally Ho is nice to look at (although her sheerline is way too high in the bum) but I am fine sailing my own boat.

I am a little intrigued by how anyone could be so dumb - again. The article from the Ballina Daily is illuminating. No charts and no proper nav gear and so they were going along the shore trying to feel their way into Ballina. The skipper suggests the reef should have a light on it because it is in the way from a direct course from Byron to Ballina. I would not feel positive about our need to acquiesce to his suggestion. Uninsured again.

ballinanewsdaily.com.au/2026/06/stranded-yacht-owner-battles-looters-and-the-tide-to-save-his-home/

ballinanewsdaily.com.au/2026/06/rough-seas-threaten-stranded-yacht-after-failed-tide-bid/

I have seen three poorly maintained boats that have sunk within 200 metres of my mooring in the last 18 months. I talked to a guy who sunk a Carmen and he was quoted about $35 grand to refloat and remove her. A guy who sank his trawler 50 metres away got quoted $50 grand for refloat and disposal. A young bloke has a big cruiser sitting on the bottom still and has been quoted $50-60 K for refloating and disposal. In nice and easy conditions - a 6 metre deep lake. Now this guy says he has no insurance - it could cost him a lot more than that to remove it

Owning a poorly maintained boat and not displaying proper seamanship can be very expensive.

You gotta wondering what is happening up there. I guess they will start putting out securite's when over 60s go past.

I like reading different people's views on a topic that looks like it will keep on happening. I find it enlightening rather than frustrating. But I love talking boats.

This thing could be on my next shopping list - most of the time a slim bouyancy vest, but you can pull the rip cord if you like. So swimming is fine.

mustangsurvival.com/products/khimera-dual-flotation-pfd-md7183?srsltid=AfmBOooIW-D44FWvCWe_Rxj5sqS7v9Xj108C7r7KGmUPJjVj4n_EYZHI

My worry about lifejackets comes from watching a few of my fellow racers with lots of guff on their bodies. I once watched a really good Laser sailor (who went on to represent Aust in Solings) have to pull out of the race after his Laser drifted downhill faster than he could swim in his bouyancy vest, spray jacket, sailing boots combo. It made a big impact on me when training offshore for the Laser worlds way back in 1986. Back then I used to sail in a southerly to Bondi and in a noreaster up to windward. Full steamer wetsuit but no bouyancy vest, no shoes and no spray jacket. And when I was practising gybing, man did I hold on tight to the mainsheet when things got shaky. Never got separated from the boat though.

Same thing has happened in sailboards. My Mistral broke its universal in a nasty westerly when I catapulted. The board pointed downwind and was going fast. I had to sprint for 20 metres before I caught up with it. Hard to balance the needs for flotation with ability to get yourself sorted.

I tried reading it - seemed like someone forgot to read the bit in the sailing instructions where it says that it is the responsibility of skippers to race. Maybe we should amend it to say "all sailors".

Bugger people who sue.

Interesting points about his motivation - I just scanned the vid.

You certainly don't need a carbon tri to try and outrun weather. You could get an Outremer or a nice Schionning or Grainger. And it will be so slow with all the guff on it. His money, he will learn.

I think the lifejacket law is a broad brush that doesn't work well for many. Like CT249, I have had bad experiences with lifejackets in the surf. And I don't wear much offshore - no boots ever, hardly ever shoes, mostly boardies and maybe a foulie top at times unzipped. Probably just boardies and if it is cold a merino T shirt. For me, most times an inflated lifejacket just makes things worse.

For me - being in the surf will be best if I can do what I do when bodysurfing, getting down deep when the waves come. For those who wear all the guff - you will need something to stop plummeting downwards all the time but it is the guff that is causing the problem. Its not BS to see the lifesavers train and observe they do really well without flotation to keep themselves safe, same with the kite surf guys and even mugs like me bodysurfing out the back. Even the 18ft skiff guys don't like lifejackets because of the problems involved with being able to swim away from inverted kites and rigging. These are nice slim bouyancy vests - the ones we wear dinghy racing, the ones you inflate just stop you from swimming - you become a deer in the headlights. If you need to save someone take something small, but you don't need flotation to save yourself in the surf - you need to be able to dive.

The safest thing to have on in the surf would be a full wetty and no boots, or wet weather gear - then you could still swim and stay active. Maybe we should have a law that makes you take your boots, jacket and pants off when crossing a bar. It would be more sensible. I think being active is the key. I used to do a lot of sea kayaking and we had to rescue each other lots. Getting the fat weak guys back in the kayaks, with all the radios, booties, spray jackets, whistles and extras on their lifejackets and all the pumps and extras on the back deck was an exercise in effort and waste. They would get exhausted fighting their gear. The fitter guys with just a slim bouyancy vest just glided up in one movement. The fatties focussed on gear instead of themselves. But I would be really happy to buy an inflatable that worked like my dinghy vest - you can still be highly active in these. Offshore - grab me a lifejacket so I can float till you come back for me, but when crossing the bar, I want to be ready to swim. I'll be the guy getting the offshore foulies kit off as we line up the breakwaters.

Sad story of people dying when assisting a yacht near Ballina. Large swells and a yacht in distress needing assistance. It is tragic when volunteers lose their lives assisting us. www.9news.com.au/national/ballina-boating-accident-three-dead-search-under-way-after-northern-nsw-boating-tragedy/974d7967-1138-4fdb-8b99-f8bc374c4a43