SHETLAND OWNERS ASSOCIATION

Hi everybody, i'm glad to be here, it seems that my destiny is to fill my yard with english products, even if i'm from Hungary/Romania , bought a Shetland 536 couple of months ago to have something to tow with my Land Rover Discovery 2...then go fishing on the Danube off course I'm a newby so dont underestimate my ignorance please, never had a boat before ...i just obtained the class C/D certificate for it.

So, as i want everything to be "covered" i'm thinking to buy a second motor for backup, i can get a nice and quite cheap Suzuki 4 stroke 5HP long shaft motor... i need yours oppinion if it's good enough to "rescue" me if the main Suzuki 100HP with injection will let me down or i need something more powerfull up to 10HP?(i know that's quite unlikely but i know my luck too

Thanks in advance for any input guys

here is my baby(i hope i'll not fail with the upload)

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I would suggest your 5HP back up engine would be great for your boat, however 100hp on a 536 is over the max power when it was designed, Shetland state 70HP max.

I would suggest that you make sure the transom is solid, if in the UK you would have to get an agreement with the insurance company that they would cover the boat with an engine over the manufactures max power. If you have something similar in your country it might be worth having a chat with them as you could end up without any cover.

Have fun

Dave

Hi, Thanks for your reply, much appreciated, i've purchased the 5HP motor and i'm glad i have a confirmation now, yes, i know about the 70Hp thing, but i bought it so, the transom was reinforced for that engine and the previous owner dealed with our authorities and they homologated it, ensurance company accepted so everything is OK in that area, we usually are going 4 or 6 people in it untill the islands in Danube where we camp, i made myself two friends here with the same type of boat and after they went for a ride with mine they both converted to 100Hp , our authorities dont care much about specs as long as you pay enough ... it glides perfect with that motor from 3500rpm and at 4200 rpm i have 50km/h loaded and a 16l/h consumption...i dont go faster cos i dont have enough experience yet.

Hi

a 5hp will be fine but remember to test it before you go out as someone up here got into an interesting mess with theirs this weekend when their old 2 stroke went bang due the the vro ( automix) failed!

Dave

cheers for the warning... it was tested in a pool(as it's bran new ) next week i'll try it "live" aswell... i want to use it more when i'm searching for the good fishing places too as the main motor at those low speeds and manoeuvres "drinks" a lot