I took my TI out again yesterday, the winds were very light (typical for around here).
I finished breaking in my motor and decided to go up to the Honda dealers marina (Sara Bay Marina in Sarasota) to buy the oil for the 10 hour maintainance which I did myself.
Here is the track from my Isailer app showing the route. The gap in the route up near the top is where I ran aground and got stuck (unfamiliar area that I don't usually go). The launch point was City Island (right next to Sarasota Sailing Squadron, where I normally launch)
I have no idea how to retrieve the track data from Isailer, though I pushed the button to try and record stuff I have no clue how to retrieve it yet.
I also had my garmin GPS along (no idea how to export track log information from that either, it's a very low end Garmin)
This is a pic of my GPS screen from the trip
I thought my moving average (5.6mph) should have been higher (closer to 6.5mph) but I did stop on the way up to take a break and have a drink (water), that's the dogleg (on the right track) near the bottom of the trip up. And where I ran aground (up near the top), I wasn't moving fast at all walking the boat off the shoal (should have noticed the birds walking around LOL). Also the trip up was pretty much directly into the wind (you might notice I didn't have to tack at all)
Max speed of 8.9 I think was on the way back (downwind) where the wind picked up a little just before the storm came, I had to furl the main a couple turns in. The trip odom shows 7.92 miles, but the trip was over ten miles, the GPS battery went dead halfway back. I launched at around 12:00 and returned right around 4:00, I hung out at the marina for a while. As a side note when I got to the marina and docked, I put my mirage drive in backwards so I would have reverse when approaching the dock, it actually worked out well, except the TI is a large boat with a small rudder so you can't turn on a dime. If need be I suppose I could have gone back to the back seat and used the motor tiller to maneuver around, but this was my first experience actually docking in a real marina, sure was a head turner, and everyone was commenting and asking me questions about the boat and especially my 100mpg fuel economy (I think fuel is a touchy subject right now with power boaters LOL).
Here are some pics of my Honda 2.3 motor mounted on my old motor mount.
My throttle control is in the front seat (that white PVC tubing next to the seat). You can also see the tether/kill switch line attached to my PFD. The kill switch is on bungy cord and disappears into the tube so I can roam around the boat without shutting the motor down. The tether line is attached to the AKA brace (500 lb test paracord)and is designed if I fall overboard to kill the engine, then tow me along so I can get back in the boat ( I wear it all the time).
You know those black rubber scupper plugs that come with the boats (shown in my hand in the pic). I finally figured out what you can use them for. I made a boot to go over my tiller/throttle control, and attached it to a 5 ft piece of 1/2" PVC pipe to use as the throttle when I 'm sitting in the front seat. When in the front (my preferred position) I just control the motor from there, and steer with the TI's rudder. I have the tubing bungied down to the rear AKA crossbar, this holds it down and also works as a throttle lock so I don't have to constantly hold onto the throttle (I removed the dead mans throttle)
Going up there the winds were from the north at around 5mph, I kept the throttle at 1/4 throttle pretty much the whole time. On the way back the winds shifted to coming from the northwest, about halfway back (after my GPS went dead) the winds picked up quite a bit and it got very wavy, and lightning was off in the distance and the sky was very black (we had about 5 inches of rain), fortunately it didn't hit until I had the boat on the trailer and was on the way home. When it started getting really rough, I had to furl the main a couple turns, but didn't need to do anything with the jib (it can handle those winds with no problems, and can't possibly flip the boat over). I couldn't open the throttle more than about half throttle on the engine because on the way back the engine turned slightly (wasn't locked tight enough) and if I gave it too much gas I couldn't turn right. I have since fixed that problem, the rudder cable on the TI was loose, and I tilted the motor slightly so the prop is under the boat and turned outward slightly (so the boat will track straight), and I have a lot better lock on the tiller now.
All in all I was out around 4 hrs, and checked my fuel when I got home, and had used less than a quart of fuel. I thought I had covered somewhere between 15 and 20 miles for the day, so I'm still thinking this crazy boat is getting around 100 miles per gallon. When it got really rough and windy, the boat was a handful to handle, (even if I had gone without the motor). So as long as I had my sails up (powersailing) I'm not sure having more motor horsepower available would have helped me. Near the end (the last 1/2 mile) I furled the main completely and just left the wing jib in neutral (unpowered) and used the motor to get back into the harbor, by then the winds were gusting mid to high 20's and it was very rough, and lightning was striking very close. After all that's why I got the stupid motor in the firstplace, 'to get me out of situations like that'. I got my boat loaded on the trailer and ready to go home in record time (under 10 minutes), it's amazing what a motivator lightning close by, pitch black clouds, and the wind howling is at getting you to not doddle around.
Maybe once I understand my Isailer software app better, or get a better software or GPS, I will hopefully be able to send a better report.
Bob