16 HP enough?

[Pilot]

Folks, great forum here. I am looking at an O'day 30. Seems to be in great shape. One concern I have is the standard 16HP diesel? Does it have enough guts to get you up the creek, against the tide? Any other ideas or "look out fors" would be greatly appreciated!ThanksPilot

 

[filthy liberal scum]

depends on the creek!

you can only get up the creek if its flowing at less than your hull speed. i have a 1979 O'day 30 with a 15hp yanmar diesel. i have never felt that i needed more hp. according to the hp requirement published by yanmar, 1hp/500# of disp its too small. i have owned this boat for 18yrs and have never had the need for any more hp. we have even taken it through Hells gate against the tide. we were making 6.5knots but the tide was against us at 6knots. needless to say we wer'nt making much headway. but since hull speed for this boat is about 6.9knots doesn't matter much how much excess hp you got. bigger isn't always better.one look out for if its a raw water cooled engine to check for blocked water passages and internal rusting or scaling.s/v Que Pasa

 

[Sojourn Jim]

Yes!

Hi, Have had our 1980 O'Day 30 with the Atomic Universal 16 HP for 6 years and its never had any problem moving the boat well, including through some heavy chops and headwinds on Long Island Sound. Also, fyi, she's a nice boat all the way around. Really wants to go, even in light air... Couldn't be happier with ours...  Good luck..Jim