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Twin or Single?
By Douglas Gould, MTOA #2606
In this article, I want to address a topic that many trawler owners are quite passionate about: twin screw verses single screw. I know that this subject has beenhashed over many times in the past, but the question of ‘how many engines’ is one that isasked, and perhaps even agonized over by many owners and those contemplating the purchase of their first powerboat, and perhaps MTOA members contemplating moving onto their next trawler. It is a subject that is passionately argued about over cold drinks. Myaim is not to convince you to chose one over the other, but to stimulate your thought process and challenge your biases so that you approach the debate with an open mind.Before I begin, some disclosure is in order, so that what biases I have come to the reader with some context for the origin of my opinions.I have been driving boats all my life, both for fun and profit. I hold a Master’sLicense (100T, Near Coastal, Assistance Towing and Sail endorsement). I have ownedsailboats and powerboats, and have lived aboard both for over fifteen years. My current boat is a 1978 Marine Trader 40’ Sedan, the
Water Torture.
She is a single screw vessel.As a professional captain, I have been lucky enough to be at the wheel of a large varietyof vessels, from fifteen-foot outboard marine patrol boats, to a one hundred twenty-foot,four engine, four-screw torpedo retriever (yes, that’s four screws). In between, there has been triple screw crew boats, twin screw passenger ferries, single screw sailboats, twinoutdrive catamarans, both single and twin jet drive boats, single inboard towboats,and….well, you get the idea. I believe I’m qualified to argue the merits and drawbacks of  practically every kind of small vessel propulsion system.The debates around twin vs single usually digress into few general categories – the “Get Home factor” which refers to one’s ability to reach a safe port or repair facilityafter some major mechanical malfunction; the advantages and disadvantages aboutmaneuvering; and the costs of owning two engines verses the savings of owning just one,and the extra time needed to maintain two engines.All of my arguments herein are made with a direct comparison in mind; i.e. applesto apples. Its not fair, nor very informative, to compare a 53’ twin-screw Krogan Expressto a 50’ single-screw Diesel Duck. I’m more interested to explore whether it is worthhaving two engines in the Duck. So, as you read on, keep in mind that my arguments aremade based on the assumption that we are comparing the merits of one engine verses twoin if not identical, then very similar hulls. The
Water Torture
was available as either astwin or single, and most 40’ Marine Traders came in the twin configuration. Many of theused trawlers on the market today are available either way, and if you are considering buying one, then you’ve come to the right article.
The Get Home Factor
The most obvious argument that falls in favor of the twin-screw is that a secondengine increases the chance that you can get home, or at least into safe harbor, in theevent of a catastrophic failure in one of the two drive trains. There is nothing I could sayto dispute that argument. Nor should the fact that one has a redundant propulsion systemat one’s disposal be discounted. But how much one needs such a thing depends on whereand how your boat is used. Are you crossing large, open bodies of water where enginefailure can leave you at the mercy of the elements? Furthermore, one doesn’t need a twin-
 
screw boat to achieve a redundancy of propulsion. There are “get home” systemsavailable that are intended as a back-up source of power and/or propulsion, thus gettingyou home.Except for some of the new, large trawlers being built for the luxury market, mostget home systems are set up to provide an alternative way to turn the same shaft and propeller that the main engine would on a single screw boat. Lets call that a “single shaftget home system”. Consider for a minute which problems that kind of system solves, andwhich problems are left unsolved. Complete main engine failure, like crankshaft, blownhead gasket, ruptured injector line, busted injection pump, cooling and lubricationsystems, and transmission failure - all of those problems would be solved by a singleshaft get home system. Now, make a list of the problems it would not solve: broken propshaft, severely bent or broken prop blade, prop hopelessly fouled with net or line, seizedcutlass bearing, bent rudder. In none of those cases will a single shaft get home systemget you home. You may have noticed that I didn’t mention the elephant in the engineroom: bad fuel. Bad fuel may or may not affect a single shaft get home system,depending on what the actual problem is. If the fuel problem is
outside
the fuel tank, thenit can be solved regardless of whether you have a get home or not. If the fuel problem is
inside
the tank, then the get home motor will most likely suffer the same ailment, andtherefore hasn’t solved any problems.As I mentioned, there are get home systems that include their own dedicated shaftand propeller, but the costs and space involved means that they are impractical for consideration on smaller, recreational vessels. If you are going to have two engines, twoshafts, two stuffing boxes and two props, you are pretty much building a twin screw boatanyway, with the costs of stringers, alignment, couplings, bonding and maintenance that areal twin screw boat would have. The economics of these types of get home systemsdon’t really make sense until you are up in the 65’ boat length or over. Now consider the advantages of a traditional twin-screw with a complete,redundant drive train, each capable of pushing your boat independently of the other; twoengines, two transmissions, two couplings, two shafts and props, and usually two or morefuel tanks. There is no doubt that that the twin-screw owner has increased his chances of getting back to port should some failure occur, but the benefit of all that hardware needsto be weighed against all the costs.When I purchased
Water Torture
, she came equipped with a single shaft get homesystem, which consisted of a noisy single cylinder diesel engine that could drive a smallAC generator and/or a large hydraulic pump (
Water Torture
is also equipped with a 5kwgenset, so the AC generator was a backup generator, I guess. I never used it). Thehydraulic pump had four huge, messy, oily hoses that ran about three feet over to anhydraulic motor that was mounted directly above the main prop shaft. Attached to themotor was a small triple groove vee-belt pulley, and attached to the prop shaft wasanother, larger triple groove pulley. In theory, one could rig three vee-belts around thetwo pulleys, and this whole system (originally marketed as the “Trawler Hauler”) wouldcreate enough hydraulic power to turn the prop and get you home, or to a port of repair. Itcost me four bloody knuckles, one can of liquid wrench and three days of work to removethe entire mess. I gave it away.The list of junk that came out of my bilge includes an 18hp Farrymann Dieselwith a 2kw AC genset; 4 gallons of hydraulic fluid; a starting battery; a 40 pound
 
hydraulic motor; fuel lines and small racor filter; a trickle charger for the starting battery;a through hull fitting with sea cock and sea strainer; a wet exhaust muffler, miscellaneous brackets, hoses, pulleys, wire looms, etc. I estimate that together it all weighed about 800 pounds. I replaced all that with a small, one ounce piece of paper: my Boat/US towingmembership card.The point is that I do all my cruising in coastal waters, almost exclusively withinthe ICW. Someday, I might cross the sixty miles from Florida to the Abacos, but that isas far as I ever intend to go in the
Water Torture
. I can’t imagine a time when I’ll need aget home engine, and I certainly have put the space it took up to much better use storingtools and spares that I need to keep the main engine running, thereby reducing the needfor a get home even further. Another thing to consider about a get home engine is thatyou are counting on it to be your emergency, reserve power supply, and if you are notfanatical about maintaining it, it won’t work when you need it most and you’re better off not having it to begin with. If you are like me, and confine your voyages to heavilytraveled coastal routes where assistance is readily available, I wouldn’t waste my timewith a single shaft get home system, and I don’t think a twin-screw is merited basedsolely on the Get Home Factor. If I were going to make ocean passages, like to Bermuda,or endure the long coastal passages like those required on the Pacific Coast, or venture toremote places like Alaska’s SE Passage and down to Mexico, I probably would not havegiven away a working get home set up.Something else that must be considered is the issue of protection for the runninggear. The underwater hardware of most twin-screws is much more exposed to collisiondanger than a single screw with a full keel. That complete, redundant propulsion systemmeans you have increased your chances of snagging a lobster trap or bending a rudder ona submerged log. I’m not sophisticated enough to do the actual math, but wouldn’t twicethe rudders and twice the props mean you’ve doubled your chances of hitting something?I love knowing that my big rudder is hiding behind my even bigger full keel. I havedragged that keel through a few inches of hard sand more than once, with no damage. Ihave watched many a lobster pot buoys go by the chine, winced, and then sighed withrelief as it appeared in my wake.So, in the category of “Get Home”, I will admit that you have a better chance of getting home when you begin a voyage with two engines than with just one. But youshould consider what kind of risk you face in the first place: where do you cruise, andhow long you might have to wait for assistance? Running aground, dragging anchor, badfuel and bad weather are all likely calamities you might face, and a second engine solvesnone of those. In my case, I spend my time keeping the single running in top shape andrenew my commercial assistance membership faithfully.
Maneuvering
The whole debate about twin verses single sometimes centers around the issue of maneuvering, and too many people assume that a twin screw is inherently moremaneuverable than a single. When considering which style of boat handles better, one hasto remember the bias that grows after years of maneuvering a particular style. A person builds up a level of experience and skills through practice and regular attendance at theschool of hard knocks. Since boat owners tend gain almost all their maneuvering
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