Hardy 20 Pilot/SE

[seaboater]

Having sold our Freeman 27 back in July, we're turning our thoughts to replacement with something different. It looks like we will be day boaters from now on, with maybe the odd overnight on occasions. So, thoughts turn to the very first boat we had 20 years ago - the Hardy Pilot 20 - which faithfully took us many places around the Solent and also proved to be very simple to maintain.

 

I was rather surprised to see the air draft at a smidgen under 6ft 4ins which suggests it will get under most broads bridges, and at 20ft it will be able to sneak into very small mooring spaces. Voila, looking good.

 

Are there any owners on this forum and if so can you confirm the ability to get under all bridges (except Potter of course) and what you feel is the ideal outboard power. I'd be looking at 4 stroke for quietness and ability to troll for many hours. Many of the Pilots I've seen have 20hp or 25hp, which sounds a bit low to me........but we had a 75hp before which was ideal for sea use and obviously would be too much for the Broads.

 

Looking forwards to hearing from any Hardy boaters out there.

[MBA Marine]

If you plan to stay on the broads then 25hp is more than enough if you want to play off shore then you might want a bigger unit.

 

down side to this boat on the broads is that you really need bolt on rudder extension as they are terrible at slow speed to keep straight.

 

A neg for a big outboard on the broads is that you can get a lot of condensation build up inside, I had a 75hp mariner to oil change, it was only 3yrs old I removed the sump plug and first out was about half pint of water then the emulsified oil slowly oozed out, I checked with Norfolk Marines engineers who confirmed that they have had similar issues with large engines and they had found no faults on the engines and condensation was their conclusion.

[seaboater]

Obviously not a lot of Hardy owners on the forum then. Thanks Mark for your comments and now that you mention it, I do remember somewhat difficult low speed handling. It was never really a big problem on the open sea, occasionally in harbours but this was somewhat offset by ease of manoeuvrability offered by outboard power's swivelling prop. I can see that it might be an issue on the Broads. Mark describes the bolt on rudder extension as a down side, can anyone say why it's a down side?

 

As I was thinking we might have it transported occasionally to other waters, I was wondering if say a 40hp would give greater versatility for say, the Orwell, Stour and the short sea hop to the Deben, and yet not be too much for the Broads.

 

I sold a previous boat because it was over powered for the Broads at 150hp with turbos which never got spun up. I assume that a 4 stroke 40hp shouldn't have too much of a problem, but am I wrong in that assumption?

[ChrisB]

For use on The Broads I think you would find 20 to 25hp adequate, especially if fitted with a high thrust prop which  improves low speed handling. Although the Hardy looks very chunky it still only comes in at about 1100Kg.

I have always liked the small Hardy and the Bosun was very high up our list, as like you, we mostly day boat. In the end we bought a new Viking 20. The main reason was after years of small sailing craft full standing head room was a real help to our ageing bodies, also having the fridge, hob and oven below.

We have never fitter a rudder because after trying a "Ruddersafe" on a similar boat I found the steering was alot heavier and I thought that it might not be doing the steering mechanism any good although one could steer out of gear. I thought about having hydraulic steering installed but as we had managed OK for a number of years gave up on the idea. 

[Guest]

The 20ft Hardy Pilot has an unusual dual-purpose hull form.

 

It originally had a large skeg (nearly a foot deep) which gave it very good low speed steering. When the later SE and Bosun models were introduced, the skeg was reduced down to about 3", to give less drag when planing at 20mph plus.

 

It then suffers from displacement speed "wandering" just like Shetland and Viking outboard powered cruisers of the same size.

 

This can be cured completely by fitting a rudder attachment to the outboard leg, like a "Ruddersafe". They're fairly expensive, around £200, but they transform the handling at Broads speeds, and they enable steering with the engine in neutral, just like a shaft drive boat.  My experience of them is quite different to ChrisB's previous reply. I've fitted such rudders to three of my outboard boats and also my current sterndrive boat. They all then handled just like conventional shaft drive boats with rudders, enabling you to glance at a map or unwrap a milky bar without crashing into the bank !

 

I found they had no effect on the steering effort, and I can't see how they would add any strain to the outboard pivots, because the rudder blade is always in line with the thrust from the prop, unlike conventional rudders pivoting behind a fixed prop.

 

As for horsepower on a Hardy 20, if you want to still be able to plane (on the Sea or Breydon), you need at least 70hp to get over the hump.

 

If it's only going to be used on the Broads however, there's no point in going any bigger than 15hp 4 stroke. That will comfortably drive it up to displacement hull speed, around 8mph, and cruise at 5mph at half revs.

 

If you fit anything between 20hp and 60hp, it will not get up on the plane, so it will only do a max of about 10mph with a huge wash and much increased fuel consumption.

[MauriceMynah]

I've known a Honda 7.5hp push along a 22ft fairly heavy and rather old GRP boat with no power problems whatsoever so I'd go along with Strow and say 15hp will be more than enough at broads speeds.

[ChrisB]

When our boat was delivered with it's 20 hp Honda (same engine as the 15 hp but can rev a bit higher which you really do not need) it handled like trying to run with a tray full of marbles.

The first service was carried out by Fineway in Wroxham who were then the Honda dealers and I mentioned it to them. Steve recommended the Honda Power Thrust prop which is much larger than the standard. The handling was transformed to the extent that I can cross Barton, when calm, hands off and even put the kettle on. The engine will now not reach anywhere near its maximum revs but the boat still easily comes up to hull speed. Consumption is about 1.25 to 1.50 litres per hour. Before the large prop was fitted going astern was also very difficult, now the boat steers astern easily. The low speed handling has also been transformed as you only need to put the engine in gear to move ahead or astern in tight moorings.

[Guest]

If you're keen on reading about Hardys from other owners, they have a very active owners club at http://www.hardy-owner.org.uk/