Yara said..
Oh, and keep your washboards in and secured when sailing offshore. Sad history there.

???? I thought the only really sad Hood story was the loss of Montego Bay, which was not related to washboards. The boat that was lost because of the loss of washboards was Waikikamukau in the same race on the same night. MB was some sort of structural failure leading to water intake.

I take your point and it's not a bad practice in bad conditions. However, it was Waikika, the Farr 727, that took a wave over the stern (which did not have a cutout) and capsized, then went down. The Hood 23 was found to have water inside and sank when they turned around to run into the harbour. I knew three people on the boats involved and was involved in the search mission. Only one of them got back. One of them didn't even get out of his harness as the boat sank. Bad day.

Most Hoods have a bridgedeck at cockpit seat level, although some of them have a deeper companionway. I've actually not heard of a documented case of a boat with an open transom sinking as a result of taking a wave into the cockpit and would be interested in getting details of any such case.

Charriot said..
I have 23 foot 2 tons Aquarius with 9.9 Yamaha remote/ electric star only. Just perfect for fully loaded boat. Positively you'll be quite happy with smaller, lighter motor. I fully appreciated motor after long run nearly 20 hours from St. Kilda through Heads to Yaringa Wester Port. Sitting on 5 knots and around 2 litres, there is nothing whinge about.
My annual service is simple, oils/ filter lubrication of remote.
Considering my motor is perhaps 10 years old, it's bulletproof.

Thank you, Chariot. Good advice there. I am still looking. The weight of 9.9 to tilt at the transom will be an issue for me. As the access is not clear and I am just making it with my 8 HP (28kg). Another question is the overall width of 9.9 as against 8 HP. I have about 8 cm free on either end with 8 installed....
It may be the 8 4 stroke (Yamaha) to go..
Thanks, again.