You will note that whenever I provide these numbers they are always qualified with "calm conditions and smooth hull".  Any fouling and the speed drops off quite quickly.  Also any head wind can make it much slower going.  In respect to wind it could be a significant issue if you are relying on pedal power to get out of a tight spot in a good breeze.

The other consideration is the 150W.  You have to be in quite good shape to sustain that.  Most men could hold 150W for a few minutes but completely different story to do it for a few hours.  That level of fitness for middle age men requires some level of training - at least a few hours a week if their work life is sedentary.

Another consideration for a twin hull small boat is the location of the drive.  It needs to be located laterally in line or close to the centre of drag.  That is something we really noticed when testing a single pedal drive on Peccadillo.   We almost doubled speed by lowering the centre boards so we tracked straighter.  Obviously they held the track far more efficiently than the round bilge hulls.  A prop in the middle will ventilate quite easily in beam seas.

The guys on Team Sea Runners could hold 4 to 5 knots with a single drive unit.  They gave up trying to make progress at night and just slept to recover.  That boat was around 500kg in racing condition.  They had bunks in both hulls.  So it is possibly to make a reasonable pace in a small boat.

Rick

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