Outboard - smallest, lightest, best - petrol or electric?

Check out the electric outboard from ePropulsion - Torqueedo is not the only game in town any more. The ePropulsion unit had a number of features I really liked when I played with one at the boat show - more responsive than the T, quieter, battery pack that floats if you drop it in the drink, bigger battery, etc etc. Similar price, but falling LiPO4 battery prices over the next few years will change the landscape completely.
 
richardbrennan said:
Does not have to be a Tohatsu, particularly if you're looking secondhand. My understanding is that many of the 3.3s that were on the market, such as the Mariner, were all basically the same engine.
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I think that's correct. I have the Mariner 3.3hp, great little engine. I've been told that they are in demand and fetch a good price 2nd hand (if you can find one). Pretty light as well, I think mine is still under 15kgs even when full of petrol.

The 2.5hp version is exactly the same as the 3.3hp apart from the lack of a gear selector. I imagine this would make the 2.5hp marginally lighter but not by much. Also fairly simple to upgrade a 2.5 to 3.3hp, as far as I remember it's just a matter of allowing the throttle valve to open more. I imagine that this is true of all the variously badged versions of this engine. A 2.5hp is probably still worth buying even if you need a little more power but can't find a 3.3hp model. Not a lot of help for OP though :D
 
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I can't remember - was there ever a time when just owning any outboard, was as enviable as having a Torqeedo is, now?

I suppose the unenviable equivalent back then, of putting up with a petrol o/b now, was using something so lightweight, green, frugal, reliable, inexpensive and unattractive to thieves, it ought to have proven irreplaceable by mere mechanical ingenuity. I haven't yet worked out why so many judged it unsatisfactory.

wooden-oars.jpg
 
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dancrane said:
I suppose the unenviable equivalent back then, of putting up with a petrol o/b now, was using something so lightweight, green, frugal, reliable, inexpensive and unattractive to thieves
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Someone stole my nice galvanised rowlocks once. They'd have had to lift up or roll over the inverted boat to do it, too.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Apart from the different coloured font, you mean? But yes, it's a bit annoying that the forums software has been configured so that links can't be made even more obvious.
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It is annoying, but you can manually underline the link text to make it more obvious.

In the style I’m using, the default link text is pretty much the same colour as the body. I didn’t realise your links were links until I quoted the post to reply.

Pete
 
The original honda engines these are based on are fantastic engines. 35 cc OHC , they have a sealed diaphragm carb. No float bowls to rust out, no stale fuel inside the carb. They use them on Radio controlled planes, they are happy to run inverted and do not leak oil.
If honda made a bigger version fitted to an outboard it would be a world beater
 
steve66 said:
The original honda engines these are based on are fantastic engines. 35 cc OHC , they have a sealed diaphragm carb. No float bowls to rust out, no stale fuel inside the carb. They use them on Radio controlled planes, they are happy to run inverted and do not leak oil.
If honda made a bigger version fitted to an outboard it would be a world beater
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There must be a good reason why they don't. As you say, it would be a world beater.

While I was web-searching for electric O/Bs I came across a small home-made one. Annoyingly I now can't find it.

Anyone any ideas if it would be possible/practical to cobble-up a "motor-shaft-prop thingy"?
 
Yes its not difficult. I cobble together petrol outboards, electric would be no more complicated.
You would need a fairly powerful motor to get you anywhere near the output of a small petrol outboard and again battery life would be an issue
 
JumbleDuck said:
Apart from the different coloured font, you mean? But yes, it's a bit annoying that the forums software has been configured so that links can't be made even more obvious.
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The font is black until you mouse over it. I don't think many people are going to spend time mousing over every word in a post, in the vain hope of finding a hidden hyperlink!
 
Robert Wilson said:
I had thought of cannibalising a strimmer. Perhaps even having it sticking far out the back as they have in the far east.
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I recall a Motor Boat & Yachting article in the mid-'eighties, which was either about James Bond's excursions into speedboats, including the 'long-tails' in The Man With The Golden Gun, or it was an article exclusively about these so-called Klong boats.

It might make an amazing multi-tool...different heads for different uses. Propeller for outboarding, some sort of brush-head for long-reach bottom-scrubbing, or perhaps a big fan for when there's no wind? :rolleyes:
 
Robert Wilson said:
I had thought of cannibalising a strimmer. Perhaps even having it sticking far out the back as they have in the far east. Nightmare where there might be swimmers, dogs and ropes in the water :eek:
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Alarming to swimmers, true, but avoiding stuff in the water is supposed to be one of the benefits of the long-tailed boats. As something comes past the boat, the helmsman pushes down on the tiller to lift the prop out of the water and over it. If they do get snarled up, they rotate the whole thing 180 degrees to bring the prop into the middle of the boat for untangling.

Pete
 
Robert Wilson said:
There must be a good reason why they don't. As you say, it would be a world beater.

While I was web-searching for electric O/Bs I came across a small home-made one. Annoyingly I now can't find it.

Anyone any ideas if it would be possible/practical to cobble-up a "motor-shaft-prop thingy"?
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I thought the point of this exercise was to end up with something smaller, lighter, and simpler than a 2st outboard?
Whilst it might be fun, and not ocerly expensive, to bolt a big DC motor to an old leg, and wire it up to a speed controller encased in DIY waterproofing, powered by some old car batteries, I doubt it is going to work out as a more practical proposition than simply buying a little peteol engine,
 
Robert Wilson said:
Where could I go for "bits", particularly the shaft and bottom-end 90° gear?

I had thought of cannibalising a strimmer. Perhaps even having it sticking far out the back as they have in the far east. Nightmare where there might be swimmers, dogs and ropes in the water :eek:
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So last century. It was done in the 1930s by Atco, the mower people. Could not compete with the Seagull. For all its simplicity and crude engineering (or because of it!) the Seagull set the standard in terms of configuration.

There is nothing new (until the Torqeedo) because the market is not big enough to justify any significant R&D. That is why the Honda is still being made, and there has been virtually no change in small hp engines apart from the switch to 4 stroke powerheads for 50 years. Compare that with the huge technical developments in high hp outboards where the real market and money is.
 
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