restricting outboard power

[johnf]

I have just purchased a Zodiac Futura 3.7m with a 2 stroke 40 hp tohatsu to use as tender. I realiase this is very much on the large size for out yacht but with 4 children it gies opportunity to water ski and keep them interested. We keep the yacht in med. My 14 year old will no doubt want to use this tender and I am wondering about trying to restrict the power. It is used with remote power and steering cables..Any suggestions????

 

[nathanlee]

I honestly vote for spending a bit of time explaining boaty death rather than restricting the engine. I don't know about your son, but at 14 I would have been perfectly capable of undoing whatever had been done to restrict it.

That said, it'd probably quite easy to put something in place to stop the throttle lever on the carb moving too far.

 

[KenMcCulloch]

Motorcycles are often restricted in the UK because of license rules. The simplest method is to install a plate with a smaller hole in the air intake, between the carburettor if it has one or throttle body in the case of an EFI engine, and the inlet manifold. I guess the clever part is knowing how big the hole should be for a given restriction in output. The other thing I guess would be to see if you can limit the throttle travel. You could also just sell the engine and buy a smaller one?

 

[seumask]

IMHO you have a pretty lethal toy here, having witnessed a near loss of leg due to a similar sized boat with older teenagers fooling around and running down a person who had fallen out of it, I would strongly advise buying a smaller engine or if you are set on keeping this OTT engine and tender combination fitting a prop cage.

 

[Csail]

You could get a bracket made up that fits around the throttle lever and padlocked on.

 

[johnf]

Many thanks for helpful comments. I will look in to these. I appreciate this is rather a ott set up but we will take care!!