sexist outboard motor?

[chubby]

Our Suzuki 2.5 hp outboard starts for me easily, often first pull but my daughter can`t get on with it? She is mid 20s and used to boats and horses so not exactly a wimp, I have tried to demonstrate my stroke, it seems a long pull to the full length works but she finds the recoil fights back, what to do?

 

[david_bagshaw]

further tuition required!

2.5 should be easy for anyone, so it is all in the way you stand, snatch etc.

 

[SamanthaTabs]

Your daughter is not alone, I run and weight train so strength not an issue as is not in your case, we have exactly the same problem with our identical outboard. The recoil fights back, David has considered taking some coils out of the spring but is reluctant to do so as might not get it back together. My solution? Got an inflatable kayak so go ashore self propelled, buy your daughter one

 

[Seajet]

Personally I think it's a female ploy to get out of doing anything; my g/f 'can't ' start the lawnmowers, strimmer or chainsaw...

 

[SamanthaTabs]

Personally I think it's a female ploy to get out of doing anything; my g/f 'can't ' start the lawnmowers, strimmer or chainsaw...

I bet, given good enough reason, she'd get that chainsaw going... I do all the heavy stuff onboard; lugging kedge anchors; hoisting sails; damned if I can get that outboard to work It's certainly not a matter of strength.
We're going to investigate tomorrow, bit of string and starting it without the recoil to determine if its that mechanism.

 

[seadog30]

Hi

Its mainly technique, pull the starter cord slowly until you meet high resistance i.e. compression stroke. return the starter cord to the fully in position, (if you are right handed) put your left hand on the top of the engine, grasp the starter handle firmly and pull hard (don't snatch).

Good Luck

 

[onesea]

Hi

Its mainly technique, pull the starter cord slowly until you meet high resistance i.e. compression stroke. return the starter cord to the fully in position, (if you are right handed) put your left hand on the top of the engine, grasp the starter handle firmly and pull hard (don't snatch).

Good Luck

+1
Its kind of the opposite to a good punch, facing slightly side on so you can twist shoulders to give extra pull works.

Just point she should be glad its not a seagull...

Although as a kid I used to use an old Sea Rider with 40hp and manual start. That was foot on top of engine with bent knee, both hands on pull cord and throw one self over bench seat backwards.

It worked although I was only 11 at the time....

 

[john_morris_uk]

I don't believe for one moment that its the recoil spring. Your question has got me wondering and I suspect that it IS something about the way that females are conditioned to use their bodies.

If that sounds sexist, let me explain as I don't think that the problem is insurmountable. I don't believe that there is anything sexist in my theory - its just about conditioning and how we do things.

My reasoning is from my experiences when I sometimes help coach children and young people to play cricket. In the 8-15 age group there is no distinction between the sexes in cricket; girls and boys all play and are coached together. Frequently, it is REALLY difficult to get girls to throw a cricket ball in any meaningful way because the action seems to be so alien to them. It was only when I watched a (very senior) coach working with some older youths that it made me think about what was going on. He got the players thinking about how a boxer is taught to punch. Its NOT just with the arm, but a full power blow starts from the feet with the weight transferred and the power coming from the twisting of the torso (core muscles) and the shoulders. It requires standing sideways and coiling yourself backwards.

Throwing a ball well has similar attributes but sometimes its REALLY DIFFICULT to get the girls to stand sideways on and twist and rotate as their arm comes through. They like to stand front on and throw with just the arm which is inaccurate and very ineffective in comparison to using their core strength and a big twisting of the torso and shoulders action.

Starting an out board is the opposite action, and its NOT all in the arms - its in the core strength and twisting of the shoulders that you get the long meaningful pull of the starter cord. I don't believe that there is anything in the female form that stops them doing the action correctly, but it doesn't seem to be a 'natural' action to some females.

I would look very carefully at the way that the young woman is pulling the starter. If its all with the arm then encourage her to sit sideways in the finished and 'end of pull' position then wind herself backwards (anticlockwise from above if she is right handed) before pulling with a big 'unwind' action.

There's also a bit of psychology in it. If she believes that she is never going to start the thing, then subconsciously she might not be pulling with the same enthusiasm. She needs to pull all the way through. Try taking the spark plug out so she can practice the action with little or no resistance?

I hope that all makes sense.

 

[oldharry]

+1
Its kind of the opposite to a good punch, facing slightly side on so you can twist shoulders to give extra pull works.

Just point she should be glad its not a seagull...

Although as a kid I used to use an old Sea Rider with 40hp and manual start. That was foot on top of engine with bent knee, both hands on pull cord and throw one self over bench seat backwards.

It worked although I was only 11 at the time....

Seagull - the 'keep fit' engine

 

[prv]

If I remember rightly, Mike Green in Coarse Cruising believed he had a lesbian outboard motor.

Pete

 

[ProDave]

My wife can't start any of my pull cord machines.

I think it's that she simply cannot pull the cord fast enough.

 

[Al Dickson]

We have a 2.5 Suzuki which my 11 year old can start easily - mind you he is a boy !

 

[newtothis]

Personally I think it's a female ploy to get out of doing anything; my g/f 'can't ' start the lawnmowers, strimmer or chainsaw...

I have exactly the same problem with starting the washing machine, vacuum cleaner and dishwasher...

 

[jwilson]

Seagull - the 'keep fit' engine

Both my Seagulls were ultra-easy to start, low compression, and you were not fighting a spring on the cord. The Seagull 40+ you could restart once warm just by spinning the flywheel without a cord. Also regularly used a 40 hp o/b with no electric start, not difficult. Though hand starting a 140 hp Johnson with a rope end once the electrics died was really hard graft.

 

[TrueBlue]

All very amusing -

I've always wondered why the fairer sex can't start engines and until recently I assume it was a matter of "weakness" or more cynically "application" (aka can't be bothered).

Listening to the R4 at the weekend I heard Robert Hardy explain the longbow to some female presenter. She asked if she could ever be proficient at using it and to my surprise he said "no". It's not a matter of pure strength, but that a female's muscles are attached at different points to enable them to do their natural jobs.
Seemed a bit far fetched to me, but then he is an expert in that field.
Starting an o.b. or petrol mower is all in the final flick.

Discuss?

 

[Talbot]

One of the new small outboards tested recently has a different starter system which enables the children/fairer sex to wind up against a spring and then release the tension which turns the engine over. Sounds an ideal solution for this problem. I had the same on a large lawn mower and even my wimpy ex could start it.

 

[John the kiwi]

Hi

Its mainly technique, pull the starter cord slowly until you meet high resistance i.e. compression stroke. return the starter cord to the fully in position, (if you are right handed) put your left hand on the top of the engine, grasp the starter handle firmly and pull hard (don't snatch).

Good Luck

+1 except that i dont think this is just a male female thing, though the problem is weighted towards females.
My observation is that most women and some men simply dont have the necessary feel for the machinery.
These unfeeling types simply grab and pull as hard and fast as they can without any knowledge of where the motor rotation is. I believe that the problem is that you can only exert maximum pull force right at the start of the stroke and the force you can apply declines as you continue. This is just what the doctor ordered if you have already quietly pulled the motor over to the start of the compression stroke, but if you haven't then you hit the increased resistance of the compression just as the strength of your pull is declining and surprise surprise it "pulls back!"

Follow Seadog30 s instructions.....

 

[ChattingLil]

For years I could never start an outboard (the extent that I gave up entirely and got rid of it) I used to think it was because of all the reasons listed above... but now I have acquired a fairly new and good condition o/b I can finally do it. Nothing has changed for me physically or mentally (well, not improved anyway!) So it must be the better o/b.

 

[rustybarge]

if you have already quietly pulled the motor over to the start of the compression stroke

If you've ever started an old british bike, you'd know that that the important thing to do is to get the engine over and past the compression point ( top dead center), then when you kick the engine the piston has time to reach max. Speed on the down stroke and maintain the inertia on the following up stroke.

But on a 4 stroke single cylinder there is only a spark every second stroke, thats why you have to sometimes pull the engine through two cycles by pulling the start cord to the end.

it sometimes starts first pull if you're lucky enough to begin on a compression spark stroke, or takes two compression strokes when it begins on an exhaust stroke.

 

[Achillesheel]

My Suzuki 2.5hp 4 stroke always seems to be at the compression stroke on the first pull. Get it past that, and it pulls really easily.