Sorry if this is bit boaty. Outboards.

O

oldgit

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Have just dragged the new inflatable I bought 3 years ago out of the garage. It did spend several months getting in the way down the lazerette on the boat before finally ending up there.
Glancing in the bag it appears to have a set of oars, which is obviously no way to propel a boat.
So the question is .....which small secondhand outboard should I be looking for.
Reckon on about 2hp perhaps.
And before B1 comments.... British Seagulls are no longer cutting edge. :)
Suggestions please.
 
H,mm its the range that has me wondering.... !

From an O/B electric motor website.
•Amp draw is the measurement of electrical current drawn from a storage battery (or battery), while the motor is being operated.
•Minn Kota®’s published amp draw figures represent actual on the water conditions at full power (with all of the motor’s wiring, switches and circuitry in the electrical system as the test measurement is taken).
•Approximate length of running time when operating a motor at full power can be determined with a motor’s amp draw and the battery amp hour rating.
•Example: A single 120 amp hour, 12-volt battery and a 12-volt trolling motor drawing 30 amps at the highest speed setting will run for about 3.4 hours.
•The formula for the calculation is as follows: ◦.85 A.H.R. = Hours of running time. (A.H.R.= Battery Amp Hour Rating)
◦M.A.D. (M.A.D. = Motor Amp Draw)
•As the speed setting is reduced the motor amp draw is also reduced.
•A motor drawing 30 amps at high speed may only draw 5 amps at the slowest speed. The same motor that will theoretically run about 3.4 hours at high speed will run for over 20 hours at the slowest speed

As I tend to creep everywhere anyway .Just the thought of that blimming great battery .
Just occurred we have 4 x 110 Amp leisure batteries aboard, could press one of those into service,just need make sure do not use more than 50% of battery capacity. Can be charged using my Merlin charger system as well.
That would give me say 4 hours endurance,which quite frankly is about 3.5 hours more than I would want to spend in a waterlogged manky rubber dinghy.
 
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As CJL says, depends on dinghy size. My 3.1 Lodestar does OK with a Suzuki 2.2, and when I go out for longer periods in more challenging tidal condition on the Deben & Ore/Alde, a Yamaha 5hp, both 2 stroke. Noticed people using the smaller 4 stroke Hondas which are available, whereas (I assume by now) the 2 strokes are less easy to come by.
 
CJL said:
How big is the dinghy and how many do you have on board? The normal rule for auxillary engines is 1Hp for each metre LOA.

A nice alternative to petrol and bulky electric as these propane outboards...... http://golehr.com.

There are some reviews here which seem pretty good - http://sailing.about.com/od/equipmentgear/a/Review-Of-Lehr-Propane-Outboard-Engine.htm

CJL
Click to expand...

Interesting stuff. The load is likely to be me and the inflatable 2.4M The chances of getting SWMBO into any dinghy except in a dire emergency is nil.
Spect it will be a small Yamaha/Suzuki/ Yamaha etc .Hankering after a Honda but comments about the noise and poor build quality rife on the net.
My experience with small two stroke outboards has been not good to say the least.
The thing is only for fun and more for freshwater use, reckon I would need 2 hours max endurance for trip between locks.
Loads of electric O/Bs on Ebay.Most come from Germany.
 
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You are understandably 'rude' about Seagulls, but they are

  • cheap,
  • solid,
  • reliable,
  • easy to start,
  • light,
  • More importantly - not a desirable item to steal !

I have a nice 4HP Mercury, but it's heavy to take on and off, a pig to start and fiddly. The aluminium is prone to corrosion, so one leaves the prop: out of water, thus subject to damage when other moorers hit the back end of the dinghy.....
I don't use it now 'cos the Security folk at HF just got to the dinghy before some scroats were about to remove it and the dinghy (both were padlocked).

Nobody's interested in the 'gull and I leave it in the water (just as well because the locking pin is rubbish)
Mine starts second pull (usually, until the modern fuel gels - but I'm experimenting with some snake oil to cure that).
Later engines will run on 25:1 oil mix and are not much noisier than the Honda air cooled unit)

'suppose it's a bit like a Stewart Turner; love 'em or hate 'em. Both work for some folks.
 
A really nice 2.2-3.5hp Two stroke would be nice, failing that a 4 stroke.

Avoid anything 'new' off Ebay unless it's a brand name.

Avoid Propane, they are Chinese engines with a conversion.

Avoid Chinese.

Probably nothing you didn't know already!
 
I have a Mercury 2.5 two stroke and a Mariner 4 two stroke. Both do the job of pushing the dinghy along very nicely. The Mercury is fabulously light but has no neutral or reverse gear. Thus I much prefer the (Yamaha built) Mariner.

No Regrets claims to have a big old Johnson......... :)
 
I had a Honda 2hp from new it was great - light, used little fuel, neat clutch system, quiet most of the time except flat out. I have just sold it on Ebay as have upgraded to an 8hp to go with a larger rib.

I have heard about No Regrets Johnson, is it a two stroke or four stroke fnar fnar....
 
No Regrets said:
A really nice 2.2-3.5hp Two stroke would be nice, failing that a 4 stroke.
Avoid anything 'new' off Ebay unless it's a brand name.
Avoid Propane, they are Chinese engines with a conversion.
Avoid Chinese.
Probably nothing you didn't know already!
Click to expand...

I don't think this new generation of engines are chinese engines with conversions at all.

Old ones might be but not the newer ones.

CJL
 
Dad has already offered me a "BS". He has a shed full of the smelly things in various states of disrepair.Some of them may have actually worked at some point. :)
You hear his Seagull approaching from miles away.long before you see a destroyer like plume of exhaust fumes rising into the the pristine Medway air and if we want a car boot carpet that reeks of two stroke ,its quicker just to pour a couple of pints in there and be done with it.
Spect its going to be whatever comes along at the right money.
 
CJL said:
I don't think this new generation of engines are chinese engines with conversions at all.

Old ones might be but not the newer ones.

CJL
Click to expand...

Hidea. All the engine sizes match...Trust me, if they were Yamaha or Mercury, they would tell you.
 
That makes sense. Checking the country of manufacture isn't as easy as it should be and I like to avoid China as much as possible. Even 'German manufacturer' often translates as manufactured in China.
 
Actionmat said:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331163901866?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
or for a few extra quid:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Outboard-...at_Engines_EngineParts_SM&hash=item4d1ae83011
I can't believe how cheap these are; I'd love to know if they're any good as I'm very tempted
Click to expand...


That website suggests the motor has 1.45 tonnes of thrust.
That sounds like am awful lot to me.

I am stretching my knowledge here, but I think it's is equivalent to somewhere between 10 and 50 hp. I am not 100% on the thrust to HP conversion - it varies with velocity if I remember long forgotten physics right.

Can that be right?
 
NickTrevethan said:
That website suggests the motor has 1.45 tonnes of thrust.
That sounds like am awful lot to me.

I am stretching my knowledge here, but I think it's is equivalent to somewhere between 10 and 50 hp. I am not 100% on the thrust to HP conversion - it varies with velocity if I remember long forgotten physics right.

Can that be right?
Click to expand...

It says its a 635W motor which is 0.8hp, those outboards are designed for trolling around lakes fishing for bass in the US, they only use them for a second or two at a time to move a few metres silently without disturbing the fish. As actual main engines they are next to useless except maybe on a canoe.
 
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