air cooled 2 stroke outboards

[adam aunins]

Do you or some one you know us one of the 1.2hp or up to a 3hp air cooled outboards , like a tanaka/gamefisher? I'm not happy with the trolling motor I have and think that one of these would work out nicely. That and the fact that they weigh around 15lbs which is a lot less than the battery that goes with a trolling motor. I'm wondering how good of a job they do pushing the boat around, aprox. speed stuff like that. This is what I'm talking about http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Sears-1- ... enameZWDVW

[calden]

Me! Me, Teacher! I know the answer!

I've got a Tanaka:

and love it. You can see how much smaller it is than the motor it replaced. Noisy little bugger, like a little chain saw, but it does fine with a small boat like a DS.

Speed is fine. I've never measured it, but for getting around it's okay. I would imagine it's close to hull speed. If you're dealing with a river or tides or huge winds, you might have problem, but for most normal Daysailer adventures it's great.

It's so much easier to throw it in the car, on the boat, back to the garage. It's ridiculously light.

Carlos

[algonquin]

I have a 1969 Clinton Motors 3.5 HP, also made for Sears as a Game Fisher I believe. It is a 2 stroke and air cooled and moves my DS at a pretty nice clip, Wake and all. It is light and very economical to run. Idles down to almost nothing for trolling. Simple reverse, you just spin the motor 180 degrees and off you go. Picked it up at a yard sale in excellent shape for $35.

[adam aunins]

How do you guys feel about anything less than 3hp? Do you think the 1.2hp would be no better than a 30lb thrust electric. My number one problem was motoring into a strong wind and not having enough power to over come the wind. Have you had a problem with them getting in the way of your traveler at the back of the boat, or do you toss the motor into the cudy since they are so light?

Brad, I'll pay you a nice finders fee for a couple of motors if you run across them a lot at sales for around $35.

[Roger]

I found that on my DS a 5hp was too heavy and much more power that was required. I could plane along at 10 knots. I replaced it with a 55# thrust electric, and that brought the speed down to 4.5 knots and managed the boat quite well.

I now have a boat that weighs 1300# empty, and I use a 2.5 hp. It moves it around at 5.5 knots which is hull speed for me, and I am quite happy with it. It would have been nice to have true reverse, but the extra poundage was not worth it. Spin and go is quite easy to do. Neutral is a must have however.

It is a Yamaha 2.5 4 stroke. Has anyone plumbed in a pigtail for an external tank? I suspect it is not that difficult, just find the right T connecter and hose connections, and place it between the stopcock and carb. Right?

[calden]

Both motors I've had interfered with the sheeting system. I put on a motor mount, a custom made job, on the back of the boat just to get the motor aft another 6". It's totally out of the way now.

The Tanaka is plenty of power. I can't compare with an electric because I've never used an electric.

Carlos