Sven.

Tighten up your outboard locking bolt (that stops it from turning side to
side) Don't totally lock it off, just make it tight enough so that it will
continue to point straight ahead, but can still be turned in case of an
emergency.

Once you start your motor you should be able to throttle up and leave the
throttle alone. It should stay at the same revs as you left it.

You then set the revs for the desired speed and steer with your tiller. You
should not have to touch the outboard again until you want to adjust the
throttle or turn it off.

Best regards
--
Garry Beattie
Ocean Spirit Trailer Sailer &
Small Yacht Cruising Emagazine
www.ocean-spirit.com


"Sven" wrote in message
news
Yet another question from this new Ericson 23' owner ...

We just took it out for a shakedown cruise ... very satisfying and
promising.

The only part that threw me (apart from an outboard throttle handle that
literally fell off in mid-channel !) was the problem of handling _both_
a tiller and the 5 hp Nissan outboard at the same time. I've done lots
of sailing on dingies without outboards, on dingies where you removed
the rudder when you used the ouboard, and on inboard-equipped boats much
too large to use an outboard except as a possible emergeny
get-me-home-bailout option. I've never befor tried to use both at once.

Suffice it to say that I felt less than competent as I tried to manage
the tiller while at the same time holding the outboard throttle to both
stear and control speed.

The throttle has a bunch of duct tape on it, probably to make up for a
lacking setscrew so you can set and forget the speed setting ? What can
I say, the motor is definitely used and I'm just impressed it runs
reliably :-) Once I dig through the duct tape, should I find such a
setscrew or is there some other secret to holding the throttle setting
in place ?

How about set and forget outboard direction ? I've had my life saved by
an outboard that swung tight starboard once I was no longer holding on
to the control, but in this case I'd really prefer to have the outboard
just point straight ahead if that's what I set it to. Should I be able
to adjust some friction clutch so the outboard doesn't turn once I let
go of it ?

Ideally I'd like to have a removable linkeage between the tiller and the
outboard so that the tiller would turn both the rudder and the outboard.
Are there such linkeages available or would I have to create one ?

Are there remote, cockpit-mounted outboard speed controls for motors as
small as this Nissan 5 hp ?

Insights and asnwers appreciated.

Thanks,




-Sven