On Sat, 17 May 2008 17:43:08 -0400, "Gregory Hall"
wrote:

I've run my 20 horse Honda in a 5 gallon pail when no other choice was
available.


Just curious. Why would you do that? Don't you realize that 4-stroke
outboards store almost indefinitely without needing to be run to keep the
piston from corroding and seizing to the cylinder? It's because the
cylinder and rings and piston are bathed by pure oil and not some diluted
mist like in a two-stroke motor. Also, most of the time a single cylinder
four-stroke engine, due to camshaft configuration, will stop with the piston
at or near TDC with the valves closed. This effectively seals the innards
from corrosion causing moisture.

It was a situation onboard my trawler where the Honda had ingested
some bad fuel. I needed to drain the carburetor bowl, clean the fuel
filter screen, and get it running again. It's much easier to do that
kind of work when the engine is not on the dinghy. I had a place to
mount the engine on the back deck and the 5 gallon pail was handy.