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Richard Casady

On Thu, 29 May 2008 13:40:20 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 29 May 2008 17:20:13 GMT, (Richard
Casady) wrote:

On Thu, 29 May 2008 12:11:11 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 29 May 2008 15:46:57 GMT, (Richard
Casady) wrote:

On Thu, 29 May 2008 04:13:23 -0700 (PDT), Jay
wrote:

And, btw, when my little Suzuki is still putting along two years from
now with water only being ejected INTERMITTENTLY through the urination
hole, YOU'LL STILL BE WRONG!!!!!

I feel about the same way about an intermittant pilot hole as I do
about a water temperature gauge that only works part of the time. BTW,
it isn't practical to watch the pilot hole, especially when it is on
the back of the motor, and you are driving from the front of the boat.

It doesn't matter, I suppose, what the pilot hole does when you
can't watch it anyway.

Casady

Steering from the front of the boat? It's a 2.5 hp outboard with a
tiller, Casady.

Happen to possess a boat with a steering wheel and a 3 HP motor.
certain that the water pump is
working at startup, and being able to glance back occasionally and
confirm you haven't clogged with sand, seaweed or a plastic baggie is
pretty important. The pilot hole on all small outboards I've seen
shoots out to the side so you can see it easily from your seat, by
simply turning your head and looking towards the motor.

As for the pilot hole, it is on the back of the 1/2,the 1 the 3 and
the 5 my family has owned. Motors dating from the twenties to the
fifties. I hear some would rebuild the water pump every couple of
years. One next door neighbor has a fifty year old motor, the other
next door forty. Never replaced anything on either of them.
When did Evenrude quit making the half horse motor? Nobody I know paid
any attention to the pilot hole.

Casady

Those motors probably pre-date flexible pump impellers, and may not
have even had (or really needed) a pilot hole at all. The British
Seagull has a metal impeller, too. Some of the small motors you
mention are probably air cooled, anyway. :')

On neightbor has a fifties 35 Johnson, the other a 90 Mercury, The 35
is on a home made plywood boat that has been glassed. The ninty is on
a larger aluminum boat. Skiing, fishing and just riding around are
what we do. The only cruising is one hour or so cocktail cruises.
Rubbernecking at slow speed. I don't remember pilot holes on the half
or the one, but the five it was on the back, and the boat had a
forward wheel. Pilot holes were like Canada, everyone knows it exists,
but nobody gives it much thought.

Casady