Good luck. You're not likely to do much better than those old lawnmower
conversions, but it could be fun trying.

I have seen another conversion called an "Asian River" conversion.

In SE Asia and Indonesia, a popular type of river boat is between 40-50'
and narrow ( 8'). They have a pedestal on the stern and an auto engine
is mounted on a swivel. There is a direct drive propeller shaft and the
coxswain steers it by pivoting the entire setup from side to side. The
motor and shaft could also be moved up and down so the cox could allow
for depth of water and stop power for forward movement by lifting the
propeller out of the water. Cooling is by a pair of hoses from and to
the river. I seen these boats in National Geographic articles about these
SE Asian countries.

I was browsing through Craigslist and a guy was selling a similar setup
but it was scaled down to use a small (1 to 5 HP) gas engine and to power
a 10 to 15' boat. Looked kind of cool but I didn't need something like
that so gave it no further thought....

Jeff

On Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:53:50 -0500, raoul wrote:



Good luck. You're not likely to do much better than those old lawnmower
conversions, but it could be fun trying.

I have seen another conversion called an "Asian River" conversion.

In SE Asia and Indonesia, a popular type of river boat is between 40-50'
and narrow ( 8'). They have a pedestal on the stern and an auto engine
is mounted on a swivel. There is a direct drive propeller shaft and the
coxswain steers it by pivoting the entire setup from side to side. The
motor and shaft could also be moved up and down so the cox could allow
for depth of water and stop power for forward movement by lifting the
propeller out of the water. Cooling is by a pair of hoses from and to
the river. I seen these boats in National Geographic articles about these
SE Asian countries.

I was browsing through Craigslist and a guy was selling a similar setup
but it was scaled down to use a small (1 to 5 HP) gas engine and to power
a 10 to 15' boat. Looked kind of cool but I didn't need something like
that so gave it no further thought....

Jeff
In Thailand these "long tail" boats are the norm in the small boat
fishing industry. you can buy the sprockets and chains used for gear
reduction in any hardware shop in the towns near the ocean.

They build direct drive systems using small air cooled four stroke
engines but the larger, say 10 H.P. and up all use some sort of speed
reduction between the engine and the shaft.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

On Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:00:38 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok wrote:

On Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:53:50 -0500, raoul wrote:



Good luck. You're not likely to do much better than those old
lawnmower conversions, but it could be fun trying.

I have seen another conversion called an "Asian River" conversion.

cut

In Thailand these "long tail" boats are the norm in the small boat
fishing industry. you can buy the sprockets and chains used for gear
reduction in any hardware shop in the towns near the ocean.

They build direct drive systems using small air cooled four stroke
engines but the larger, say 10 H.P. and up all use some sort of speed
reduction between the engine and the shaft.

Good to know. The small one I saw in the article had no reduction.
Pretty simple, that's for sure!

On Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:29:31 -0500, raoul wrote:

On Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:00:38 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok wrote:

On Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:53:50 -0500, raoul wrote:



Good luck. You're not likely to do much better than those old
lawnmower conversions, but it could be fun trying.

I have seen another conversion called an "Asian River" conversion.

cut

In Thailand these "long tail" boats are the norm in the small boat
fishing industry. you can buy the sprockets and chains used for gear
reduction in any hardware shop in the towns near the ocean.

They build direct drive systems using small air cooled four stroke
engines but the larger, say 10 H.P. and up all use some sort of speed
reduction between the engine and the shaft.

Good to know. The small one I saw in the article had no reduction.
Pretty simple, that's for sure!

Was downtown yesterday and out of curiosity went by a small motor shop
in downtown Phuket. They sell a kit, consisting of a sort of "bell
housing" that bolts to the engine block to attach the shaft and
housing, a skeg to fit the propeller end and coupling. All to fit a
small Honda or Robin (China made copy).
It appears that these conversions are common enough to warrant making
a kit.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:27:36 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok wrote:

On Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:29:31 -0500, raoul wrote:

On Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:00:38 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok wrote:

On Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:53:50 -0500, raoul wrote:



Good luck. You're not likely to do much better than those old
lawnmower conversions, but it could be fun trying.

I have seen another conversion called an "Asian River" conversion.

cut

In Thailand these "long tail" boats are the norm in the small boat
fishing industry. you can buy the sprockets and chains used for gear
reduction in any hardware shop in the towns near the ocean.

They build direct drive systems using small air cooled four stroke
engines but the larger, say 10 H.P. and up all use some sort of speed
reduction between the engine and the shaft.

Good to know. The small one I saw in the article had no reduction.
Pretty simple, that's for sure!

Was downtown yesterday and out of curiosity went by a small motor shop
in downtown Phuket. They sell a kit, consisting of a sort of "bell
housing" that bolts to the engine block to attach the shaft and housing,
a skeg to fit the propeller end and coupling. All to fit a small Honda
or Robin (China made copy). It appears that these conversions are common
enough to warrant making a kit.

The OP should have ya ship him one of those kits!

Did you notice how much one of those conversions (motor and propeller
kit) cost as compared to a factory built outboard? I bet a lot less...
Reverse gears cost money!

That sounds just like what I saw in the Craigslist ad...

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:19:15 -0500, raoul wrote:

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:27:36 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok wrote:

On Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:29:31 -0500, raoul wrote:

On Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:00:38 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok wrote:

On Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:53:50 -0500, raoul wrote:



Good luck. You're not likely to do much better than those old
lawnmower conversions, but it could be fun trying.

I have seen another conversion called an "Asian River" conversion.

cut

In Thailand these "long tail" boats are the norm in the small boat
fishing industry. you can buy the sprockets and chains used for gear
reduction in any hardware shop in the towns near the ocean.

They build direct drive systems using small air cooled four stroke
engines but the larger, say 10 H.P. and up all use some sort of speed
reduction between the engine and the shaft.

Good to know. The small one I saw in the article had no reduction.
Pretty simple, that's for sure!

Was downtown yesterday and out of curiosity went by a small motor shop
in downtown Phuket. They sell a kit, consisting of a sort of "bell
housing" that bolts to the engine block to attach the shaft and housing,
a skeg to fit the propeller end and coupling. All to fit a small Honda
or Robin (China made copy). It appears that these conversions are common
enough to warrant making a kit.

The OP should have ya ship him one of those kits!

Did you notice how much one of those conversions (motor and propeller
kit) cost as compared to a factory built outboard? I bet a lot less...
Reverse gears cost money!

That sounds just like what I saw in the Craigslist ad...


Well, the reason that all the small fishermen use these "long tail"
motors is because they are cheaper then an equal size outboard, plus
the usual small fishing boat will have a diesel engine, usually a
single horizontal cylinder with an external flywheel, crank start,
with a duplex or triplex chain drive to the propeller shaft for shaft
speed reduction.

I was told, some time ago how much the fishermen pay for one of their
engines and I *think* it was around US$ 500, but I'm not sure. I'll
ask again and post the cost.

They don't need reverse as they swing the long shaft around forward
and while they can't go straight back it is sufficient for their
needs.

I never asked about the "kits" but will the next time I'm down that
way. Certainly the setup would be cheaper then the water cooled type
diesels

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)