"CaveLamb" wrote in message
m...
snip

While the thru-the-propeller exhaust helps keep noise down, it really
ruins
reverse thrust!


If somebody needs reverse thrust they're not much of a sailboat operator.
You can't stop a 4-ton sailboat with a little reverse thrust from a six HP
motor in anything less than about fifty feet if the boat is traveling about
three knots. A good sailor allows his forward motion, leeway etc. to come to
a stop at the same point it arrives at a solid object. He does this without
the assistance of a motor.

I just laugh so hard I almost wet myself when I see any boat approach a dock
at about five knots, then throw it in reverse and max throttle the thing to
a stop. Ludicrous! An accident waiting to happen and a very lubberly thing
to do.

Wilbur Hubbard