In article .com,
" wrote:

Trouble with 4 strokes, I understand, is that you cannot just lie them
down any old how - the crankcase oil runs away.

True but my Honda 2HP engine can be laid down in one of 2 orientations.
The side you can't lay it is the one with the tiller handle, and I
suspect few would try this side anyway.

The Honda is lightweight - 12kg IIRC, air cooled so no internal
corrosion, and has a centrifugal clutch. The engine spins around for
reverse, which I find I rarely need to do. I'm quite happy with it.

PDW

Peter Wiley wrote in news:220520060158216656%
:

The Honda is lightweight

Met some people at the marina whos kids were having a ball riding around
in their dingy powered by a WEEDEATER!...(c;

They had taken the bottom off a cheap Weedeater, the kind run by a
speedometer cable that's just bent tubing on the bottom. They stuffed
the tubing with marine grease to keep the water out and lube the cable,
sealing it with a little plastic cap at the bottom to save the whales.
The tubing was bent further than original so the trolling motor nylon
weedless prop fixed to the bottom of it was angled down about only 5
degrees. With no skeg, there's no steering without power, they told me.
It was the big Minnkota prop found in any boat shop.

The motor was held on the boat by a Minnkota trolling motor mount, the
kind that has an adjustable depth ring clamp around a shaft. The little
one fits a weedeater fine and lets you lay it over out of the water
horizontally with the engine in the boat for "refueling" right on the
seat. The little thumb throttle was moved to the little tiller handle.
A dead-man throttle, if you let go of it, they had it idled so low it
quit so the dink just sat there waiting for you to clamber back aboard.

I asked them how troublefree it was. "We can't afford to fix them when
something finally wears out. They're only $69 at Walmart, anywhere.", he
said. Point well taken. Their dingy outboard motor cost about the same
as the thermostat in a Yamaha...(c;

Talk about light! Even the kids can lift it with one hand!

Lots of great advantages, too.....

Air cooled - no flushing, water pump to tear up, clogged intakes, etc.,
and you can crank it out of the water without ever burning anything up.

Simple - two stroke, 1 ANY POSITION DIAPHRAM carb with NO FLOAT BOWL to
leak gas out of over the deck. Even upside down, gas doesn't pour out of
it.

Economy - Gas tanks come in QUARTS, not gallons. Lube oil comes in
little 6-packs from Big Lots or Home Depot for almost nothing, not
$30/gallon Yamalube. Check how long your Weedeater runs on a pint of
premix trimming the yard. Try to run it out of fuel in an afternoon...

Talk about NOISY!.....(c;

No need to worry if those guys noticed you crossing the channel towards
your anchorage with your super-quiet 4-stroke $4000 Honda. They'll hear
it buzzing away like a...a.....Weedeater!

The $100 outboard motor....cool....

Red Green would be very proud...