They work just fine. I believe the effect is about like that of the
"surface piercing prop" drive that was all the rage several years ago. I
remember seeing some dual engine setups on cigarette types that performed
amazingly well. I think they had some manuverability issues.

Butch
wrote in message
...
On 23 Dec 2005 22:37:24 -0800, wrote:

i must have seen about 100 posts where someone starts off asking a
question like 'i was thinking I could save myself some money by turning
a lawn mower (or motorbike, leaf blower etc etc) engine into an
outboard. can it be done'

The discussion goes on and on... with the outcome being something like
that yes you could do it, but it would be silly, unreliable, pollutiong
and probably would save you nothing in the long run anyway.

Here's a pic of one that someone made earlier anyway, just to make the
discussion a bit more interesting next time~

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....MEWA%3AIT&rd=1


Evidently they use what you are talking about in the far east, if my
James Bond movie trivia is accurate. It is an engine coupled to a
shaft in a sleeve with a prop on the end. (no "foot")
This sticks out behind the boat on a low angle similar to an inboard.
I am not sure if the boats in the Bond flicks were just special effect
props but I saw no hardware reason why they wouldn't work.