On 20 Jun 2006 07:05:43 -0700, "Hanta-Yo-Yo"
wrote:

Other than the fact this is rec.boats.PADDLE,

Yes... I mostly paddle. The outboard is really a safety measure to get
me out of trouble.

I do have a little
experience with putting a small motor on my 17.5 ft. Folbot. I used a
2.5 Mercury on a side gunnel mount. The motor would drive the boat at
about 10 kts. Thrust being offset, caused the boat to steer better one
way than the other, and neither felt very responsive. I found it best
to continue to use the standard rudder, and keep the motor set straight
for thrust only. If your canoe is square back and the motor can be
mounted on the back, then these may not be issues.

No, I'm in the process of making a bracket to mount the motor off the
starboard side of stern.

The main problem occurred when the boat rolled, and the motor ended up
holding the boat in a sidways position! The boat would not sink,
because of float bags, but being full of water, I could not roll it
upright either with the additional weight of the motor. Luckily a power
boater came along and towed me to shore where I was able to get it
upright and pumped out. After that incident, I retired the motor.

I've read of other people having the same problem. One canoeist said
he fixed the motor to steer straingt ahead and used a paddle for
steering.

I am guessing that the rolling problem you experienced would be less
likely to happen if the prop is higher up rather than well below the
bottom of the canoe. Would anyone agree?

I figured that the only time I would use the motor, was if there was a
strong current that I was trying to go against, and that would be the
time It would flip on me. The best it would do is overcome a 10 knt
current, which I could just as easily paddle against without the hassle
of the motor.

Hmm.. you must have more stamina than me!

Al D