I never found steering compensation a problem with a side mount. The main
problems with rigging the motor off the stern are thus:
* It's harder to reach the motor for adjustment, pulling up, fiddling with,
or shutting off.
* It puts the motor's weight that much further back from the center of the
canoe, requiring more ballast to compensate for it.
* There's more structural rigging, adding more weight.

If you do try this route, I'd suggest arms back to a flat piece for the
motor coming from pivots on the gunwhales, with some form of adjustable
stops to vary the prop's bite. Any more of the motor down into the water
beyond the anti-cavitation plate increases its drag exponentially.

Personally, I think the side mount would work fine, and be a good deal less
trouble, but this world is built on "bad" ideas that turn out to be
earth-shatteringly effective!

Brad Snow
s/v Aldonza



"Al D" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 27 Jun 2006 06:26:31 GMT, "padeen"
wrote:

Please don't take my word as fact; I'm not really a very knowledgable
small
engine mechanic, but I think one screw is idle and the other is power
(cruising rpm).

AND, there is some danger in running an engine too lean as
it runs hotter and can burn rungs. If it won't run anywhere else, check
the
air filter.

I will. Thanks for the suggestion.

Also, a jet that will run best only closed is a worn jet.

Could be...

That six horse Evenrude sure gave some service. I ran it for three years,
probably 3hrs a day for 150 days a year, then sold it to a friend who got
another six years from it as a spare.

That's reassuring!

Its biggest problem was that the top
"bearing" wasn't a real bearing; just sleeved in the aluminum block. When
it got older the shaft would wobble, causing the points to become
inaccurate
and the motor to start hard and run lousy. Still worked, though.

The other problem was that the Yukon was heavily silt-laden so we'd go
through a water pump rebuild kit every year.

Hmm.. I have that problem too... the water I canoe in is not clear but
somewhat muddy.

Still, if I can even get one or two years of life out of it, it will
have been worth the money I paid. It certainly seems ideal for my
purposes.

I'm thinking of building a bracket that will sit the motor directly
behind, and in-line with the center-line of the boat -so no steering
compensation will be required.

Al D