Is there a boat motor made that is reliable?

[Mike Wainfeld]

1-Run it frequently, if only for a short time.
2-Use fuel stabilizer
2a-Dont use old (last years) fuel
3-Keep the fuel tank full-top off when you leave the boat.
4-Winterize the engine every year.
This is what has worked for me-I have a Yamaha 3hp, now 5 yrs old.
Mike
CD Ty "Regalo"



wainfeld@optonline.net

[Randy Bates]

Most outboard problems are caused by old dirty fuel. Keep a can of "fuel preserative" in the tank at all times and after EVERY use disconect the fuel line WHILE the motor is running, and let the motor run out of gas. This will use the fuel in the float bowl. When I was a kid I made a small fortune, for a 16 year old in 1965, working in a marine engine shop one spring doing nothing but carb cleaning and fuel line/tank cleaning. Out of the dozens of motors brought in by the owners as "not starting, won't run", every one was running after nothing but a good cleaning of the carb and releated fuel systems. It was a lesson I'll never forget.

I've been around boats (motor boats) all of my life and I have never seen, nor heard of, a boat motor that you can count on. Granted, I haven't been around many brand new motors, but nonetheless, even the new ones I have been around equally sucked. I remember my father spending countless hours working on and fine tuning various boat motors in a barrel in the back yard to the point that they would hum like a Singer sewing machine, only to get them out to the lake and in the water and find that they produce no more than an anemic cough or two after three dozen pulls of the rope.

At least 33% of the time I have ever been in a boat, the trip ended by paddling back to the shore or limping in with the electric trolling motor. Since most of my prior experience has been on boats in lakes or rivers, it's never been a scary endeavor to go out and play russian boat motor roulette. But now that I'm on a 5000lb sailboat (translates into "hard to paddle") that could very well drift to Antarctica when my motor conks out and there's no wind (yes, with my luck I could drift that far and not encounter a bird-fart breeze), it's a little more imperative that my motor somewhat operate when called upon.

Yes, in case you haven't figured it out yet, my motor stopped on me (and more importantly, my wife) this weekend. We went out Saturday morning and had a fine sail in 1kt winds. We enjoyed it so much, that we planned to circumvent the Cape of Poppasquash Sunday morning to see the fine houses that line the other side of the shore (to non-Bristolians, that's about a 1/2 mile cruise). We motor out Sunday morning to a spot where I think I can handle the boat well enough to stay out of admiralty court and we raised the main. The wind immediately catches the sail, spins the boat around to the right (again, I'll use the fancy nautical terms like "starboard" when I'm advanced enough not to believe that death is imminent at any moment), and almost blows the boat so hard that we were approaching a 720 degree roll (that's my wife's version, mine would be more like a 5 degree heel). After a few attempts to maneuver that ended in a few wide turning circles, my wife quickly became the captain and commanded that we return to the mooring at once and exit all water areas. So down comes the main (jib never made it up) and we motor toward the mooring. About 50 yards from the mooring, the motor makes the most silent sound that you could possibly imagine. Not only was it silent, but I'm sure I heard cricket sounds coming from underneath the motor cover. As calmly as possible, I began to pull the rope, and pull the rope, and pull the rope, and... well, you get the idea. We are being quickly blown over toward (and I guess there could be worse places to be blown toward) the Coast Guard pier. I literally could have shouted for help.

At some point I had the brilliant clarity of mind to raise the main sail again and try to steer the boat... I mean, people do that all the time, don't they? So I raise the main and sure enough, I'm able to steer the boat. So I head back out to a big open pasture of water where I'm not likely to crash into anyone and I drop the sail again and resume pulling the rope. No success. After thousands of pulls, I switch gas tanks and resume working on the motor the only way I know how... pulling the rope.

I kept telling my wife that it was no big deal and she stayed surprisingly calm. But I was really beginning to worry and backup plans were churning through my mind as I pulled on the rope. I could call 911 on my cell phone - embarrassing. I could call 411 on my cell phone and ask for a boat towing company - do not know the name of a boat towing company. Could flag down a passing motor boat and request a tow - embarrassing. Could call the Coast Guard on my cell phone - God knows what that would lead to (helicopters, clipper ships and C-130s circling overhead?) Could call Harbor Master or Bristol Marine and ask them what I should do but I don't know any radio frequencies for anything, anyplace, or anybody - very bad, probably negligent, on my part - I'll know them next time. Could try to sail to my mooring - yeah, right. Could try to sail to a dock and hope for a successful crash landing - possible...

Pull, pull, pull, pull... then just as suddenly as it stopped, it started and ran like nothing was ever wrong, like I had just imagined that it had stopped and it never really had. We motored back to the mooring and after about 5 tries (I have to learn to compensate for a heavy wind), we catch the pickup buoy and tie up. We put everything in order (except for the life of me, I can't figure out how to fold a jib - considerably more difficult than a map) and braved the four foot chop in our little Walker Bay and triumphantly marched upon the shore a few short minutes later.

Now, my car has 168,000 miles on it and my motor has never stopped. My plane's motor is approaching 2000 hours and has never stopped. My lawn mower has run for years and the motor has never stopped. The 1/2 inch motor in my radio controlled plane has never stopped. My weedeater motor has never stopped. I've made over 1000 margaritas and my blender motor has never stopped. Why can I not get on a boat without the motor stopping every effin time?

My hope is that the fuel tank I was using had bad fuel. The tank sat all winter, but I had run the motor off that tank for probably a 1/2 hour before it stopped. However, it never stopped, and eventually restarted, on the new gas tank. So I will not run it again on the old tank and I'll hope that it not stop again. A few things I have planned in case it does conk out again is; actually attach the anchor to the anchor rope so I can drop it if I need to, have a list of radio frequencies that includes a tow boat (I'd think Bristol Maine performs that function), and if all else fails, head to the Herreshoff docks, which are near my mooring (very big, even I could dock there in a heavy wind using the sail).

I've considered buying a three h.p. motor for the dinghy and storing it on the boat when we're out. If I lost the main motor, I could pull it out and use the three horse. I'm also considering getting a new motor. I hate to because they cost half as much as I paid for the boat, but if I knew it would be VERY reliable, it would be worth it. If they make one powerful enough, I could keep a trolling motor on board for emergencies. But a trolling motor powerful enough to move the boat would probably be almost as expensive as a motor and would probably drain the battery pretty fast.

The best option sounds like a new motor with electric start (my rope pulling arm has been literally paralyzed since Sunday morning)... are there any new motors that will not quit every other trip? Are new motors reliable? Am I going to die?

My motor (Johnson 8h.p. Sailmaster) was completely rebuilt last year and pronounced as good as new, so I don't see any point in having anything else done to it. The best possible scenario would be that it was bad gas and it will never happen again, but if I were a betting man, I'd lay down some large on regular stoppages.

Oh well, any advice will, as always, be appreciated. Otherwise, thanks for listening to my rant (I'll pretend that somebody made it through this).

Joe L.
bob (BAD bob, VERY BAD!!!) CD25
Bristol, RI

randy.bates@baesystems.com

[Chris Scheck]

Interesting ... nothing provokes more %&*($%^%$# emotion than outboard motors ... except maybe Cetol vs varnish. In regard to tanks, I would avoid metal tanks in the smaller sizes. Tempo makes lots of different sizes and shapes in plastic .. I'm sure you can find one that works for you. West carries several of them. In fact, you can get two and rotate them when you need gas rather than paying the high price for gas at a marina.

Chris Scheck
CD33 #117 Ragtime
(1985 Evinrude 4 hp)



cscheck@aol.com

[Chris Scheck]

Paul -
have to agree with you about the products of Mr Sochiro Honda! I've owned 3 of his motorcycles, and my girlfriend has a 1989 Accord with 137,000 miles on it. Even their lawn mowers are so beautifully engineered they get my juices flowing. When I go to heaven, all the boats will be CDs and anything with a spark plug will be a Honda.
(Sorry, I forgot this board does not accept commercial posts!)

Chris Scheck
CD33 #117
Ragtime



cscheck@aol.com

[Bob Herrick]

Joe,

Our Ty Senior (with a motor well) came with an ancient Johnson Sailmaster that had spent many years in saltwater. When it finally died, we bought a new Honda four-stroke. A really well built product that would, unfortunately, conk out with no rhyme or reason. After numerous trips back to the boat shop (where it ran like a top in the tank) the dealer, clearly as exasperated as we were, simnply handed us a wad of cash and took the motor back.

Fortunately, OMC reintroduced the Johnson long-shaft Sailmaster and we bought one. Interestingly, the Johnson manual suggested contacting an after-market manufacturer for an exhaust kit. First thing the guy says to me is, "I'll bet you have a Cape Dory with a motor well--you Cape Dory guys are the reason I invented this little product which, unfortunately for you, I no longer manufacture."

The kit consisted of a metal plate and a long hose that was fitted to the engine's exhaust port. Apparently, the motor well trapped exhaust which got sucked back into the engine, starving it for oxygen and causing it to quit.

We haven't jury-rigged anything at this point because the Johnson runs okay in the motorwell--I've always managed to keep it going on the rare occasions when it seems to be dying out.

Check Dana's website for his solution to the exhuast problem on his CD26. The link is on the Cape Dory owners' page. Of course, if your motor hangs off the transom than this whole discussion is beside the point and bad gas could well be your culprit.

Bob Herrick



bherrick@krausonline.com

[Paul Hierstein]

Paul -
have to agree with you about the products of Mr Sochiro Honda! I've owned 3 of his motorcycles, and my girlfriend has a 1989 Accord with 137,000 miles on it. Even their lawn mowers are so beautifully engineered they get my juices flowing. When I go to heaven, all the boats will be CDs and anything with a spark plug will be a Honda.
(Sorry, I forgot this board does not accept commercial posts!)

Chris Scheck
CD33 #117
Ragtime

Hah!
Your Accord isn't even broken in! My '87 Civic has 170,000 miles on it and it runs like a top!
Paul



paulhstn@aol.com