MYBOAT

Break Out Another Thousand

There is a dangerous type of seaweed that lurks around here.  Its everywhere.  I dont know what its called.  Ive searched the Web for hours trying to identify it to no avail.

It covers the beaches at low tide in thick mats that smell like dead fish.  It lurks just under the surface at high tide, waiting.  Its commonly found in shallow bays near shore.  It has a fine, hair-like consistency.  If you were to shave all the hair off a dead cat, dye it green, then soak it in a bucket of water overnight, youd have a close approximation of this stuff.

If you happen to come across this stuff, beware, for it is evil.

On July 8, 2011, only a couple weeks after launching Ellie for the first time, my son and I set sail for the annual Sucia Small Boat Rendezvous.  Helping us along was my brand new Suzuki 2.5hp outboard motor.  We arrived at Fossil Bay about 2:30 in the afternoon, beached Ellie, greeted the new arrivals, and set up camp.  A while later, as the tide ebbed,  I noticed that the shoreline was littered with sharp rocks so I decided Id motor around to nearby Fox cove, which had a much less rocky beach.

So I hopped aboard Ellie, fired up my brand new motor and set off for Fox.  A few minutes later, it sounded like the motor was losing power.  A few seconds later, it died.  I turned around to look at the motor and it was smoking.  Smoking!  I removed the cover and watched in horror as smoke continued to billow from the engine.  It looked like it was about to burst into flames at any moment.  Located  inches away from this smoking mass of metal was a plastic fuel tank containing about a quart of gasoline, all strapped to a boat made of wood and dacron.  I reached over and scooped up a handful of seawater and splashed it onto the engine.  It immediately sizzled, turned to steam, and disappeared.  I did this a few more times in a desperate attempt to keep the engine from bursting into flames.  The engine finally stopped smoking.  I waited for several minutes for it to cool, then attempted to start it.  It wouldnt start. I sailed back and beached Ellie on the same rocky beach that Id left minutes before.  It was only then that I discovered the source of the problem.


My water cooled Suzuki had choked on a seaweed hairball.

Later that day I got the motor running again after an hour of picking seaweed out of the water inlet with a bent paper clip.  The motor had gotten so hot that it melted the insulation on the kill switch wire, grounding it to the case, which actually saved the engine from total destruction.  But the motor has never run right since.  It runs ok at slow speeds, but overheats, gets smoking hot and dies after running for more than a few minutes at anything over about 1/4 throttle.  I removed the thermostat and found seaweed stuck to it.  Im certain the cooling jacket is clogged with seaweed.  But the overheating may have warped the cylinder head or cracked the block.  The cost estimate to have the engine disassembled, inspected, cleaned and rebuilt was close to that of a new engine, so, that means its time to...

Break Out Another Thousand

Meet my new air cooled Honda 2.3hp outboard.  The air cooled Honda BF2.3D has many nice features.  Three of its nicest features are:

1. It is air cooled.
2. It is not water cooled
3. It is cooled, by air.

There are a few other differences between the Honda and the Suzuki DF2.5.  The Suzuki has a shift lever, which allows you to manually shift between drive and neutral. The Honda has a centrifugal clutch.  At idle the prop doesnt turn.  Give it some gas and the prop starts turning.  This takes some getting used to, and can be potentially dangerous if youre careless.  Turn the throttle up too high when starting the engine and someone could get tossed overboard if they happen to be standing up when the engine starts.  In fact, the normal starting throttle setting is about 1/4 throttle, which means the engine will always be "in gear" when its started.  Be prepared.  On the other hand, it makes docking much more pleasant.  No need to fumble with a shift lever to switch out of gear when approaching a dock.  Just throttle down.

I had to modify my Duckworks motor mount to get the Honda to fit.  At first glance the two motors look identical in size and shape.

But there are differences.  The Suzuki is slightly larger, and longer.  The Suzuki measures about 17.5" from the top of the motor mount to the anti-cavitation plate and about 21" to the prop.  The Honda measures about 16.25" and 19.5".  Its odd that theres a difference.  I thought short shaft engines were a standard length. I had to lower my motor mount slightly to account for the shorter Honda.

The Honda cleared the top of my transom with room to spare unlike the larger Suzuki.

The Honda can be turned on its side when raised.  The Suzuki cannot, unless you remove the bracket that is designed to prevent you from doing so.  The Honda drips gasoline from the carb if I forget to turn off the fuel shutoff valve and sail around with it raised on its side.  It occasionally leaks oil too, from the starboard rear area of the case.  The Suzuki never leaked.

One concern I have about the Honda is that its got all this ductwork surrounding the power head.  Im not sure how to rinse the saltwater off the engine when its buried inside all this ducting.  This was not a problem on the Suzuki which had no ducts.


There are other slight differences between these engines.  The Honda is noisier, but not a lot.  The Honda has a plastic prop and the Suzukis is aluminum.  Ill have to try and remember not to hit anything with it.  They both weigh about 30 lbs.  The Honda has a slightly bigger tank at 1.1 liters vs 1.0 liters. The Honda has a 5 yr warranty, the Suzuki has a 3 yr.  The Honda costs more.

All in all, I think theyre both good engines (if there is such a thing) but they each have their own pros and cons.  If you get one, take good care of it.  These tiny engines are sensitive to everything, not just seaweed.  Always filter your gasoline through a coffee filter.  Always run them completely dry after every use.  Never run old gas in them.  Buy ethanol-free gasoline if it is available in your area.  If not, always add fuel stabilizer to your gas if you plan on keeping it longer than 2 weeks.  If you dont know how, consider taking the time to learn how to disassemble and clean the carburetor. Its easy to do once you know how, and its only scary the first time you do it.  There are many how-to videos on YouTube.  Itll save you about a hundred bucks every time the engine wont start, idle, or run right because the carb needs yet another cleaning. 

And if you live in an area with hairy seaweed, consider an air cooled outboard.

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Epilogue: Its now several years later.  Having nothing to lose, some spare time on my hands, and armed with a service manual, I dusted off the old Suzuki and tore it all apart.  The entire engine block and cylinder head was clogged with seaweed, as I suspected.  Plus salt crystals and some corrosion caused by the trapped water in the cooling jacket. I cleaned out all the passages, ordered a new set of gaskets, and reassembled the engine. It runs.....well, mostly.  It starts, idles and runs just fine at all speeds, except if I run the engine at wide open throttle for  more than a couple minutes then it dies, but not from overheating like it did before.  I suspect something got warped or cracked due to the overheating.  Im not sure what to do with the engine at this point, except maybe hang onto it as a backup for the Honda.  Its still usable to me since I never need to run it at more than 1/2 throttle anyway.
-Joel 7/2014