Anyone be using one of these unconventional looking cheap outboards?

[ldavidcooke]

Hey All,

Briggs and Stratton used to make an outboard that you could mount up to a 700cc vertical shaft engine too. There was a company that used to make another device called a Mud Skipper which also used a simple 3-5hp B-S though thst as likely would not be the best choice for a Skiff.

There have been a number of cincerns over corrosion thoygh a sacrificial Zinc could address many of those issues. A fresh water rinse help as does a good greasing. Thoygh a Seagull wprks and takes a licking and keeps on kicking

Cheers!
Dave Cooke

[salty4568]

I was also going to suggest a British Seagull. We were cruising the Gulf Coast of US in our 27 foot sloop, and went through a couple of brand-name Japanese outboards, which failed due to plastic parts, such as manifolds. We gave up on these outboard and purchased a used Seagull 5 horsepower. No critical plastic parts, and you can work on them with nothing more than an adjustable wrench and a screwdriver. Simple machine and is water-cooled. Yes, pretty noisy, but worked very well for us.

Salty

[hellosailor]

"unfortunately the well known brands do not sell new two strokes anymore in Europe."
I would make a rash guess that is because most of Europe will have air quality regulations, which ban the production and sale of the old two-stroke engines because they are gross polluters.
In the US, at least one major maker has reintroduced two-strokes but they're not the old simple cheap engines, they needed a lot more technology to pull it off. And size.
You may need to check regulations, importing one of those engines may be illegal, and you may be restricted to buying a "grandfathered" old used engine, or else buying a new one that meets current emission requirements.

[RaymondR]

I bought 2 Parsun outboards in 2011, a 3.6 hp and a 9.8 hp.

The 3.5 died in about 2 years, mainly because all the elastomer parts fell apart, the 9.8 hp is still going strong and other than new spark plugs about every six months has not had a cent spent on it.

For small dingy outboards the weight penalty of a four stroke is significant since they tend to get handled a fair bit and some of them are sensitive to being placed or stored wrong side up.

I have just replaced a 4 hp four stroke Yamaha with a 3 hp two stroke because I found the four stroke to be a real beast to handle on and off the dingy.

[AndrewSouth]

Chinese bs means it wont run out of spec very well because of gaskets and seals and clearances and its spec is usually tight.

If you buy new and keep it in spec and oiled. It should be a fine thing for you.

On another note. Ive ran those cheap freshwater only electric engines in SF bay and Seattle and as long as you pull it out of the ocean as soon as done everyday they don't burn up for about a year or two.

Anyways. Its a 20 footer. If you need an engine your doing something wrong or you dont live near a sailing area and just get a proper boat.

Paddles are incredibly handy. Ive sailed a half dozen boats without engines up and down the coast here on the west. If thats not the case up there... Get a used 1.5hp you dont need anything more than 1 or 2 hp to get in and out. Anymore is for making distance.