Most absurd statement by Honda dealer. You won't believe this!

[HopCar]

"Do you use your dihghy for anything besides going to the dock?"
I have to admit my Lehr is not likely to end up in distant lands, maybe the Bahamas.
It's still new to me and I've been using it to power a strange little inflatable fishing boat to explore the back country and mangrove swamps here in Florida.
It burns less than a pound per hour. I usually run it from an 11 pound fiberglass tank. If I was using it to run my dinghy ashore and back I'd probably just use the one pound containers.

"I was unfortunate enough to own a propane fired genset once how stupid can I be it slurped a 20lb bottle down in less time than it charged my house battery."

I'm thinking of converting my Honda 2000 to propane. I hate carrying gasoline around.
I have a 6000 watt portable generator at home that I use when hurricanes knock out the power. I usually start it once a year at the begining of huricane season. It's started every year for more than ten years. I guess it's time to start it again. Hurricane season starts next month.

[rwidman]

One big advantage of propane (or natural gas) is that it doesn't go stale in the jug or gum up an engine when stored for long periods. Great for a standby generator. Good for an outboard if you can work out the details of hauling the propane around.

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

It's in neutral when you don't grab any throttle, but there's no other way to select it. Drop down the RPMs and you're in neutral, if that makes sense.

A child's fingers can defeat a Honda 2.3 "dead slow/neutral". So could a three-knot head wind.

They are great little engines for what they are. Seeing my five-foot-tall missus "one-arm" ours off a Portabote's transom is a pleasure. I would only switch if they made a Honda 3 or 3.5 that was air-cooled. That and a more torque-y prop at 35 pounds, instead of 28 or whatever it is, would be damn near perfect.

If you run a 12 foot RIB with a crew of four and five five-gallon jerry cans of diesel, maybe not. For us, with two smaller tenders, one of which rows and sails, having a "luggable" small outboard is ideal.

[Cheechako]

If you have them in your area, Union 76 gas is alcohol free.... FWIW

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by S/V Alchemy

A child's fingers can defeat a Honda 2.3 "dead slow/neutral". So could a three-knot head wind.

They are great little engines for what they are. Seeing my five-foot-tall missus "one-arm" ours off a Portabote's transom is a pleasure. I would only switch if they made a Honda 3 or 3.5 that was air-cooled. That and a more torque-y prop at 35 pounds, instead of 28 or whatever it is, would be damn near perfect.

If you run a 12 foot RIB with a crew of four and five five-gallon jerry cans of diesel, maybe not. For us, with two smaller tenders, one of which rows and sails, having a "luggable" small outboard is ideal.

No one's arguing that a 2.3 horse is only 2.3 hp; it's not a large engine. But in La Paz here we have 3 knot currents as a norm and easily 10-20 knot winds kicking up chop. I wouldn't put this engine on 12' rib, but on our 8' wb (with tubes) it gets the job done. Honestly our boat reaches load capacity before the outboard has a problem keeping up.

But I agree that for a few more HP I'd take the added arm strain in getting it on and off the boat.

If I remember correctly though there's a general problem whereby to double the effective power you need to square the original. In VHF radio land I know it works on a 10x principle, but with engines I thought it was something to the effect of "to double the speed of a 10hp engine you need a 100hp".

But that seems a little off. There has to be something related to the effect of the hull plane vs. displacement and things like that.

[s/v 'Faith']

I wish the propane outboard folks well. I hope they work out to be great motors. I do find the "lack of service" argument to be laughable.... If you have a 2hp outboard that needs service you can not do, well... I suspect you have bigger problems then your outboard.

The Honda 2hp is about the least liked outboard since the British Seagull.... At at least the Seagull looks cool.

[goboatingnow]

The Honda 2hp is about the least liked outboard since the British Seagull.... At at least the Seagull looks cool.

+1 , I always resented the Seagull on my grandfathers boat, Id seemed to always rowing when it should have been pushing!!!

dave

[conachair]

Originally Posted by sestina

Best thing about my Honda was selling it to an unsuspecting Frenchman

Complete POS. Brute to start, tiny fuel tank, so always had to cart the fuel can about; noisy, all the bolts tightened by a sumo wrestler, so the nuts stripped the plastic and you could never get them out, that daft clutch arrangement so one crashed coming alongside.

Replaced with a 3.3 Mariner 2 stroke. Bliss.

They do seem to come in for a bit of stick, but mines been fine for 6 years so far. Starts straight away, even once after hanging unused on the pushpit for a couple of years.
It really didn't like the ethanol rich Brazilian petrol though, ran rough down there.

[endoftheroad]

Originally Posted by dirkdig

Agree, my 2 hp honda is a big pain.

Always something going on with it.

agree, agree, agree....
and they have a horrible loud sound..

been there done that motor.

[endoftheroad]

Originally Posted by s/v 'Faith'

Just picked up a brand new Yamaha 4hp 2 stroke outboard at Abaco Yacht Services in the Bahamas. Wonderful little motors! I bought it for the dingy on the boat I have been cruising aboard for the last 6 months, I have carried my long used yamaha 3hp on the trip but could not pass up the opportunity for a new shiny one.

How much do those sweet littly motors cost in the Bahamas?

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by rwidman

An outboard with a prop that never stops turning would be pretty inconvenient at best and a danger at worst. Because of your superior operating skills, it's not a problem for you, but it would be for most folks.

Not for MY KID! Nope. The genius that he is, he was great with our old "eggbeater" Johnson 1.2 hp one direction only engine. He'd start it and zoom off without hitting anything, and bring it gracefully back to the mother ship.

Then we "upgraded" and sold the old dinghy and engine and bought a "zoomer" new air floor 10'-2" with a used 9.9 hp 2 stroke with, oh my gosh, gears!

He is now a lunatic, and can't seem to get distances and clearances anywhere near as good as he did with the one-direction only engine. He keeps hitting things and forgets that there are gears and he can use neutral.

Maybe, just maybe, I'll lock the damn thing in forward and he'll get better at it.

[SkiprJohn]

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

your friend probably hasn't learned to run the engine out of fuel before putting it away. with the ethanol flavored gasoline being sold today it's a requirement. we do it to all our club boats and don't have trouble starting them again weeks later.

. Absolutely. E-10/E-15 and the Federal government's involvement are not our friends.

[SkiprJohn]

Originally Posted by David M

I tried the fuel stabilizer...no luck. I just pull the fuel line and let the engine burn all of the fuel out of the carb...no problem this way.

Alcohol in fuel is evil. It only benefits corn farmers and politicians.

[SkiprJohn]

Originally Posted by daddle

Running it dry daily sounds foolish. For a week or if storing below certainly a good idea.

That alcohol fuel certainly does not seem as explosive -- hard starting.

Fun game: on that last trip out to he boat before cruising away try to guess how far away to disconnect the fuel hose so you just make it there. About 100m for me.

If you absolutely know you are going to run it daily then, yes, it sounds foolish. In my case I don't know if I'm going to run something daily. I've never had a problem starting an engine I ran dry the next time I decide to use it but I did have a serious problem with an outboard, generator and chainsaw that I didn't use for a few weeks because of an unplanned absence.

[cal40john]

Originally Posted by rwidman

No doubt you are a better driver than I am. Thanks for pointing that out.

An outboard with a prop that never stops turning would be pretty inconvenient at best and a danger at worst. Because of your superior operating skills, it's not a problem for you, but it would be for most folks. That's probably why Honda made the clutch standard.

They've been selling that engine for at least 30 years without a clutch.