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OUTBOARD TROUBLES?  DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!

In the autumn (fall, as it is known in the US of A) of 1996, off Crete, in the Mediterranean, Nick Danger was out sailing his 53 foot Fontaine Pajot catamaran  in a Force 8, when his Zodiac dinghy was ripped from the davits. He managed to get a rope around the outboard motor, a Johnson 9.9, less than a month old, and was obliged to drag it behind the boat for the next 30 hours. 
When things had calmed down, he retrieved the motor from the sea and, without rinsing it in fresh water, sprayed copious quantities of WD40 into it and put it in a locker. 

Two days later, when the dinghy was repaired, he took the outboard from the locker, put it on the back and it started with no more difficulty than ever.
Nine months later he put it in for a service and it was declared to be in fine condition. 
This year he took it out of storage, after a year's rest and found it to be frozen. He freed it by using a wrench on the fly-wheel and, after a little effort, it worked. It worked better than ever after that, for a while, starting on the first pull. Now it is back to requiring two or three pulls to get started but it is still running well.

We're not recommending that you take to towing your outboard through rough seas, but it says a lot for Nick's practicality, Johnson's engineering and for the benefits of having WD40 on hand too!

INTERNET OUTBOARD MANUALS

We thought, for one glorious moment there, that we had found a website which published outboard motor manuals on the World Wide Web, but no, it turned out it was just an ordering site for the kind that is printed on paper and, what is more, there wasn't even a facility on the site for ordering via e-mail or Internet shopping, just a mailing address and telephone number. Does any reader know of any outboard manuals published on the Web for owners in need of guidance and unable to take delivery of printed matter? 

When you've lost your own manual and you're in the back of beyond, the local mechanic hasn't got one for your particular model either and you want to get going, it's a frustration. Surely putting the manuals on the Internet wouldn't (as someone suggested to us might be the reason for their apparent absence) cause most people to abandon professional services and start attempting their own repairs? 

Some of us wouldn't know where to begin, even with a manual in front of us; some of us aren't willing to get our hands that dirty; some of us could quite easily do it ourselves but prefer to pay someone else and spend the time more fruitfully and some of us are going to do it ourselves come hell or high water and, if the engine we have is too frustrating to maintain, it will be replaced with a more user-friendly model.

It is all very well the manufacturers protecting the service mechanics and parts distributors business by keeping information out of the public eye but their earnings come from the end user and that should never be forgotten. In fact, putting manuals on the Internet may give mechanics in out-of -the-way places the opportunity to add to income currently being lost for lack of them. We are probably being 'thick' and failing to find manuals which have been on the Web since it first started, but if we are having that much difficulty, how much harder will it be for newcomers to the Web? Would anyone care to comment?

ON THE STROKE OF FOUR...

We're told that when it came to developing a line of four-stroke outboard motors, Honda Marine did so with the specific goal of eliminating the undesirable characteristics associated with ordinary outboards—while greatly enhancing performance.

By applying Honda's automotive technology to the marine industry, they developed a line of outboard motors featuring nearly 50 different models and variations, combining power and dependability with efficient, clean, and quiet operation.

Four-stroke engines provide outstanding low-end torque and thrust. 
In Honda four-strokes, a through-the-prop exhaust system even draws engine exhaust out through the center of the propeller, for still greater power. 
That translates to quick acceleration - it gets your boat on the plane faster. 
Simply put, a smaller four-stroke can do the job of a comparably sized - or even larger - two-stroke engine...and can do it far more efficiently. Of equal importance to many these days, is the huge reduction in pollution created - one of the major advantages of the four-stroke engine over the two-stroke.

Sounds great. Has anybody got first-hand experience of living with one for a while? We'd love to hear end-user comments on this and all the other outboard engines out there. Sorry to say, we can't think of anything to say about our outboard engine that is fit to publish in a family magazine. Are we jinxed or is there a brand you'd swear by? Tell us, please, we're longing to know!