One of the most common propulsion systems designed for smaller boats is the outboard motor. Probably the most remarkable thing about this propulsion device is that it not only provides the power that makes a boat go forward, but also acts as a steering device. It can easily be said that an outboard motor is a great combination of the motor, gearbox and propeller all neatly integrated into one system.
When the engine is not running, the skeg acts as a rudder to steer the boat. Another thing I really like about outboard motors is that they can be easily serviced or maybe stored because of their portability. Another cool ability of the outboard is that it can tilt up while cruising through shallow water, allowing it to avoid rocks or weed buildup. Being able to tilt up the outboard is also helpful when relocating a boat with a trailer.
What type of outboard motor should I use?
There are various types of outboard motors for different types of applications. You need to match the power of the outboard motor with the weight of the boat and the cargo it is carrying. For example, Big Outboards can make up to 350 hp, enough power to propel a boat 18 feet or possibly longer.
Small portable outboards only make around 15 hp and can be easily attached to boats with clamps. If you include the gas tank, the smallest outboards will still only weigh about 25 pounds. But don’t look down on this tiny outboard. You can cruise around eight knots or ten miles per hour if you travel in a small boat and a small portable outboard motor.
Determining the power needed from an outboard begins with determining how much load it will feed.
The birth of outboard motors
Cameron Waterman was still a young Yale engineering student when he began working on the outboard motor. His hard work paid off as his four-stroke outboard turned out to be the first commercially viable gas-powered outboard. The time period between 1903 and when his patent was released in 1905 in which Cameron Waterman probably created the outboard motor.
In 1907 full scale production of Cameron Waterman’s machines began building just twenty four machines that year and in due course building thousands of machines in 5 years. Time passed and Kiekhaefer decided to buy Waterman’s shares in the company that first made outboard motors.
Although Mr. Waterman’s first outboard was a four-stroke, two-stroke outboards proved to be much more popular primarily because they were simpler in design, more reliable, cheaper to manufacture, and lightweight. Two-stroke outboards, as popular as they were, produced a great deal of noise and air pollution, mainly due to unburned gas. Over time, the United States and some European authorities took some steps that resulted in the production of more four-stroke outboards.
What you probably didn’t know
Ole Evinrude, a Norwegian-American inventor, is often mistakenly credited as the designer of the first working and salable outboard motors. He built and was able to sell thousands of outboard motors, but it was in 1909 that he began manufacturing outboard motors, two years after Waterman.
Four-stroke outboards have been available on the market for over a century.
Fuel economy is greatly improved with direct injection on two-stroke and four-stroke outboards. Gasoline saved simply by using direct injection could be around eighty percent and 10% on the low end.