[C38] Dinghies

[Tom T.]

While we are on the topic of dinghies, let me throw something in that may be of interest.

As Les pointed out, the 2 cycle outboards are becoming a thing of the past.  I have had a Honda 10 hp on our Catalina 27 for many years and we use another Honda 10 hp on our RIB.

Every time we went to our 38 in St. Pete Florida, I had a hard time starting the Honda outboard.  One time I had a good friend of mine down to crew, Brian Kenny.  Brian was AMA Motocross #2 in the world in 1972 and is retired from the motorcycle business.  I loved to crew for him when he kept his boat in the Bahamas.  Not only is he a very knowledgeable sailor and engine mechanic, he's also a trained French chef so we hardly "roughed it" when he prepared meals.

Brian told me to use a 100-1 2 cycle mix for the Honda 4 stroke.  He said it would reduce the horsepower an insignificant amount but the oil would be very beneficial to the engine.

Four stroke engines get very little oil on the top piston ring and by running a dilute 100-1 mixture, the upper rings would get better lubrication and allow the engine to last indefinitely.

The other benefit of using two cycle oil is it coats the inside of the carburetor creating a barrier to air which eliminates corrosion.  When you store your engine, the atmosphere can attack the inner parts of the carburetor and jets causing oxides which clog the tiny jets on a small 4 stroke engine.  This is particularly true around salt water.

Since Brian told me about that trick 20 years ago, I've used a dilute mixture of 2 cycle oil in every 4 stroke engine I own except my cars.  I once had a Kawasaki generator that the company said was good for about 150 to 200 hrs before an overhaul was needed.  Running 100-1 I got almost 1000 hrs of use out of that generator before it needed ignition parts which Kawasaki doesn't supply anymore.  The engine is out of service because of lack of parts but it still has good compression.

If you are worried about exhaust smoke, try it and see if it becomes objectionable to you.  A 4 stroke engine running a dilute mix of 2 stroke oil will not smoke nearly as much as a 2 stroke engine, even if using the same fuel ratio.

Since I started using this fuel mixture, my little Honda outboards usually start the first pull of the starter, regardless of how long it has been since last cranked.  Before, I often had to remove the carburetor flame arrestor and push a piece of tiny wire through the air jet to get the engine to run, along with some choice nautical words from my Navy days.

Tom Troncalli
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