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PostPosted: Sun May 13, 2018 6:08 am 
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Location: Niceville, Florida
Interesting outing yesterday on the T.I. Coming home to Niceville , a five mile trek across the bay from Destin Florida. We had a ten mile an hour tailwind, the kind of conditions where you have the sail furled down to the size of a pillowcase so you won’t risk a pitch pole event. I was about to cross the intra-coastal water way in front of a barge, I decided to drop the motor down, and start it up, go “wide open, get outta dodge mode” just to increase the safety margin (even though I had it easy). As soon as I drop it, the prop whirls like crazy from the current, and the motor just didn’t have the power to overcome it, it literally would NOT run. I gave up after many pulls, choke on/off etc. As soon as I got back to protected waters, I got out and fiddled with it, it seemed to be flooded or something. Finally got it running smoothly, so I motored around for half an hour just seemed like a good idea. Maybe the fact that I modified a six inch Tohatsu prop and installed it, had something to do with it, I plan on going back to the stock (4.5 inch) Honda prop before the next outing.
Just something to be aware of, this is my first “rinky dink” outboard, I’ve never had a motor smaller than a 9.9 in my life.

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PostPosted: Sun May 13, 2018 8:26 am 
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Quote:
, I plan on going back to the stock (4.5 inch) Honda prop before the next outing.


Before messing with the prop and second guessing the engineers at Honda, you should really measure RPM under your operating conditions/ vessel.

I have heard of three different people now trying this inexpensive tach https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FZ3YMOQ/re and everyone had it work fine. It has both a spark wire pickup similar to what all of these small tachs do but this one also has a separate ground connection which should make picking up the signal more reliable and that would seem to be the case.

I know Stringy measured the RPM with the Suziki 2.5 on the TI and found no problem with the stock prop. It would also be interesting to get the RPM numbers for the Honda 2.3 in a variety of conditions. If you find a problem with RPM after measuring.. then try changing the prop.


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PostPosted: Sun May 13, 2018 2:30 pm 
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Location: Central Coast NSW Australia
MC,
It sounds like your problem was starting the motor rather than it not having enough power to handle the current?
I’m not familiar with the Honda but I’m wondering whether the larger prop, combined with the centrifugal clutch and current, caused the starting problems or whether it was a totally separate starting issue?

Walt’s tacho mod is highly recommended. I have the Suzuki 2.5 and it has never had a problem handling strong currents with the standard prop.

What I’m confused about is your furled sail in only 10mph (8knots) of tailwind? That is well under what the TI can handle under full sail. 15+ knots is usually when I begin to think about furling.


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PostPosted: Sun May 13, 2018 7:23 pm 
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Stringy, I think it was the centrifugal clutch spinning the prop in the current. There’s just no way to disengage it. As soon as I got to protected calm waters, I was able to get it going. Hopefully, it was exasperated by the taller prop, something I can easily remedy by switching back to stock.

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PostPosted: Sun May 13, 2018 7:48 pm 
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That’s interesting MC. You may have highlighted a negative for the Honda with its centrifugal clutch compared to the gearbox in the Suzuki.

FE Bob -I know you’re experienced with the Honda. What do you think? Is it possible that the centrifugal clutch in a current could cause starting problems?


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PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2018 5:58 pm 
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Location: Niceville, Florida
Looks like we’re gonna do lots of boating this weekend. I’ve switched back to the stock prop (4.5”). Hopefully I will find some strong current to test it out in. I have a feeling that it will work out okay, the engine will produce enough torque to overcome a strong “reversing” water flow at the prop.
I wasn’t trying to outsmart the engineers with a taller prop, it was a $20 experiment to see if I could get a faster forward speed with a lower engine RPM.

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 6:19 am 
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After much experimentation and a bit of chagrin, I have come to the conclusion that NEUTRAL IS NECESSARY.
The Honda just rode off into the sunset in someone else’s truck, and the Suzuki is on the way. Happy boating!

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 6:33 am 
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mcoop57 wrote:
After much experimentation and a bit of chagrin, I have come to the conclusion that NEUTRAL IS NECESSARY.
The Honda just rode off into the sunset in someone else’s truck, and the Suzuki is on the way. Happy boating!

You made the right choice. The Suzuki is the right motor for the TI. The Honda design just has too many unnecessary compromises in my opinion.


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 7:40 am 
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Was the prop spinning backwards in the current and therefore the pull cord couldn't overcome reversing its direction enough to fire up the motor?

And if that was the case, what would have been the outcome had you turn the boat around a hundred eighty degrees and try to start it?


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:54 am 
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I suspect it was just a fluke fuel issue, (may never happen again), If you have the motor tilted up for long periods of time, with the fuel turned off, it can take a while for the float bowl to fill up, (especially if the vents on the gas cap are wet). It can take 5-10 minutes to fill the float bowl with a full tank and the fuel cap tightened down. Basically no fuel flow, no engine start.
I don't like the gas cap vents on the Honda's, they tend to plug up easily.
That's the reason your engine didn't start, nothin to do with the prop.

I'm not a huge fan of the centrifugal clutch system, especially once the engine warms up, the idle rpm goes up with a hot engine, and the clutch components heat up and expand, (clutch system gets really hot), making it harder to dis-engage the clutches.
FE


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:53 am 
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I’m just home today from my sixth outing with the new Suzuki, 12.5 hours total run time. I can say without reservation that selling the Honda was the right move. This thing starts first pull almost every time, even when sailing at 7mph. Just drop it in and pull the rope, starts immediately what a great trait!
The motor is so much smoother and quieter that “motor boating” is a viable option now, there was something about the Honda, you could hardly wait to turn it off, whether you wanted to admit or not. If you happen to have bought the Honda 2.3, put it on Craigslist today and you too can be a happier boater! LOL

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PostPosted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 3:31 pm 
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Good to know MC ...valuable feedback! 8)


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PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 5:04 pm 
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Has anyone tried to soup up their Suzuki’s, (hp wise).
I would be interested to know how hot the water is coming out running at WOT.
If it’s already near max heat transfer, I can’t do much with it. Though it would be fun to see what you can get out of them.
Thats one of the downsides of the air cooled Honda’s, they tend to overheat when you soup them up.
FE


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 10:37 am 
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The suzuki comes with 7" 1/2 x 5" 1/2 propeller.
I just want to get a 7" 1/2 x 7" prop. I look and look, leading to no where.

If anyone have any idea let me know.

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PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 10:41 am 
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Try Iboats.com


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