Weedeater Outboard

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a small, lightweight outboard motor that's suitable for kayaks?
Any info would be appreciated

I tried this a while ago with mixed results and posted it on the KFS board back in '05:

First let me apologize for the offense that I’m about to foist on us all. I usually look at those SOT’s with trolling motors and tuna towers and cringe. Then I got an old trolling motor and battery and started thinking (dangerous stuff). Then somebody gave me a weedwacker and the wheels really started turning,,, light weight, runs all day on a gallon of gas, and dead reliable.

I started it up and (yes) it stinks and screams. Then I listened a little harder and noticed that most of the noise was coming out of the intake (?). So I put a 3gal plastic plant bucket on top of it and suddenly the noise is cut easily in half and it’s no louder than any other outboard. Add some lousey material and a baffle and I bet I can cut it some more and I still have not touched the muffler.

It uses a centrifugal clutch (I think) to drive a cable to a square fitting that spins the cutter and the cutter does not start to turn until the motor is revved. To get an idea of how much umph it had I held the cutter on the ground and goosed it. The motor will keep running, but bogs waay down and the head will still spin. It seems it will put out a fair amount of torque assuming I have any clutch left.

 From listening and looking around the net (as this could not possibly be the only weed eating outboard) I've found that: (1) It needs a smaller prop or (2) It needs to be geared down and/or (3) both.

My experiments entailed doing the least amount of irreparable damage to the wacker/boat to determine if it could work at all. I found a prop for a minnkota 10 (about 5 inches dia.) and it installed pretty easily. I opened up the hub with a 17/32 bit and drilled a hole for the cotter pin in the end of the weed eater shaft. Installed the prop and cotter pin and hmmmmf, it works. So far so good.

 Took the rig outside and stuck it in a 5 gal bucket of water, cranked it up and that worked. (Now at least I have a really good paint mixer) Tried it in a 50qt ice chest and it still works. The prop is stopped at idle and starts to move as soon as the throttle is open the smallest bit and respondes accordingly up through WOT. The small prop did not seem to be too much for the engine and gave me a good push before the water swirled along with the prop. Next, I cobbled together a mount out of 1/2" pvc (the cheap kayak fisherman's universal building material) as a test rig and stuck it through two conveniently located D rings on the back of my new favorite boat (SVX 200 inflatable, but that's another story) and down to the Tualatin for trials.

Results: Steering was difficult mostly due to the wonky mount. Going upriver (~1 1/2 knot current) worked okay at less than WOT (wide open throttle). WOT caused the drive

 cable to shudder and shake. The motor is way too noisy for human consumption and got pretty warm.

Conclusion: 1/2" pvc is not a terribly good material for this mount. This could work if I can quiet it down (very doable), work on the drive cable (grease and seal?), and/or gear it down (the drill angle attachment looks very good or perhaps a cars distributor drive [that would give me 4 to 1 reduction and a 90 deg turn] ) . Again, any suggestions from the peanut gallery are always welcomed.

I didn't spend much time with it after that and then I aquiered the Hobie and never looked back. With a bit of work (starting with a better mount) I'm sure a usuable drive could be developed, but I don't really have a need for one and  I can hear Nanook screaming already.

Asbestos underwear are in place. Fire Away!

ACTUALLY, I'd love to see a pic of the thing!   If Possible, while underway, he hee!!!   Funny story!

You're awesome Wali!  Thanks for the post.   

I'm picturing something like the Thai Long Tailed Water Taxis. 

I'm picturing something like the Thai Long Tailed Water Taxis.  

Actually, its a lil closer to Houma (well,,, Baton Rouge)

ACTUALLY, I'd love to see a pic of the thing!   If Possible, while underway, he hee!!!   Funny story!

Be careful what you ask for,,,,



This one looks functional, but the music is not as good. 


 
Youtube has definitely become the real home of America's Funniest Video's.  
Search "weedeater kayak" for some pretty entertaining stuff and down right interesting Amerucun Enginuity.
God, I love this country!

 

Paddle faster, I think I hear banjo music . . . .

Definitely ghetto.

I guess nobody tried the backpack leaf blower? A 32cc powerplant pushes 200mph wind velocity.  I got a ticket for going above the 5mph no-wake zone last week, no registration for a motorized boat too.  Darn, I was only headed to shore to get another Pabst.

I guess nobody tried the backpack leaf blower?

Again, be careful what you ask for.
The up side of all this is it makes my job a lot easier.* 














(Wali's normal day job is to foist Newtonian Mechanics on to unsuspecting 7th to 9th graders)

Ok, I'll quit after this one (two)

The Elliot Power Paddle (circa 1983) looks like all it needed was Billy Mays.





oh, and in defense of the banjo pickers (although I'm not sure why I'd want to defend them) this is apparently a damn Yankee invention straight outta New York. Readily available on craiglist.


Lastly, (I promise) here's a "production" unit that has Honda 4-stroke. If you can get through to the end of it (at about 2:03), they show an application that hits close to home.



 Is anything not available on Ebay?

At least its a little quieter and there was a clip of that GX25 motor running on hydrogen.
Hmmmmm, perhaps,,,,,,




Alright, I'm backing away from the keyboard. As penance, I'll take the out the BigA and leave the drive at home.

This one looks functional, but the music is not as good. 


 
Youtube has definitely become the real home of America's Funniest Video's.  
Search "weedeater kayak" for some pretty entertaining stuff and down right interesting Amerucun Enginuity.
God, I love this country!

That's my video!  Here are a couple more photos of the motor.  It uses a 1:2 gear reduction, so the clutch doesn't have to work as hard.

That's my video!  Here are a couple more photos of the motor.  It uses a 1:2 gear reduction, so the clutch doesn't have to work as hard.

Amazing how small the internet is (right Brian?) 

I may have to take my leaf blower out this weekend.  Its electric so I wouldn't have to worry about running out of gas. Therefore, its safer.  Anyone got a couple of spare 100 foot cords lying around.  I was thinking the salt water would be the best place to test it.