I have been wanting to give my opinion of the Honda, long shaft, 4 stroke, 2hp, pushing an M-17 since the discussion on outboards last year. I was pretty well convinced that I had made a mistake using this setup. I liked the idea of a light motor, quiet, air cooled, and economical on gas. I also liked how it fit neatly into the stock cutout in the transom. It does not take up any room in the cockpit at all. Even though we have taken many trips with the tiny motor, we have never had to give it any test of pushing power. Yesterday we took a nice sail on a local lake. The wind was about 5 to 8 kts and we had a great morning and sailed downwind the five or so miles to the end of the lake and had lunch. After lunch we started back and the wind picked up to 20+ kts (as measured by my hand held gauge) lots of whitecaps and an exciting sail. After a couple of tacks, we decided progress was too slow and we would motor back to the launch ramp. As I went to start the little motor, I could hear you guys whispering in my ear. "Bill, you should have got the 4hp." We pointed into the wind with the motor at a fast idle and lowered and secured the flapping sails. We headed straight into the wind and chop and I sweated as moved the throttle to "slow" (just below the start mark). I watched the GPS for our overground speed and in a couple of minutes it was reading 4.5mph. I left the throttle on slow and we maintained that speed for the 4 miles+ back to the ramp. Comfortable and relatively dry trip. Used about a cup of gas. I am becoming more confident of this tiny motor. I know it won't fight the tides in the San Juans, but it will easily push the boat at hull speed, and with any luck we would make it. Bill and Darcy Sylvester M-17, #279 Endelig