Tim: the other day I laid my Honda 4-stroke on the dock on the wrong side. I noticed it immediately and turned it over but in the 8 seconds or so, oil leaked into the cylinder. I stood it up and found there was no oil showing in the sightglass. Oops! I took the motor to the house and drained the oil, measuring the amount. It was an ounce low. I then proceded to remove the plug and hand cycled the piston to "pump" any oil out of the cylinder. I then filled the crankcase with the proper quantity of fresh oil and fired her up on the stand. honda 2 HP's are air-cooled so you can run them out of the water. after a minute of smokey exhaust, the exhaust ran clear and the problem was solved. I will be a lot more careful in the future when laying the motor down to make sure that it is on the correct side. Don Ludlow M-15 #620 Sweet Dream
(I haven't been following this thread, so pardon any duplication) Don, I had a similar episode with a Honda 2hp but since mine wasn't from laying it down on the wrong side, I thought I might mention it because what happened to me could potentially happen with it on an M-boat as well. In my case I was using the motor on an 8-foot inflatable dinghy. The dinghy was in the slip next to the "big" boat (30' sailboat) and the motor was on the dinghy, tilted in the "up" position to keep the prop out of the water. One morning I took the motor off the dinghy (hadn't used it for a couple of days) and mounted it on the stern rail of the big boat in preparation for departure. At that point I noticed that something was dripping from the motor and making rainbows on the water. Hmm, not good. Fuel cap was closed, vent was closed, gas lever was in "off" position.... Further investigation showed that oil and gas had gotten mixed together inside the motor. After a call to the dealer (the motor was relatively new) and some head-scratching, what we figured out was that when the motor was tilted up - and if it happened to be "flopped" to the side on the side most resembling the "wrong" side, then when the dinghy rocked on the occasional wake in the marina it caused things to happen inside the motor just as if it were laid down on the wrong side. Luckily we had caught it before trying to start the motor. I could easily see this happening on a boat as small as an M-15, as it moved around in a seaway or even in a slip. At that time we took care of the problem by only flopping the motor over to the "better" side when it was tilted up, and then securing it with a bungee cord so it wouldn't flop the other way. At that time (2001) I didn't see any mention of this possible problem in the owner's manual. FWIW, --- Rachel Fatty Knees 7' #302 Former owner, M-17 #334 Former owner, M-15 #517 On Aug 14, 2006, at 6:07 AM, LUDLOWD2@aol.com wrote:
Tim: the other day I laid my Honda 4-stroke on the dock on the wrong side. I noticed it immediately and turned it over but in the 8 seconds or so, oil leaked into the cylinder. I stood it up and found there was no oil showing in the sightglass. Oops! .....
I will be a lot more careful in the future when laying the motor down to make sure that it is on the correct side.
Don Ludlow M-15 #620 Sweet Dream
Hi folks, I am looking to buy an M-17 that is currently in Westpoint MA at a boat yard to replance my '81 M-15. This is the boat the Tod informed to group of last Tuesday (thanks again Tod!) Link >> http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/cache/pl_search_results.jsp?cit=true&.... The owner is getting all the parts out of storage and I am planning on going to look at it once this is complete. The boat has not been actively sailed in a few years. The center board is very rusty and needs to be pulled and redone but the boat yard owner has verified it moves freely (he sent me pictures of it all the way down). I need to buy a trailer and outboard as well. Besides verifying all the parts are present what can you folks recommend paying attention to when I look the boat over? Thanks in advance! Robbin
Hi Robbin, Of course there are lots of things to look for, but I'll just mention a couple here to get you started :-) 1) Deck core. Wet deck core can be fixed, but it's a pain (ask me how I know...). On the off chance that the present owner doesn't want you drilling numerous test holes in the deck ;-), you can get a pretty good idea by looking inside at the areas where the various deck hardware items are attached (bow pulpit, jib tracks, traveller, etc.) If you see rusted bolts, orange staining, or any other signs of water having leaked through in those areas, it might be prudent to remove some hardware and check the condition of the deck core. You can also "sound" the deck with something like a plastic mallet, or a screwdriver handle. A nice "ring" sound is good; a dull thump can indicate moisture. On my 1981 (which I had surveyed by a professional since I was halfway across the country - a lot of good THAT did), the rust was there, and after I got the boat home I ended up with a bit of a re-core project (quite a bit of the bow under the pulpit, large areas under the jib tracks, the area under the mast step - which was crushed, not wet - and some places under the traveler bolts. 2) Transom. On an older-style M-17 (pre-1981), I would check over the transom-to-hull area. On that style M-17 the top of the transom does not have the (stronger) out-turned "lip" at the top edge of the transom, and on several I looked at I found cracking on the transom about a half inch in from the edges where they joined the topsides (sides of the hull above the waterline). In other words, where the hull planking would join the transom planking if it were a wooden boat. Happy shopping! --- Rachel Fatty Knees 7' #302 Former owner, M-17 #334 Former owner, M-15 #517
Hi Don. Thanks for the advice. As I mentioned before, I figure I had contaminated the system with oil right from the start, and right from the start of owning this motor it has not worked well. I had been trying to sort out 'tune up' type issues and all along I guess it was the oil. DOAH! I am glad I cleaned the carb anyway, the main jet was pretty clogged. I will give what you suggest a try later today. Appreciated. Cheers, Tim D LUDLOWD2@aol.com wrote:
Tim: the other day I laid my Honda 4-stroke on the dock on the wrong side. I noticed it immediately and turned it over but in the 8 seconds or so, oil leaked into the cylinder. I stood it up and found there was no oil showing in the sightglass. Oops! I took the motor to the house and drained the oil, measuring the amount. It was an ounce low. I then proceded to remove the plug and hand cycled the piston to "pump" any oil out of the cylinder. I then filled the crankcase with the proper quantity of fresh oil and fired her up on the stand. honda 2 HP's are air-cooled so you can run them out of the water. after a minute of smokey exhaust, the exhaust ran clear and the problem was solved. I will be a lot more careful in the future when laying the motor down to make sure that it is on the correct side. Don Ludlow M-15 #620 Sweet Dream _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
participants (4)
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LUDLOWD2@aol.com -
Rachel -
Robbin Roddewig -
Timtone