Yes. Two stroke is very simple, I dont have to explain of course. We run our jetskis 1:50 and they always work. No maintenance what so ever.
Fumes you are right but a four stroke still has an exhaust. Not so smelly. Try your spare electric and you can enjoy the silence.
Nice looking boat, Steve. What sort of battery do you have for the trolling motor? I like the simplicity of lead-acid, but I like the carrying weight of LiFePo 
Kent I did strongly consider LiFePo4 battery from the same company as the electric motor.
17 pounds versus the 64 pounds in my Group 31P RV/Marine lead acids.
But with the 75 pound Mercury installed; the trailer tongue weight is too light at 42 pounds.
So I had to seriously either add dead weight up at the tailer tongue or . . .
use a movable weight for safe transporting as in the 31P motor battery:
And that gets me along with the two spare wheels I am mounting as steps up to a reasonable 100 pounds even on the tongue hitch.
Otherwise Iâd have to demount the Mercury motor and lay it up front in the boat to trailer safely. PITA
MikeR for the price we got on the restored boat and galvanized trailer we got the Mercury motor for free/ included.
Around here small 2-stroke Mercurys and Evinrudes are easy to find for really, really cheap as take offâs for 4-stroke conversions. So I can challenge try. Iâll still have many spare parts then for the next used outboard.
And these lake/river fishing boats are operated never full out hours and hours southern USA hot-hot.
Combustion chamber and piston crowns HOT is what fully burns fuels (and oils) for clean exhausts. Canât see how to heat up this engine safely.
My hard operated air cooled 2-strokes I run at 40:1 mix. Different situation. Different animals.
S.U.
I survived many storms on Lake Superior with my grandparentâs 9.9 Mercury. When they bought it, they originally came home with a Honda fourstroke. I asked my 80 year old grandmother to start the Honda. She could not pull the rope. I made them take it back. At the dealer, I asked for the Mercury to be set up, and had her pull itâs rope. She had it started after 3/4s of rotation.
When they came off the lakes, I took the 9.9 as my kicker for the Ouray sail boat. That easy pull came in handy when our jib sheets parted in 5 foot seas. Same another time when a squall hit us so hard we had to run up the rocks and beach the boat. It was blowing 40s, and that little motor moved that hull against wind and put us in the beach. Very snug.
Great 1st hand experiences BruceJ.
Before I ever hand pulled up this 9.9 Mercury Iâd familiarized myself with itâs specifications.
Hmm. 263cc two cylinder. Past experiences with motorcycles, and generators told me Iâd have to really put some muscle into it. Outch!! Wrong. Pulls over like a spring loading assisted âE-Z Startâ engine.
For any wondering and cautioning about my trying 100:1 on this Mercury here is a couple of videos Iâll refer you to:
Great guy as he does open up tear-downs showing the crankcase oil pooling he wants to see. Boat guys will never show this as too risky to challenge corroded stuck case bolts.
Motorcycle guys and snowmobile/sled guys be too much work getting past all of the layers stacks to see into the crankcases.
This saw he is marine oil demoing on; was a failure of trying someones 100:1 in this high speed/high load, air-cooled application.
RichardF. from many oil trials insists on a 40:1 using a good oil:
An engines design of usage; and the actually usage, dictates what oil and mix ratio youâd best to use.
Listen to his chainsaw testing and he is from an idle going under power to twice the RPM an outboard will ever see. But a working chainsaw only powers in short minutes of bursts. My forestry string brush cutter will stay at loaded high 8-10,000 revs for nearly all of a tank full.
Same-same with many motorcycles, snow machines and personal water craft. High speed nearly constant loading.
Ha! Ha! And with the best of usages I value now those I do not have to teardown and internally decarbonize. But just use, and work.
Steve Unruh
Over the years these little birds have learned they are welcome here .
Yes. I like them too. Here in Spain the just land in front of you, never seen that.
If they fly high, tomorrow is a sunny day, flying low will be a cloudy day my father says.
I would like to get some input on chainsaws. I have a Husqvarna Rancher 55 which is on its last legs. I really like the saw and would like to get a similar replacement. The new Husqvarnas have a complicated carb/fuel system which I want to avoid. The Husqvarna 61 looks like the 55 and not the new fangled streamlined ones. Hopefully itâs like the 55 under the skin.
My other choice would be a Stihl. I donât have any experience with them outside of a Stihl my boss owned 30 years ago that was always in the shop.
So the first question is, which is the better brand? And then, which model approximates the power, weight and simplicity of the Rancher 55?
Thanks in advance.
I have 60cc Stihl, Husky and Echo. Of the three I prefer the Echo. As far as I know there are replacement parts for all those saws including cylinders and pistons. Might be cheaper to just rebuild it.
I would go with the echo if you donât want a husky. The stihlâs arenât designed as well as they used to be and replacement parts are expensive. There are some chinese knockoffs if you want to go that route.
TBH, after I replaced the bar and chain on the Greenworks, it works as well as you would expect for the gas equivalent. The big issue is battery life. It is just really nice to have a quiet saw, you donât need ear protection and it just works, it shuts off automatically, no fighting to start it, if the chain jumps it stops, no smelling like 2cycle, etc. It isnât built that well though. It is similar to the DeWalt but Dewalt used better quality components and I beleive includes a few extra features. Overall they are probably more expensive though.
Thanks guys,
Good point Sean about Stihl parts being expensive. I would consider going to Stihl even so, but not if they arenât being designed as well.
Interesting Tom that you prefer Echo over the others. Unfortunately, my choices are limited to the Stihl and Husky.
The Rancher was a found saw. I found it in the wood shed when we moved in. It had been abused and had no compression at all. I replaced the piston and cylinder and it ran great. But it leaks bar oil and a screw broke in the housing so I canât remove it and separate the halves. The spike bumper is missing and other parts are worn. Even so youâre right Tom that it would probably be cheaper to rebuild. If only I could remove that screwâŠ
Tonight my wife and I met our daughterâs first boyfriend,
A very nervous young man, a nervous daughter, and my wife and I navigating uncharted waters as weâve never before had to interview a budding romantic interest.
In short, he seems like a very nice kid. After some pleasant get to know you questions; where do you work, whatâs your family like, etc? I asked, "Of all the young ladies you have encountered, what is it about our daughter that made you think, âIâd like to get to know her better?â Honestly, he gave a much better answer than I would have at his age.
He replied,âI anticipated you might ask me such a question, and I thought about several things I admire: She is very bright and I would not be interested in being in a relationship with anyone who could not match me intellectually. Second, Iâve seen her interact with our friends and she is kind. The way she speaks to children and with older adults, even regarding how she treats animals is very compassionate. Third, she is very funny and makes me laugh. Fourth, she never ever gets angry.â
I thought to myself, âYouâre 75% correctâŠbrace yourself, buddy.â
Did you remember to wear your bibs overalls, a straw hat, and some blood stained boots while chewing on a stalk of grass and holding a shotgun when you answered the door? Inquiring minds want to know. 
Good sunny-day morning All.
I realize I may come across as a cantankerous sceptic often.
I it is not that I do not Believe in many things.
I believe that light has a near magic power to uplift and inspire us:
But when you want to actually move yourself, other people and things across a distance . . . .
Heat or cool a livable space for yourself and a family . . . .
Even as simple as concentrated heat to cook and dry preserve foods . . . .
Refrigerate or freeze store foods . . . .
Now these all take a very real, measurable, tangible levels of concentrated energies.
Energy at these levels can assist help you . . . or harm and even easily kill you.
My measurement standard will always be practical achieved work.
Steve Unruh
,
Hi Steve, I believe I have the big brother to your boat. It looks like a HiLaker. They are flat bottomed so pound at high speed in a chop but wonderfully stable in slower and calm conditions and much more easily driven than the hyped deep v. I run all my two stroke outboards at 50 to 1 and have no trouble. The marine oils are developed for the water cooled engines to burn cleaner. I have run chainsaw oils in boats but hesitate to run marine oils as chainsaw mix.
Hi Darrell. Good thinking, never use marine oil in a chainsaw, or in any air-cooled two-stroke, it is as you say designed to burn cleaner, at a much lower temperature.
Those old, aircooled outboard engines will seize in a moment.
A chainsaw, if compensated with richer oil mix, will develop a hard, crusty, carbon build-up, greyish. Not the usual black, oily stuff.
This hard carbon build-up will let go (often immediately if changed to normal oil, or alcylate fuel.) then the fun is over.
Iâve seen this a lot, itâs pretty common to use up the leftover boat mix in the winter, for chainsaws.
I know many would say im wrong about this, but iâve seen it many times, and back in time, manuals for chainsaws clearly states: do NOT use marine oil. This canât be seen today, but the companies is happy to sell you a new saw, when you have scorced yours, only thing mentioned: guarantee void if you donât use our brand oil. And they got their back freeâŠ
When I got a new Stihl weed wacker recently the guy at the shop was a little perturbed that I run my 2 strokes at 40-1. He insisted that they were designed for 50-1 and somehow I was going to cause problems. This was not a box store purchase. It was an authorized Stihl dealer and the sales guy also did warranty repairs. I was a little surprised about his insistence that 50-1 was better. I have run all my tools at 40-1 for many years and figured the higher ratio was just eco-bullshit. Surprised a factory trained tech would fall for it.
Hey DarrelC. good to hear from you.
Here is one of my favorite videos I found before buying our 12 footer:
Read the comments and heâll describe him and his wife making up that all-weather enclosed top.
A 14 or 16 footer would be better out in rough water.
12 foot without a floor deck and/or counsel-windshield was to keep the weight down towing behind the Wifeâs Toyota four cylinder hybrid. AWD.
Now I am training her now one reluctant step at a time; launching and loading (and driving) for come the day with the two 10 and 11 year old youngâuns they could still go out and have lakes and reservoirs fun. Iâll get them into teenagers but not likely H.S. graduations. Or wedding aisles.
All my living systems I am setting up must pass a without-me usability and then âby anotherâ repairability. Too easy to brainiac something no one else can figure out.
S.U.
Must be something in the air. I never thought much or cared about my life span but in the last few months I have an overwhelming urge to get rid of whatâs left of my lifetime of accumulated crap. A fairly valuable library, guitar, guns, vehicles that Iâve planned to do something exciting with. Just seem like burdens that Iâm carrying now. What the hell do I need with 10 chainsaws?
