October 20, 2002 - Outboard Engines.

Today Sue and I went and visited a boat chandlery in St. Ives, in order to look at outboard engines for the punt. There were a row of what we thought were second-hand engines, but it turned out only one was for sale, and you had to buy a small dingy with it. Inddors though, I had a look through a few catalogues, and decided to take the plunge and buy a new engine. I selected the cheapest I could find, which was a 2 hp Johnson engine. They had one in stock, but it had a defective fuel cap. So I placed an order for a new one, which should be delivered next week.

Now 2 hp may not sound like much, but the chaps at the chandlery put one in a tank for me to see it run, and they certainly churn up the water. I guess you have to remember that 2 hp is the equivalent of two horses towing your punt, so it should easily get the punt up to 4-5mph, which is the maximum speed on a lot of waterways anyway.

Outside by the marina I was amused to notice this unusual spelling of the word 'unleaded'. I guess they're really trying to emphasise our damaging attitude to the environment or something.

This is an example of the kind of fastening there is for outboard engines - in each case it appears to be one or two G-clamp style things. There are two clamps on the engine I have bought. I'm going to have to work out how to fix the engine to the back of the punt - at the moment I'm thinking of making some kind of bolt-on back rest part that it can be clamped to. We shall see.

By the way, I chose the paint for the inside bottom of the punt and bought it at the chandlery - it's Marlin blue, which is a similar colour to the pale Cambridge blue. After looking through rows of greens, blues and reds it seemed the most appropriate colour. Suggestions for names are still welcome, however.