Got the motor in the other day. Nicely packaged, looks to be pretty good gear.
Couple of interesting things I noticed. First, the fuel connector is not the same on the tank and the motor. The motor connector is the 'nissan' connector, kinda like the OMC, but not quite, nor does the Yamaha connector fit (although it is close). The tank connector looks exactly like the older (round) OMC type connectors... but I bet it is slightly different too. Not a big deal, especially since the motor comes with a new tank and line.
I opted for the 20" (really 22") shaft, not the 25"(27"). My Yamaha was 20" and never came out of the water. I see no reason to go 5" deeper, and pick up more drag, probably more crab pots, and not be able to stow it in the lazy-rat....
I did get the charging system. They charged me $145 for it. Again, had it on my last motor and it was nice to get a couple amps while motoring.
I went down to the boat today, was going to motor for a couple hours to make myself obey the break-in period (10 min at idle, 10min<1/2 throttle, 2hours <3/4 throttle, 3hours at 3/4 throttle.) Was a perfect day, with 10-12k and not too warm. Ran the motor a grand total of an hour....Had a nice sail though.
Motor smoked a bit, guess that is to be expected while the rings seat. There was a bit more vibration then the 2stroke had, but then it also was a 2 cyl.
I had a consistent 3kt, at less then 1/2 throttle. I have no doubt that it will push the boat to hull speed as others have reported.
I did just order the 'High Thrust' prop, it is a 5.9999" pitch, but it has the wide blades like the Yamaha 4 strokes do. I would have had the motor delivered with this prop, but no one offered swap outs. This is not the same prop as the 6" pitch prop, but a different animal all together (bet that .0001" pitch makes all the difference.
OBTW Tony, I found the reommendation Mike made on the 'outboard' thread;
Mercury ,Nissan & Tohatsu ( same motor, all made by Tohatsu ) recommend a 8x7 prop on the 6 ,5 & 4hp for displacement hulls ( the 4 comes with it ) the 6 & 5 come with a 'square prop' 8x8 ( actually 7.9x7.9 ).
My mechanic , from his experience , say to skip the 7 and drop to a 6 or 6.5 pitch . He's a licensed Nissan service center and seems to know what's up .
I'm going to buy a 8x7 try it and log with the GPS what it does then have it re-pitched to 8x6 and see what that does .
The following is over-simplified and not scientific;
at 4000 rpm the 8x8 prop is trying to go somewhere between 20 and 30 knots . Not going to happen on an Ariel .
At 4000 rpm the 8x6 prop is trying to go somewhere between 12 and 20 knots .
now you have slip and losses that can be 50% which brings you down to 6knots which is close to hull speed .
All that wasted revolutions on the 8x8 is like spinning the tires on a car , not getting you anywhere fast , the 8x6 is like switching to a fatter tire with more tread ,or a lower gear, that delivers all the bite to the road and propels you forward & stops you when you engage reverse.
The only drawback about downpitching ;
If you use the same motor on a dink or skiff that planes , it wont go as fast because you have shifted to a lower gear .
It only takes 5 minutes to switch props so buy a spare and have it pitched lower .
I also ordered a few spare zink's and a waterpump rebuild kit. I looked at the 'vertical pull' option, but at $129 I think I am fine just pulling at a bit of an angle. It is funny, I recall reading someone here say that the nissan vertical pull option routed the pull cord out the top of the cowl, the one offered now does not do that... it is just an elbow that screws to the recoil starter and comes out the front and turns up... seems like it would add a bunch of friction and chafe to me.. maybe they have some special stuff in there.For the price, maybe so.
Overall happy so far, will report the performance of the new prop when it arrives.
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