Shifting Gears

The shift lever for the Honda BF5 is located on the starboard side of the outboard motor.  This is not exactly conveniently located when the motor is mounted on the Chebacco considering the distance to the transom for the cockpit.  Add in the mizzen mast, main sheet traveller and boom gallows to make the reach even trickier. 

Cleverly (thought I) I could make a sort of poor man's remote control by attaching wooden control dowels to the shifter lever and the twist throttle (using a commercial throttle extender).  Holes were drilled into the cockpit bulkhead and the dowels extended slightly into the cockpit.  Thus, without so much as standing up I could control the shifting and speed from the cockpit.  This system worked great for general motoring but it fell short in that the motor was now locked into position on the centre line of the boat and could not longer be pivoted to manoeuvre in tight quarters.  This is a definite disadvantage considering the poor reversing and stopping characterists of this Chebacco/OB combination.

Remote shifter 1.0 one end...

...and the other

Back to the drawing board as they say.  Jamie Orr has the same motor on his boat, Wayward Lass.  He added a short extension to the shifter that allowed him to shift by reaching over the top of the motor to shift gears.  When motoring in tight quarters Jamie would perch on the port aft deck and be able to control shifter, throttle and tiller handily.  This arrangement allows the motor to still pivot when required for tight manoeuvring.  Clever chap that Jamie, so I copied him.  My lever extension was in fact the plastic extended socket wench thingy that came with  my new kitchen faucet and it fit perfectly.  Never throw anything out.

Remote shifter 2.0

A keen observer may notice in the top two photos the extension to the motor pull cord.  As with the shifter -the mizzen, rudder post, main sheet traveller and the distance to the transom from the cockpit make pulling the starter cord a challenge and a risk to back, elbows and fingernails.  Very considerately, when purchased, the Honda OB came with a back up starting cord to be used in the unlucky event of cord breakage or failure of the ratchet mechanism.  This cord is attached to the rubber hand grip of the built in starter cord and reaches easily to the cockpit.  Simple and slick.

Iron Wind - Honda 5 hp Outboard

I love my 5 hp BF5 Honda outboard motor.  After ten years of yeoman service this engine has never let me down and fires up on the first or second pull even after sitting for months.  As a lad my brother and I fiddled around with the family collection of ancient and balky 2 stroke Evinrude outboards.  Based on these early experiences I decided during my boat build that if I ever completed the thing I would reward myself with a new four stroke engine.

Shiny and new

The outboard was in fact purchased during the build and I modified the transom to fit it.  This motor comes in  either a regular or long shaft version and I opted for the regular one as the leg, when in the run position, was no deeper than the shoal rudder on the Chebacco.  My thinking for this was that tucked up like this the expensive engine would not be the first part of the boat at the scene of a grounding.  I was concerned that the prop may not be deep enough for maximum efficiency but this has not been the case.  The downside of this is when in reverse the wash is directed onto the rudder and a firm hand is required to keep tiller from slamming over.

Clamped on like it belongs there

The Honda is very miserly in the fuel consumption department and is nice and quiet as well.  One criteria I felt important for the outboard was a remote fuel tank.  I know from experience the limited integrated tank capacity can let you down just when  it is needed if not carefully monitored.  The well between the cockpit and transom I designed to fit two of the 12.5 litre (3 gal) remote tanks.  In practise I only carry one.

The prop was replaced with one more suited to pushing a displacement hull resulting in a half knot speed improvement.  Half throttle pushes Bluster along easily at five knots and opening  it all the way only grain another half knot or so so I rarely go there.

If I realistically looked back on the time spent on the water since launching Bluster back in 2002 as memorable as the sailing times were, we probably spent as much or more time motoring.  Investing in a good outboard, for me, was money well spent.

No wind, no problem