This. My Honda o/b has ALWAYS started in 3 pulls, nearly always on the first pull.You obviously have never owned a 2hp four stroke Honda outboard.
(which is really strange because we own several other Honda products and they have always been the definition of reliable)
I've had four 4-strokes and five 2-strokes.
The weird thing is: When installed and in use, a MUCH smaller electric motor is identically effective as a much larger diesel engine. My 10KW ElectricYacht motor, that I govern to a maximum draw of 4.5KW due to the 1C discharge limit of my battery bank, moves my boat at exactly the same speed -- 6.3 knots -- as did the "3GM30F" I removed. So in actual use, 4.5KW electric motor provides exactly the same propulsion as does a "30hp" diesel running flat out. Same prop, shaft log, shaft, strut, and of course boat.
Our Honda generator, most reliable gasoline powered piece of equipment I have ever owned, our Honda Lawn mower, runs and runs and runs, you’d think it was related to the Everready bunny. But that darned outboard, one of the happiest times of my life was seeing it leave the place, sold for 1/8 the price I paid for it, told the new owner every issue I had with it, he said ok and was happy and I was joyous.
Conclusion from that - the 30HP engine was far, far more HP than you ever needed or the hull could use.
Might have been the problem right there. Power, including horsepower, isn't an alternative fact - it can be tested, verified, and reliably depended upon. 4.5 KW is 6 horsepower. Not "electric equivalent" or "diesel equivalent" horsepower, just horsepower, with a specific definition of energy per unit time.
Each industry has its own std even if its an SAE one.
Then the diesel was oversized for the job. Nothing equivalent there.
Not sure, power is power, that's a scientific fact but the power curve is not always the same. Typically if you are trying to pull a trailer behind your car, it will be easier with a diesel engine than an equivalent petrol one as you get more torque at low rpm.
Theoretically the power curve can matter but in my experience the torque of a prop is less than the diesel at all low RPM's. It just doesn't seem to matter in all the real world docking I have done.
Here is a typical power curve for a boat. This happens to be the engine in my trawler but they all have the same shape. The top curve is power available from the diesel at full throttle. The bottom curve is the power the prop will absorb at that rpm. There is nothing you can do about the bottom curve, except change the prop (or the pitch if variable, or transmission ratio). They meet at only one place, and that is max rpm. Everywhere else, the diesel has far more power than is required to turn the prop at that rpm, and it is prevented from accelerating because boat diesels have an rpm governor (not a throttle like a gas engine and not a torque governor like a car diesel) and the lever sets the rpm. The governor will pull back the fuel rack (or injection timing) to stay at the rpm selected by the lever. For example at 2000 rpm this engine can produce about 350 hp but the prop will only absorb 125 hp.
The QT10 has a very similar governor, but it's firmware driven. I talked with the propulsion engineer about this as I was worried about the torque profile of typical electric motors relative to diesel motors. Turns out the QT10 and all of the EY motors are programmed to mimic diesels of similar horsepower when it comes to the torque profile in order to minimize the risk of damaging the shaft and prop.Here is a typical power curve for a boat. This happens to be the engine in my trawler but they all have the same shape. The top curve is power available from the diesel at full throttle. The bottom curve is the power the prop will absorb at that rpm. There is nothing you can do about the bottom curve, except change the prop (or the pitch if variable, or transmission ratio). They meet at only one place, and that is max rpm. Everywhere else, the diesel has far more power than is required to turn the prop at that rpm, and it is prevented from accelerating because boat diesels have an rpm governor (not a throttle like a gas engine and not a torque governor like a car diesel) and the lever sets the rpm. The governor will pull back the fuel rack (or injection timing) to stay at the rpm selected by the lever. For example at 2000 rpm this engine can produce about 350 hp but the prop will only absorb 125 hp.
An electric motor will have a different power curve, but it will still be way above the prop absorption until the two meet at the top.
A variable pitch prop allows you to move the bottom curve around some, which can result in more efficiency but usually not much. The fuel map for a modern diesel is pretty flat anywhere in the middle of the operating range. It is the prop curve that determines how much fuel (or amp hours) you burn.
Thanks, you just supplied graphical proof of what I said that in my experience a diesel does not need more power at lower RPM's the diesel produces more than than the prop needs.Here is a typical power curve for a boat. This happens to be the engine in my trawler but they all have the same shape. The top curve is power available from the diesel at full throttle. The bottom curve is the power the prop will absorb at that rpm. There is nothing you can do about the bottom curve, except change the prop (or the pitch if variable, or transmission ratio). They meet at only one place, and that is max rpm. Everywhere else, the diesel has far more power than is required to turn the prop at that rpm, and it is prevented from accelerating because boat diesels have an rpm governor (not a throttle like a gas engine and not a torque governor like a car diesel) and the lever sets the rpm. The governor will pull back the fuel rack (or injection timing) to stay at the rpm selected by the lever. For example at 2000 rpm this engine can produce about 350 hp but the prop will only absorb 125 hp.
An electric motor will have a different power curve, but it will still be way above the prop absorption until the two meet at the top.
A variable pitch prop allows you to move the bottom curve around some, which can result in more efficiency but usually not much. The fuel map for a modern diesel is pretty flat anywhere in the middle of the operating range. It is the prop curve that determines how much fuel (or amp hours) you burn.
This 1887 electric motor runs as if new, and almost silent:
