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The Right Boat Motor
Choosing the right boat motor or system to propel your boat is one of the more important things you will do. Boat motors weigh a lot and the horsepower will have a lot to do with how happy you are with your boat. If you don't get a big enough motor it will work twice as hard and your boat performance will be poor. Remember to look and see what the maximum boat motor size is for the boat you are considering.
There are a few different types of motors you can buy. First is an outboard which is very popular on smaller boats and fishing boats. These motors while still heavy are the lightest, have tons of power and are very quiet. They are usually mounted on the boats transom with bolts or brackets.
Outboards will swivel for easy steering as the prop pushes the stern of the boat. They come in many different sizes from 5 HP to 300 HP and the horsepower will affect how much fuel you use. Just like cars, the smaller the motor the better the mileage.
You can also get a stern drive which is also know as an I/O. Normally these are mounted inside the boat below the deck and the actual drive part of the boat is at the rear like an outboard. These are more like car engines and also offer plenty of power. You can, like a lot of outboards, tilt the motor up and down so you can have better boat trim while you are cruising.
Straight inboards don't have the stern drive unit outside the boat. Usually used on boats over 26 feet long these motors are very popular with bigger boats. The motor is mounted inside the boat usually along the center line giving you a good weight distribution.
Inboards have a transmission with a shaft that goes thru the hull of the boat. A propeller is attached to the shaft and this is what drives the boat forward or reverse. The shaft and prop are fixed and don't turn like an outboard or I/O but do have a rudder behind the prop and this deflects the flow of water which gives you the ability to steer.
Jet drive systems have a big advantage because they have no propeller to drive the boat and can run in much shallower water than an inboard, outboard or I/O. Most often they are an inboard engine that takes in water thru a pump powered by an impeller.
The water taken in is discharged at very high pressure thru a turnable nozzle and this is what propels the boat and gives it turning ability. For personal watercraft like jet skis, etc. this is the only way to go. Do keep in mind that when no power is being used the jet boats will lose steering ability very quickly. Keep all parts of your body away from the pump intake which shouldn't be a problem as it's usually underneath the hull.
You could also buy a small row boat or even a canoe and propel it with paddles or oars. This is hard work but good exercise. You can get some smaller electric boat motors to run these and they aren't to expensive but I'd only recommend them for smaller lakes or ponds. Spend some time checking out the boat motors you want to be sure it meets your needs.
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