What is an outboard boat motor? An outboard boat motor is basically a propulsion system for boats. This motor consists of a self-contained unit that is comprised of an engine, a gearbox and a propeller or a jet drive. The outboard boat motors provide the steering control along with the propulsion. This is because of the design of the motor, which is fixed on the top of a pivot and controls the direction of the thrust. There is an extension at the end of the motor called the skeg, which also acts a rudder while the engine is shut off. The outboard boat motors are advantageous over the inboard motors because of the fact that these are easily removable for the purpose of storage and repair.
The outboard boat motors are very useful and easy to use. One of the advantages of the motors is that when the boat is in shallow water or even out of water, these motors can be tilted towards the inner side of the boat and this protects the outboard boat motors from damages. Outboard boat motors are available in the market. If you don’t want to buy a new one, there are used outboard boat motors also available. But one thing you need to be sure of that you are checking to the full before making a purchase.
There are small outboard boat motors that are less than or equal to the 15 horse power capacity are easily portable. These motors are just fixed to the boats with the help of a clamp, which makes it easy to move from one boat to another. These small outboard boat motors generally start with a pull start mechanism with the gearshift and throttle mounted over the motor body. There is a tiller provided in this motor, which acts as the steering. These outboard boat motors are smallest in the lot but are very efficient with the capacity to move a small dinghy with a top speed of 8 knots which is equivalent to 15 kmph.
There are large outboard boat motors also available that can be fixed to the larger size boats. These are normally of 15 – 135 horse power that is suitable for pulling the large boats up to 17 feet. These large outboard boat motors posses engines that have 2-4 cylinders and are very powerful. There are used outboard boat motors available, but precautions o be taken before buying those.