Re: Making a weedeater motor
Yeah, it's been done!<br /><br />My buddy had a little weed light 18cc weed wacker, with out a clutch or anything. <br /><br />Well, this model being a piece of junk, I didn't feel that bad putting a sort of S bend on the shaft. I cut out a propeller out of sheet metal, bent it and painted it. I also attempted a water seal for the lower unit, it was made of some rubber hose and a lot of grease. <br /><br />I popped the unit on a canoe which came with a bracket for a trolling motor. Using the handle on the weed wacker, I rotated it and just drilled through the handle onto the 1x4 on the bracket. And there you go. I hooked up the pull throttle to a little lever and I thought it would work great. And it did work great in the wheel barrel.<br /><br />I get it down to the boat launch and everyone is looking at me funny. (no it's not me, it's the weed wacker!) I get the machine on the boat and am ready to head out. Well, getting the motor started without a clutch to disengage made it difficult for this li'll 18cc motor to start. <br /><br />At times I had it running with the wind, but the motor wasn't working at the correct rpm. I also kept on cutting the prop down in size and changing the pitch, but the prop was spinning way too fast. In fact it disturbing the water more than it was propelling the boat. It would also bog out and I swear it was over heating. I had a few good comments about my attemp, and am curious to try it again.<br /><br />The lesson(s) learned:<br />1)a 2:1 gear reduction would be nice<br />2)18cc's it a little small for marine applications<br />3)I probably would have had better luck cutting the wreeds and grasses instead!
