I noticed while fishing today there seemed to be a little bit of a gas slick around my 130 hp Yamaha 2 cycle engine most of the 3 hours that I was out. What might this be from?
AT slower speeds the two cyle engine, does not burn the oil mix as well as running at higher speeds. So, There is a big push to go to the 4 stroke engine.
At least modern outboard oil is biodegradeable (well, the oil manufacturers tell us that it is so we won't feel bad about leaving their product floating in the lake behind us). And newer oil injected EFI 2 strokes aren't near as bad as carbureted engines.
Checked the Trim Tabs, they are good. Great thought though. I guess it is going to make me feel less guilty if the slick I see is biodegradable. Thank you all.
Depends on what you consider "modern". If you mean what you can buy off the store shelf today then ONLY some of the synthetic oils are biodegradable. The conventional 2-stroke oils are not biodegradable yet you can still buy them in the store. Even then, not all synthetics are biodegradable. If a particular oil IS biodegradable you can bet it will say so on the label.
How can oil be not biodegradable it came from the earth right? They say modern synthetics are biodegradable yet man made additives are in there?
I know oil is bad news to the enviroment, kills birds, fish, ect. and I feel terrible when I see my old evinrude making an oil slick but it just seems ironic that oil is a natural resource? no?
Just because something came from the earth does not mean it is biodegradable. Everything man makes comes from the earth in one way or another. The definition of biodegradable is: capable of being broken down especially into innocuous products by the action of living things (as microorganisms). Conventional motor oils cannot be broken down this way.
Likewise, just because something is man made doesn't mean it isn't biodegradable. Take the loaf of bread sitting on my counter. It was made by man and it will biodegrade.
I know oil is bad news to the enviroment, kills birds, fish, ect. and I feel terrible when I see my old evinrude making an oil slick but it just seems ironic that oil is a natural resource? no?
A natural resource yes, but in its "natural" state, crude oil is generally hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of feet below the surface. The way we use it is not natural in the sense of naturally occurring.
Everything breaksdown over a long enough period of time, even crude oil. It has micro organisms that do this. I think the point is we want to effect the enviroment minimumly if we can. This is left up to us.
