wheelie Bin workstand

[Mikefule]

For a couple of years now, I've used an old wheelie bin as a butt to run the outboards in when I'm rinsing them, or just giving them a run after a long spell of disuse. The wheelie bin has a little plastic drain tap at the bottom.

In response to a question from a fellow member of the Dinghy Cruising Association about how stable this is, I tried this experiment today.

The wheelie bin in the photo is full enough to be able to run a short shaft engine in it, loosely hung over the edge by the clamp. I ran the 3 hp 2 stroke in the bin for a bit, then swapped and ran the 9.9 hp 4 stroke, in neutral and in gear.

Then, to check how stable it would be, I hung the 9.9 on the outside of the bin. (This is what I had done earlier this week to change the gear box oil in the 3 hp.)

With a 9.9 hp 4 stroke, this is stable enough that I was not able to make it begin to tip towards the engine without a lot of effort.

I took the photo to demonstrate to the DCA member who had asked, and thought it might be useful information for someone here. Cheaper than buying a work stand, and safe enough for testing the engine, or working on it.

I venture no opinion about larger or heavier engines.

[Grayskull]

I was only thinking about this today. I decided it was a no goer for me as it meant lifting the engine to high to get it over the side. I’m no body builder

[JamesF]

For reasons I can't quite explain, I wondered how much effort 'a lot of effort' was enough to try to work it out.



If it's a 4' × 18" × 18" bin with 3' of water in it, without the engine, you'd have to give it a 50 kg push sideways from the top of the bin to start it tipping, or hang something like 125 kg off the outside, which I'd guess is four or five of those engines. Or some combination of the two — more engine, less push.



With the engine on the inside, it should take more effort to start tipping it than without the engine or with the engine on the outside.



In or out of gear should make no difference unless some kind of resonance gets the water excited enough to tip itself over — which, in a very hand-wavy kind of way, seems unlikely.


All of which is no substitute for the photographic evidence above, obviously.

[Mikefule]

Originally Posted by Grayskull

I was only thinking about this today. I decided it was a no goer for me as it meant lifting the engine to high to get it over the side. I’m no body builder

I'm 5'7", clerical worker, aged 57. I'm no body builder, although I have added an extension around the midriff if that counts.

Trick to get the engine in: hold the engine sideways against your belly, pivot it so that the leg of the engine lifts up and the engine is about horizontal. One extra effort puts the bottom of the leg of the engine on the edge of the wheelie bin. After that, it's leverage, with the bin taking something like half the weight of the engine, and with plenty of chances to stop, rest and change grip.

[jeffstevens763@g]

i cut the bottom off a 45 gallon plastic barrel put a hull drain in it slip it under the engine on the boat or stand fill up, run, drain, job done

[_monkey]

I use a spare wheelie bin to run up a Yam 4HP - works fine. For the 150hp I purchased a collapsable rain water carrier ( 500l) because the house supply has poor pressure - works ok, takes a while to fill!

[paintman]

The Suzuki 4hp (DT4) gets clamped to a length of wood fixed to my workmate & its leg goes in a normal black dustbin.
Tilt engine up & put bin over leg then lower engine & bin together.
Bottom of the skeg sits on the bottom of the bin.
Fill bin with hose & use a bucket to reduce the water afterwards until I can tip the bin.
No heavy lifting involved.

For the main engine which stays on the boat an old plastic cistern put in place then filled with a hose does much the same job (as per Jeffstevens above) but I usually run that up on muffs as it's more convenient. In the cistern does make it much quieter!

[Mikefule]

Oops! I feel I should confess. I now no longer use the wheelie bin as it developed vertical splits and cascaded water on my feet. My little 3hp was just too powerful for it.

To be fair, it was an old abandoned wheelie bin that I had rescued from a "fly tip" and appeared to have gone brittle in the constant bright sunlight for which this country is notorious.