An outboard motor and methods of use thereof in general, includes a powerhead removeably affixed to the transom of a boat, and a gear case rotationally connected to a propeller shaft, the outboard motor including a telescopic drive shaft, the telescopic drive shaft having a first drive shaft section rotationally connected to the motor and a second drive shaft section rotationally connected to the gear case, and a telescopic drive shaft housing, the telescopic drive shaft housing configured to support the telescopic drive shaft internally therethrough, whereby the telescopic drive shaft and the telescopic drive shaft housing are configured to provide depth adjustment for the gear case and the propeller shaft, and thus enable the propeller to be raised and lowered during propulsion to improve propulsion efficiency.

An outboard motor has a cowling, a gearcase, a midsection located axially between the cowling and the gearcase, a steering arm extending forwardly from the midsection, and an anti-ventilation plate between the midsection and the gearcase. A wing extends laterally from the steering arm. The wing, a lateral side of the cowling, and a lateral side of the gearcase together define a side tripod which supports the outboard motor in a side laydown position. The anti-ventilation plate has a rear edge with laterally outer rear support members, which together with the rear of the cowling form a rear tripod which supports the outboard motor in a rear laydown position.

An outboard motor having an internal combustion engine that causes rotation of a driveshaft, a planetary transmission that operatively connects the driveshaft to a transmission output shaft, a band brake configured to shift the planetary transmission amongst a forward gear, neutral gear and reverse gear, a hydraulic actuator is configured to actuate the band brake, and a cooling water circuit that extends adjacent to the hydraulic actuator so that the hydraulic actuator exchanges heat with cooling water in the cooling water circuit.

A marine drive has a supporting frame for coupling the marine drive to a marine vessel; a gearcase supporting a propulsor for propelling the marine vessel in water; an extension leg disposed between the supporting frame and the gearcase; and an adapter plate between the supporting frame and the extension leg. A tube is in the extension leg. The tube has a lower end which is coupled to the gearcase and upper end which is coupled to the adapter plate by a compression nut threaded onto the tube, wherein threading the compression nut down on the tube compressively engages the compression nut with the adapter plate, which in turn clamps the extension leg between the supporting frame and the gearcase.

An outboard motor includes a gear housing configured to rotatably house a propeller shaft that transmits a rotative power output from an engine to a propeller device. The gear housing includes a torpedo shape portion and a strut portion. The torpedo shape portion has a shape tapered toward a front side, and a shape biased upward toward the front side. The strut portion is disposed on an upper side of the torpedo shape portion. An outer peripheral surface of the torpedo shape portion is smoothly coupled to an outer peripheral surface of the strut portion via first to third curved surfaces. The first to third curved surfaces are each a curved surface inclined rearward and downward, a curved surface parallel to a front-rear direction, or a curved surface constituted of a part inclined rearward and downward and a part parallel to the front-rear direction.

A boat propulsion machine includes a power source, a drive shaft, a propeller, a gear mechanism, a gear case, a tank configured to store a cooling liquid for cooling the power source, a heat sink configured to cool the cooling liquid, a cooling liquid passage connecting the power source and the heat sink, and a pump a pump configured to pump the cooling liquid to circulate through the cooling liquid passage. The power source, the tank, and the pump are provided at an upper portion of the boat propulsion machine. The gear case is provided at a lower portion of the boat propulsion machine. The drive shaft extends in an upper-lower direction between the power source and the gear mechanism. The heat sink is provided at a position lower than the power source and higher than the gear case in the boat propulsion machine.

An outboard motor is provided with an upper separator disposed on the lower side of an oil case for storing a lubricating oil of an engine, and an extension case which is separably connected on the lower side of the upper separator. The upper separator has a central exhaust passage through which exhaust gas flows, and a cooling water flow part through which cooling water flows on the outside of the central exhaust passage, the central exhaust passage and the cooling water flow part forming an integrated structure. The exhaust gas and the cooling water are caused to mix in the extension case.

An outboard motor includes a drive shaft, a coupling to connect a first shaft and a second shaft of the drive shaft together, and a transmission including a dog clutch to transmit a rotation of the drive shaft to a propeller shaft. The coupling includes a first portion attached to the first shaft, a second portion attached to the second shaft, and a damper. The first portion includes first claws arranged along a rotation direction of the drive shaft. The second portion includes second claws between adjacent ones of the first claws in the rotation direction. The damper includes an elastic portion interposed between adjacent ones of the first claws and the second claws in the rotation direction.

A system for suspending a lubricant in a marine propulsion device having a gearcase, the gearcase defining a gearset cavity for containing a propeller shaft gearset rotated by a driveshaft. The system includes a pump device configured to pump the lubricant away from the gearset cavity, and a reservoir located away from the gearset cavity and configured to receive the lubricant from the pump device. An input passage conveys the lubricant from the pump device to the reservoir, and an output passage conveys the lubricant from the reservoir to the gearset cavity. The reservoir is configured to retain at least 15% of the lubricant circulating between the gearset cavity and the reservoir.

An outboard motor for attachment to a hull of a marine vessel includes a lower case including a propeller shaft to rotate a propeller, and an upper case including a drive shaft to transmit a power to the propeller shaft. The lower case is selected from among different types of lower cases to be attached to the upper case, and the upper case and the lower case are connected by an intermediate structure.