Saw this on Craigslist. It's an Evinrude 3hp with a lower unit that quickly removes and the whole thing folds into a nifty little case w/ handle. Thought somebody here might like this. Easily ditched in the woods at the motor border ;)

I would've dug this in my car-topping days.

It's awesome. However, it also looks old, old, old and in my youth, I owned too many old, old, old outboards and I've come to fear them.

Correct, probably not super reliable. Couple years ago I was in a financial pinch and found myself without a fishing boat. I found a 1963 alumacraft row boat for $40. You know, a turned upside down in the backyard for the past 20 years kinda skiff. My friend gifted me a 1966 Mercury 6hp. Several hours of cleaning and tinkering and I was off to the river with the boat on the roof rack and a homemade portage cart in the trunk! That outboard probably lasted less than 10 hours total use, whereas the skiff is water tight and has taken my son and I on three great bwca trips with a better motor (which is still 30 yrs old).

What I mean by this ramble is that I love old stuff, but not all old stuff is created equal.

A friend had one of those, but the lower unit just folded up, not separated. We used it many times and you have to turn the entire motor to go in reverse, not very handy, if you are trying to fish at the same time. He tuned it up before we took the trip and it was reliable to operate.

The Evinrude lightwin is a fantastic little motor. It runs smooth and quiet and is only ~30lb (handy on portages/hand launch situations.) They are old, and typically need the coils replaced. While you are in doing the coils, just replace the points and condensers as well. The motor and carbs are dead simple and parts are readily available. No gears, no fuel pump (gravity feed). Yes you have to turn the motor around to go backwards, but think of the weight and complexity saved vs. having a geared lower unit.

And, most of these have the weedless lower unit, which combined with the 2-blade prop will cut through some nasty swamp with no issue.

I have 2 of these motors and they have been great. I have heard that the folding lower units have some reliability issues, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a non-folding unit to push a flatback canoe.

Bummer.... looks like the Craigslist posting has been deleted.

There are plenty of those motors around still, keep looking if you want to find one. Mine runs fine on 60psi compression. These little motors didn't have much to start with. I'd be wary of less than 60 though, pistons and rings are very expensive for these.