Outboard Motor

[tomme boy]

Evinrudes are all 2 stroke. Always have been.

You are WRONG! The 4 strokes of the late 90's to early 2000's Suzuki made them for evenrude. Then around 2015 they have 8-15hp 4 strokes made by tahatsu.

[blackthorn]

Popper---yep 5400'---good catch. Thanks.

[farmbif]

I only spent 4 years in outward marine mechanics school. like I said earlier its real hard to beat the Yamaha motors. so if your getting a new one and you want ease of use and reliability Yamaha is my first choice then Honda, Suzuki jumped in the game back in the 80's offering real inexpensive motors that were not rebuildable like the OMC crossflows and loopers. but now a days motors are all throw aways none are really worth rebuilding like we used to do for reliability in the OMC's and performance in the Mercurys for the guys who would strap 4 or 6 to the back of a boat and haul bales from the Bahamas. Mercury has lots of programs where they provide engines to pros to get their name out there, it doesn't mean they are any better. they were the first to chrome line cylinders and they could no longer be bored oversize for rebuilding they had to be sleeved. anyway from my perspective if going with a new motor spend the extra Money for a Yamaha or Honda. if going for used motor the OMC/Johnson-evenrude 9.9/15- difference is the carburetor from 80's 90's are hard to beat if you can find a used one still in good shape and someone to replace all the rubber and plastic pieces that may have dry rotted. whatever you end up getting use only ethanol free gas if you possibly can and run carburetor dry before storing it, if you have to mix oil in the gas yamalube is a far superior oil, and replace water pump impeller every year or at least every 2 years.
tohatsu or someone else probably makes the smaller engines for mercury still but we sold the boat yard several years ago and I've been out of the game.

[GregLaROCHE]

its pretty hard to beat the Yamaha outboards

I most definitely agree.

[tomme boy]

..............

[Lloyd Smale]

That's because they go on this https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/202...-v-57-2998765/

If you have to ask......

yup any boat that sees one with be well north of 5 figures on up to 6. Just think though even 5 years ago your jaw would drop seeing triple 300s on a boat. Now you could have 1800 hp with a fishing deck. Wana bet whos first to the fishing grounds!! Its sure not for us guys but if i win the lotto ill sure invite you guys to wet a line.

[Lloyd Smale]

did some researching on line and found that both mercurys small outboards and johnson and evenrude who are both now owned by bombardier small outboards are made my tohatsu. So for the most part if you buy a small outboard your getting either one made in japan or china. That said according to merc its more like the tohatsus are a copy of the merc design because they build them to mercurys specs and id be the same goes for bombardier as they are no rookys at 2 strokes either. Merc says those outboards are designed by them and produced to there specs and there research and developement. I aslo saw some side by side comparisons and shootouts that about show that the tohatsu branded motors are a cheaper made motor with some cost cutting diffrernces.

[jonp]

if you have to mix oil in the gas yamalube is a far superior oil

I have read this in numerous places

You are WRONG! The 4 strokes of the late 90's to early 2000's Suzuki made them for evenrude. Then around 2015 they have 8-15hp 4 strokes made by tahatsu.

I see nothing on their sight indicating the 4 stroke. They do make a big deal about emissions superiority with their large 2 strokes over 4 strokes

[Minerat]

I have a 6 hp Evenrude 2 stroke kicker on my 16.5 Lund to go with the 90 hp Johnson. I got in in 1971 and it has been on 4 boats now. Add gas pump it up and it fires on a couple of pulls. Let it run dry at the end of the day and it is ready to go next time.

[Jsm180]

I want to see the 12' boat that needs 20hp to plane with 2 people. Growing up the neighbor kids would ski behind a 10hp Johnson, we had a 25hp Evinrude but we had to have dad start it, we weren't big enough pull the rope. We got a 40hp electric start in 64' and were hot stuff then, we could slalom behind it.

I still have the 58' 5 1/2hp Johnson my dad and grandfather bought new, best trolling motor we had, and we tried them all, from the single cyl 1 1/2hp to the 15hp. The only thing that came close was the later model 6hp when they went to 100:1 mix ratio.

Never owned a Mercury or a 4 stroke, only 2 stroke OMC, still have a few.

[MOA]

Here in Arizona where I live the smaller lakes have a max 9.9 horsepower limit. Plus a couple of the larger lakes that are Fed lakes now mandate only 4 cycle gas engines. The cost of buying a used 2 cycle is dropping quickly. I'm sure the way it will go we're all going to see the State lakes are going to eventually mandate 4 cycle on all lakes. It'll be like musical chairs. If you have a 2 cycle sell it now or find another use for the motor other than pushing your boat across the water. The government camel is always looking for a new tent to stick it's nose under. Good luck.

I'd be looking for a big thrust electric and two good batteries and spend the test of my bankroll on rods, reels and terminal tackle.

[megasupermagnum]

I really doubt we are going to see 2 stroke bans. The Evinrude E-tec 2 strokes are CLEANER running than the 4 strokes of the same HP. I have a 40HP E-Tec, and the thing is ridiculously good on gas and oil. I fished like mad this year, and put on about 70 hours on it this year. It used maybe half a quart of oil, and maybe 10 gallons of gas (lots of trolling).

None of that matters though, as all of the small outboards I'm aware of are carbureted, 2 or 4 stroke. Simplicity is king in the small engines, and they sip gas anyway.

[Blanket]

The lake I will use this on is at +54,000 ft., only about two and a half miles long by seven or eight hundred yards wide. It does however often have some pretty strong winds and if we have to come back to the cabin against the wind, a too small motor is not good. As far as electric, I considered that but the cabin is situated on a flat spot cut (by hand originally) into about a 50% grade and about 50 yards up from the lake shore. I am 82 and my fishing partner is 87 so packing the battery for an electric motor up that bank every day to the gen-set is not appealing. Even worse would be taking the gen set down to the shore. While I am in the process of deciding what to buy, the 5 to 9 HP was/is just a point to consider. I would rather have a bit too much power than too little. I appreciate all the comments and advice, so please don’t stop now. Have a great day.

solar or windmill chargers at dockside would solve electric issues

[GregLaROCHE]

Yamaha does not make their 15hp and smaller motors. Tahatsu does.

When did they start doing that?

[quilbilly]

Seems like you are looking for a lot of motor if you just want to troll with it. A long time ago, I had a 6hp on a 12ft aluminum boat and it would plane off. Now if you need a motor to get you to your fishing spot, I understand, but if you are in rowing distance, why not think of an electric trolling motor?

I agree! I have a 3 hp Yamaha 2-stroke for 10 foot Jon for small local lakes. It will easily put me and the boat up on a plane at nearly 20 mph. An electric troller that has 35# thrust at its top is better for trolling. Most of the time I have both on - the gas to get me there and the electric to fish with.
On the other hand, if your plan is pulling huge, long, multiple gang trolls for kokanee, a 2hp gas might be the better option.

[megasupermagnum]

I agree! I have a 3 hp Yamaha 2-stroke for 10 foot Jon for small local lakes. It will easily put me and the boat up on a plane at nearly 20 mph. An electric troller that has 35# thrust at its top is better for trolling. Most of the time I have both on - the gas to get me there and the electric to fish with.
On the other hand, if your plan is pulling huge, long, multiple gang trolls for kokanee, a 2hp gas might be the better option.

No way. You definitely don't have much experience with your rig.

My 6hp does 6-7 MPH and did not plane with a 12', and will not plane with my super light 14' either, and that is with only me in it. A 10hp can plane with only me in it, gas tank moved forward, and only a tackle box and a few rods in the front. It tops out at 15 MPH, and that is on a glass smooth day. Any wind at all, or a second person in the boat, and it probably will not plane. 15 HP is the bare minimum if you want to plane under most conditions, without having to fiddle with it. When I was younger and lighter, my brother and I could get a 12' with a 9.5 HP evinrude to plane if we both lunged forward at the same time, get up and a plane, and then it would keep going. Not a chance at all an adult can get a 3hp anything to plane, and there is even less chance it is propped to go any faster anyway.

With an 80 pound little kid, I could MAYBE believe your little 3HP weed wacker could plane a boat. No way it does 20 MPH, and I doubt it does over 10 MPH. My 16' with 40 HP engine, on a calm day, running flat out 5500 RPM does 29 MPH.

I run electric motors for duck hunting sloughs that are too shallow for an outboard, and a mud motor would not work well on my boat. I currently run a 55 lb thrust motor on that. It does well, and scoots along well enough for the purpose. I would not bring it out on big water. A 15+ MPH headwind, and you would be in deep doo-doo with the electric motor. I'm considering going to a 24V system, so I can run a 80 pound thrust motor. There is nothing scarier than watching a bad storm approaching, and having no power at your disposal.

Now there is nothing wrong with having an electric for super slow trolling. A 6hp evinrude will troll as long as you want 1.5-2 MPH forward, and slower backtrolling.

[MaryB]

Boy you guys are over thinking this. The OP wants a good reliable little motor to troll around a small lake. The market is flooded with fantastic 5-10 hp 2 stroke outboards that are tough as nails. In this HP range, they are all quiet, and fuel efficient. I've oared all over as a kid, and still run an electric motor for duck hunting sloughs. I would not recommend either to a 80+ year old for fishing.

I've ran outboards of a large range in HP on small boats. Around 10hp can sometimes plane a 12' boat, but that depends on the load and weather. With 2 guys, and gear, it can be tough. A 15 HP will almost always plane 12' and 14' boats, but not all 12' boats are rated for 15 hp motors. Instead, one of my all time favorites is an Evinrude 6 HP. You won't plane, but you will get around at a decent speed, 6-7 MPH. I've had two 6 HP Evinrude's, one a 70's model, and one an 80's. Both were great, but I would recommend an electric ignition one. I believe Evinrude/Johnson went to that in 1972ish. There is nothing wrong with Mercury, but they never made that many small outboards compared to Evinrude/Johnson. Mercury was never known as fuel efficient. Those smaller Evinrude's will troll all day long, they run smooth as a babys bottom. One more thing, the smaller 5-6 HP 2 strokes are very easy to pull start compared to any 4 stroke, or even the 10-15 HP 2 strokes.

Don't over complicate this. Buy a 2 stroke. They are lighter, simpler, and easier to start. Mix gas 50:1, change the water impeller every couple years, and go fishing. Leave the complexities to the large outboards.

I had a 1974 Alumacraft T-14 over grown canoe(13 1/2' long, 42" wide!). Empty the boat weighed 120 pounds and I could load it in the back of my pickup solo. I would get the back of the boat on the tailgate then load in the motor, gas tank, and trolling motor/graph battery before picking the bow up and sliding it in. With a 1974 10HP Johnson it had no problem getting up on plane with just the back 6 inches of the hull in the water, measured speed was 27mph top end. Used to fly downriver at about 35 with the current pushing. Made for interesting night trips dodging dead heads, rocks, mud and sand bars.... river changed every year so first few spring trips we had to slow down! That boat is still going strong with a friend, motor ate the lower unit a few years ago.

[MaryB]

If your on a small fishing boat I'm not sure you need to do that unless your on the Great Lakes or something. The relaxing ride to the fishing spot or trolling on the way there is part of the reason your out there I think. At least for us it was but we were never in a hurry to get anywhere.

Lake I used to fish was big enough to need speed to get to the good fishing spots, trolling 2 miles of rarely catch anything sucks! So it was a 27mph run to the spot, then drop the electric motor

[tomme boy]

I may be wrong on the Yamaha 4 strokes as they are made now. A few years ago they were. Tahatsu has fuel injection down to the 9.9 model. I had a 15hp Suzuki that was fuel injected a couple years ago. That thing was crazy efficient on gas.

The main problem with ALL 4 strokes is they make oil. If you do a lot of trolling at low rpm they never get hot enough and gas gets in the oil. Then you end up with bearings going bad.

[megasupermagnum]

I've not heard that. All outboards have a thermostat, so the water cooling them should be more or less the same temperature. I will say that the oil is one thing to watch on the 4 strokes, especially the small outboards, as the OP is looking for under 10 HP. Lay them down wrong, and they can leak. They don't hold much to begin with, so make sure you check the oil regularly. And of course change it religiously.