Dinghy Motor - Honda? Mercury? Yamaha? Tohatsu?

[Bene505]

I was looking at the pricess at Defender and it looks like the Tohatsu is much less expensive than the Yamaha, and the Honda is slightly more expensive. Are they pretty much created equal, or is this another case of getting what you pay for?

Anyone have preferences? Which one did you choose and how has it been for you?

[T37Chef]

FWIW...I'm not a big fan of my Honda 2hp 4 stroke. Its loud, it will only start with the freshest of fuel, but is light and easy to handle. I would probably never purchase a Honda outboard or any of their small engines again. Many of the mechanics I have had work on the thing say they're over engineered and see continuous issues with their carburetors.

I used to have a Suzuki 6hp 4 Stroke and was pretty pleased with it but it also liked the freshest of fuel.

How I miss the days of the Briggs & Straton that would start after sitting all winter on the first pull

Bottom line, I don't like the new generation of small 4 stroke outboard engines, next one will be a two stroke.

My boat neighbor is very happy with his 4 year old Tahatsu though

[CaptainForce]

I've had a Honda 4-stroke 5hp for the last two years after my long-lived Yamaha 2-stroke finally became unreliable. For me it's been an easy starting, no problem, reliable engine,- no sensitive fuel issues. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew

[sailingdog]

I have the Tohatsu 3.5 HP... It's been a solid little engine. Be aware that the small (under 10 HP IIRC) Nissan, Mercury and Tohatsu outboards are actually all made by Tohatsu.

[T37Chef]

"Be aware"???

[rats319]

I just recently bought a mercury 8 hp 4 stroke, and so far i am very pleased with it. Starts easy and runs very quiet. I went with mercury after my previous merc lasted well over 20 years. I really like the fact that you can shift the gears from the control tiller without having to lean down to reach the motor.

[NCountry]

I've had a 2.5 Mercury 2 stroke for about 4 years now. It's pretty basic mechanicaly and has done a great job of pushing around my water tender 9.4, mixing the gas and oil is a little bit of a pain but the elimination of some service issues due to it being a 2 stroke is nice. It is also light and easy to carry around. When it come time to put it up I just run the fuel out of it and store it for the winter. Don't know how it would handle the salt but it does great in fresh water.

[jorgenl]

I've got a Honda 20 hp. Love it. Super quiet and relatively light for it's size. Dinghy planes with 4 adults.

[sailingfool]

I've had seven years of excellent service from a Tohatsu 8HP two cycle, it has always started on the first pull and seems quite solid. probably good for anothe seven years of faultless operation. IMHO buy a used two cycle if you can find a good one, less weight, more power.

[tommays]

All the current 4strokes have about 0 tolerance for sitting around any amount of time with fuel left in the carb

The Tohatsu's have a rubber plug right in the motor cover that allows you to drain the carb on to a paper towel