Need a New Dinghy Motor

[Ofer]

my seven YO Honda 2.2 was stolen at mission bay this last weekend.

I really did not like this temperamental engine but finally made it run after seven years of changing carbs etc. are they any better now?

what should I get now?

2.3 Honda
2.5 Suzuki
2.5 Yamaha
or?

being light and reliable is main concern.

[model 10]

We had the Suzuki for little while. Pain in the ass. The same carb issues you had before. The gear shifting and the bevel gears in the bottom end were junk. The problem with setting it down correctly so the oil didn't run out on the deck is probably true for all of them.
Out cruising we see a lot of little Hondas.

[marlinmike]

Those small Honda's are loud as hell, check out the small Mercury outboards, very quiet.

[cuthbert]

I have the little Honda 2.3.

I can get this from transom to the dingy with some assistance from the admiral to balance it upright while I move between the two. So it is just about a manageable weight. I have never tried to tow the dingy with the outboard in place, no problems with jet clogging when using a fuel stabilizer.

I would recommend it, but, to mow the lawn I have a li-ion battery powered lawnmower that costs $350 which is $100 more than the same with a mains lead and a lot less than a petrol mower, so I always looking at outboard prices and wondering why when a Honda 2.3 outboard costs $1000 a torqeedo costs $2000 (when really it should be nearer $5-700?).

Great looking product, terrible price, if it was 20% over the cost of a small 4 stroke I would have bought it.

[Ofer]

the small Suzuki and mercury are getting pretty lousy reviews.

That leaves the Honda and Yamaha.

BTW is it still true that we cant get the small two strokes in the USA??

[marlinmike]

"BTW is it still true that we cant get the small two strokes in the USA??"

Yes thank the EPA on that one, those 3hp 2 strokes were really warming the planet!

You can buy a 2 stroke on the used market, or go to Canada...

[nimblemotors]

Yes, thank the EPA for preventing raw gasoline and oil being dumped right into the water. I recall Mission Bay does not allow 2 strokes.

http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/grandjury...nBayReport.pdf
'Of these amounts of gasoline and oil, 25% to 40% is discharged into the water. Conservatively
using an unburned rate of 30%, one may conclude that during the weekend of July 4, 2000, both
sites collectively were subject to a spill of approximately 2,500 gallons of gas and 250 gallons of
oil. From these quantities of gasoline and oil, 50% evaporated; therefore, the polluting gasoline
and oil amount to approximately 1200 and 100 gallons respectively. '

So one single weekend, 1200 gallons of gasoline and 100 gallons of oil were dumped into Mission Bay from two strokes.
Just your little boat, but there are thousands of just one little boats.

Originally Posted by marlinmike

"BTW is it still true that we cant get the small two strokes in the USA??"

Yes thank the EPA on that one, those 3hp 2 strokes were really warming the planet!

You can buy a 2 stroke on the used market, or go to Canada...

[onestepcsy37]

Originally Posted by Ofer

BTW is it still true that we cant get the small two strokes in the USA??

True. But we can sail over to the bahamas and get one new for the same price as a 4 stroke here in florida. US customs doesn't check you on the way back.

[Cheechako]

It seems all the modern 2-3 hp outboards, and especially the Hondas are tempermental beasts. Everyone I run into seems to have the same opinion.
My old 2hp Johnson worked for 2 years cruising and never missed a lick. I currently have a 4 hp merc that starts even after sitting all winter with 2 pulls. Of course those are 2 strokes. Wonder what an older Merc or Evinrude 4 hp weighs compared with the 2.5 Honda?

With BP leaving 4" of bottom sludge crude oil in the gulf..and no plans to remove it.... a bit of oil from a 4hp 2stroke doesn't bother me much...

[nimblemotors]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

With BP leaving 4" of bottom sludge crude oil in the gulf..and no plans to remove it.... a bit of oil from a 4hp 2stroke doesn't bother me much...

So by this logic, because someone is worse than you, that makes whatever you do OK? This is why we have the EPA, so people like you can't just rationalize doing whatever they want.
If I went to your favorite cove with a 55 gallon drum of oil, and sprayed it all over the cove one weekend, you are OK with that right?

I was at the smog test station this week, and it never fails someone asks me or comments, that this testing is useless, or is a scam to make California money, or some other nonsense. I lived in LA before smog controls.
Maybe you think this is OK, to have air like this in Mexco City.

[Randyonr3]

Just my 2 cents here.. we've had all the issues as many with the small motors but have decided to change our ideas based on how we used the outboard and distance we traveled..
Much of the time our trips were from the boat in the anchorage to shore or to the dock, being a short distance. with every once in a while where we would do an outting and travel a few miles..
The small outboard was a pain ,Yes, in all conditions..
SO, what weve decided to do is purchase a 55 lb thrust trolling motor for our daily jaunts, with the battery in a carry on box to be charged by a solar pannel.. simple, pull up next to your boat, tye it up and plug it in..
and then keep a merc 20 hp on the rail for our long distance trips.. I say 20 as its the same weight as the 15 hp..
A 55lb trolling motor and a group 24 deep cell should do the trick for daily use..

[S/V Antares]

If we are staying on thread......

Tohatsu ( aka Mercury, Nissan) makes a light 3.5 that has been getting upgraded since they started the 4 stroke in 2007. If you drill out the idle mixture plug and turn the screw out 1/4 - 1/2 turn more it will start on the first pull and purr like a kitten. You just have to drain the carb if you leave it for a week or so. (Easy) I put an inline Briggs and Stratton filter on mine as well. The early ones had a few issues but they seem to have fixed them.

The 4 strokes use a lot less fuel then the 2 strokes.

The crap gas we get these days is an issue on all gas engines. The small jet orifices on the smaller HP units are just a bit more sensitive to the ethanol debacle. Nearly every OB under 8 hp has the same basic Japanese Keihin carb.

[Cuttyhunk]

I bought a Honda 2.3 last year. I am a left-handed woman, and have a lot of trouble pull-starting outboards with my right hand. I can start this Honda with no problem. Yes, it is noisy for its size; it does not have a water pump and is just passively cooled by the shaft in the water. However, it starts and runs and it weighs around 28 lbs. We currently own five outboards, ranging from 115 hp on the fishing boat down to the 2.3. Three are four stroke, two are two-stroke. For a couple of weeks this summer, the 2.3 was the only one of the five that was running. It is light and easy for us to get from the rail to the dink. It's just easy to deal with all around for me; I can lift it, I can set it up to run in a 5-gal bucket at home when I need to, I can start it, I can fill it with a two-gallon gas can.

I really hate ethanol, though, and expect this one's carburetor will get gummy before too long. Just like all the others... (two are back from the shop and working again, yay!)

[Macblaze]

I saw one of these Lehr propane outboards hanging off someone's transom in Nanaimo. Anyone know how useful/efficient they are?

http://golehr.com/

[nhschneider]

Slightly off topic - sorry - but I just bought a new Yamaha 15hp Enduro - 2-stroke - to replace my 13-year old Honda 15. I loved my Honda but in it's later years became unreliable, despite my diligent maintenance. My wife and I were reluctant to switch from 4- to 2-stroke, not just for simplicities sake but also for environmental concerns. However, my research showed that there have been significant improvements in the efficiency of 2-stroke motors and not only is their fuel consumption nearly that of 4-stroke motors, but their exhaust emissions are much better than they ever have been. Add to that that the Yamaha 15 Enduro weight is 25% less than the Honda and costs nearly half of the Honda, our tough decision was made.

I know this is anecdotal, but in our travels we have seen Yamaha outboard dealers in some very remote places while those of other manufacturers seem almost nonexistent.

Fair winds and calm seas.