Would You Buy Another Tohatsu??

[sck5]

Yamaha Enduros can be found in the Bahamas. Great engines.

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

Ok, that's just silly... "eco-nuts" have nothing to do with "allowing" the continued use of small 2-stroke engines in agriculture...it's simply that it's not feasible to build a lightweight 4-stroke that small. Further, it's just little motors that are 2-stroke; I know of no modern 2-stroke tractors or lawnmowers; they're all now 4-stroke and work just fine. (yes I know that 2 stroke motorbikes etc are more common in developing countries. Economics)

Thread drift
I meant ride on's not tractors.

Here is a 1hp 4 stroke
https://www.makita.biz/environment/mm4.html

Here is a 6hp 2 stroke mower
https://www.as-motor.uk/product/as-53-2t-es-4wd-rb/

All 2 stroke outboards banned in Europe and US.

Eco-politics vs lobbyists, gardening lobby won, sailing lobby lost.

[rslifkin]

There may still be 2 stroke mowers in Europe, but I'm pretty sure there are no 2 stroke mowers (push or ride on) available in the US.

[edexter]

The milkiness sounds like water. When the motor overheated it may have cracked but probably just warped the head, maybe just temporarily, and upset the head gasket seal, allowing water to leak into the oil. The pressure is from the water filling the crankcase, getting hot and expanding. Motor needs a rebuild at least, if the head’s warped it may be cheaper to buy a new one.

I have no experience with Tohatsu, but I bought a Yamaha extralong shaft 9.9 with a high thrust prop two years ago and am extremely happy with it - drives our little sailboat at near hull speed at 1/3 throttle. Very economical, and both less noisy and faster than our old Evinrude 2 stroke.

[RickG]

We have had three Tohatsus without planning too. Our first and main outboard is a 2011 9.8 2-stroke. I bought this in Annapolis MD on an AB 9 UL from a cruiser who was swallowing the anchor after stalking Craigslist for a couple of months. Every time this outboard has had a problem the root cause was fouled spark plugs. In the process I have learned to debug the ignition system and rebuild carburetors. It starts on the first pull.

Our second Tohatsu is a 2003 3.5B 2-stroke with no transmission. It starts in forward and you need to spin it to turn. I bought this because the 9.8 was too powerful for my lady on the ultralight AB dinghy. This $300 outboard has started first pull of the cord every time. The only work besides regular maintenance was JB Weld on the fuel tank to stop a leak at a seam.

Our third Tohatsu was a 2019 3.5 4-stroke. It came with an Apex 10' dinghy we bought used and had less than 10 hours on it. I did the break-in maintenance when I bought it and it ran fine for a bit. Before it had 20 hours on it the outboard would not run reliably. I cleaned the carburetor jets with carb cleaner and blew them out with air. It worked for another couple of hours and I had to clean the jets again. I ran all the fuel through a Baja filter (no water or particles found) and put it up for sale. A seasoned charter skipper bought it and was well aware of the problems of small 4-strokes. Good riddance! That 9.8 works great on the Apex 10'.

I'm not a mechanic by any stretch, but most outboard users are not. I've learned on youtube and reading blogs. It is telling that the Yamaha 15 2-stroke is the most common outboard on tenders in the Caribbean.

Cheers, RickG

[OkeoverSailor]

We have had our 2011 Tohatsu 6 hp 4 stroke for 9 years pushing our 23' Paceship around Desolation Sound. Never had a problem. I change the plug and oil on the maintenance schedule, use non-ethanol gas as much as possible, run it dry over the winter, pull the cord every few weeks while it's hanging on a stand in my shop over the winter to keep the impeller from sitting in one position for an extended period.
I should add that I flush it with fresh water every couple of weeks even during use.
Starts 1st or 2nd pull every time.

I would absolutely buy another Tohatsu without hesitation.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by GrowleyMonster

Sounds like you overheated it one time too many and you have a cracked block or head.


I have found Tohatsus to be pretty good motors. Honda, Nissan, Tohatsu, all of those new small Asian 4 strokes are surprisingly dependable outboards in my experience.



Always make sure that the motor "pees" when it is running. Watch the smoke... there should be very little and it should be light gray or light blueish-gray. Should always start easy with the choke pulled out. The motor should be mounted low enough that the foot never comes out of the water while it is running. Don't let it run out of oil. They don't burn much oil but eventually it will get low and this will cause overheating and siezed bearings.

That’s the thing. The design is idiotic.

Telltale blast a full stream of water WVEN WHEN THE HEAD IS NOT GETTING COOLING WATER from a malfunctioning thermostat.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Chotu

That’s the thing. The design is idiotic.

Telltale blast a full stream of water WVEN WHEN THE HEAD IS NOT GETTING COOLING WATER from a malfunctioning thermostat.

That might seem logical... but the pee stream is just to confirm pumping, and it's usually obvious if the engine overheats - it sounds different, it loses performance, you can feel the head coming off of it. In my limited experience.

Easy to miss, I guess, if you're not expecting it.

[merrydolphin]

Give me a 2 stroke any day. Yes, they burn more fuel but I’ll take that anytime over the complexity, extra maintenance and fussiness of the 4 strokes. For dingy on a cruising boat, 4 strokes are way to heavy, my Yami 15 2 stroke weights 79#. A $ stroke is 130#! I have an AB rib. My friend has same the dingy. I have a 2, he a 4 15hp. His transom sits precarious close to the Water. Mine has several inches more freeboard on the transom. His dingy actually squats when idle. I have more speed and power. And much less maintenance and dependability.
The two most important factors of a dingy motor is dependability and weight. No thanks on the 4 stroke for me (on a dingy). I understand that the Tahatsu 2 strokes are good motors.

PS a real shame on the Evenrude E-Tech. They were a better mousetrap, well on their way up (technically ). Unfortunately not business wise. But they didn’t make them in dingy size anyway.

[exMaggieDrum]

This was back in 2004, and things can certainly change since then. We bought a new Tohatsu 9.8 four stroke. We used the hell out of it for 4 years as full time cruisers to Mexico and then across the Pacific. The only problem I had with it was salt in the "pee" line which was easy to fix. I did all the maintenance.


When I bought our new (now sold) boat in 2014, I bought another Tohatsu just like it. Extremely quiet and to my eye extremely high quality parts and build. I know others who have had Tohatsus with no problem. We sold our current one to friends who took it to Mexico three years ago and it was performing like a champ for them.


FYI

[CANVision]

We love our Tohatsu 5 hp propane on a 10' Portabote. Easy start and no issues with carb/jets or mediocre ethanol or watery fuel. With propane a necessary evil aboard, we were happy to eliminate gasoline from our cruiser...

[Chotu]

Does anyone here leave their tohatsu on the dinghy while the dinghy is on the davits?

Do you get the difficult start and burning oil cloud out of the exhaust when you do?

[cottonsail]

3 or 4 years ago I bought a Tohatsu 5 HP Propane outboard. It is the hardest starting outboard I've ever owned. If you follow the owners manual it will take 30 pulls to start. What I've found out through trial and error is turn on the gas, give it 2 or 3 pulls and wait at lest 5 minutes. I suspect this purges air out of the propane line. Set throttle at 1/2 with full choke and about 4 or 5 pulls you will have a running engine. The 5 HP propane is based on the 6HP gas engine. Tohatsu lists in their parts manual an electric start conversion or the 6 HP. If that works it is probably my only option for easy starting. I would NOT buy this motor again.

[Ike]

I had a 2013 Mercury/Tohatsu 4hp for 6 years. always ran fine with one exception. Took it to the dealer, he cleaned the carb for free. Never a problem after that. This January traded it in for a 9.9 Suzuki with electric start. Getting too old to pull start outboards anymore and my wife never could pull start the 4 horse. Now it's push a button. But anyway it was a good little outboard.

[hlev00]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Does anyone here leave their tohatsu on the dinghy while the dinghy is on the davits?

Do you get the difficult start and burning oil cloud out of the exhaust when you do?

I assume this is a 4-stroke. Is the engine tilted up, or down in the normal position for operation, when on the davits? If it is tilted up and there is much movement on the davits underway, you are shaking the oil around and it is getting into the cylinder. We have a similar problem if we leave it on the dinghy, tilted up, while towing if there are many waves, so we don't. If we tow with the engine on it is only on calm days or off the wind with relative small (< 2ft) seas. Other than that we put it on the pushpit bracket.


If tilted up, be sure you rotate around with the tiller down. Even if you leave it down, there may be enough movement to slosh the oil around.