Which dinghy outboard to get?

[MVDarlin]

I have a 6hp Suzuki. Very reliable. It hangs on my sailboat railing and I use a single pole davit and pulley to lower it onto the skiff. I can do it all single hand. I recomnend max hp rating for the skiff.

[Kiwi.]

Originally Posted by Letterkenny

Well my other concern is that I’ll have this on an outboard bracket and will need to put on the dingy from the bathing platform so less weight is better. Could go with the 3.5HP Mercury for the same weight. That’s a Tohatsu right? I’d just rather have something new at this point that I know all the hours and service intervals.

We're just coming into a bay to anchor so I haven't read the thread. But those 3.5 Mercury outboards are awesome! I've even started one on a bottle of whiskey! The gear lever has saved my legs many times as I start it before climbing on board on a beach with way to many waves. I put mine into a locker (nearly upside down) and pulled it out after a year that included a Tasman crossing. Started second pull on 2 year old gas (probably still 10% cheap whiskey).

[Icarus]

I have a 3.5 2 stroke Mercury..
Keeps running ok, not too heavy.
Main thing is keep to the 50:1 oil, fuel ratio and once a year or so I clean the carb, they are simple engines.

[JMaav]

Originally Posted by s/v Moondancer

I have always bought something big enough for the dinghy and outboard to maneuver the boat and get me out of the anchorage which puts you at a 5hp. Charter people get nervous when you short tack through an anchorage!

I agree with the moon dancer. Get a motor large enough to pull your vessel when you are in need. 5 to 8 hp would be nice. I personally would go with the Yamaha. Although lately I have liked some of the Suzuki engines as well. Just hard to find/And guessing online parts only… used the 9.9 for several months, and it was very sturdy - smooth - 1 start.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by lo2jones

I don’t understand the rationale for purchasing a 2-3 hp engine. If you are worried about the weight, have a davit mounted where you can use it for the engine, groceries, new batteries…etc. 2-3hp can barely get two people a 1/4 mile to the dinghy dock. A 6-9hp engine may be able to tow the boat in a pinch. A crew member in the dink of such boat can make an impossible docking situation manageable…etc.

Some of us have a small boat with no good place for a davit. When we have a small boat, we probably have a small dinghy as well. And we may not use the dinghy to transport groceries and batteries, we may do that while in a slip at a marina.

There are many good reasons to buy a small dinghy motor, just as there are many reasons to buy a larger one. It depends on one's needs and wants.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

im thinking of moving to an electric outboard

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

With current technology , no logical examination of the changeover to electric propulsion makes engineering or financial sense. From the few examples I’ve seen owners largely did it because of misplaced personal convictions , a sense of latest fashion tech , or more money then sense ( which is very prevalent in boat owning )

So which is it?

[Tonali99]

Originally Posted by MJH

I bought a Suzuki 2.5HP early last spring 2020 and it has operated fine. They recommend only using ethanol-free gas and I follow that. The engine has an easy way to drain the carburetor of the last drops of gas which should temper carb issues. The only thing I don't like about the engine are the twin transom attachment screws...very cheap and no easy way to padlock the engine down.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

I got one of those too. Nice little motor, simple and easy start/run.
I use a motorcycle coated stainless cable wrapped below the powerhead and locked to the dink or railing mount.
Yeah you could steal it, but it'll take you a while.

[searenity38]

I've gone the gambit of OB's.

Tohatsu 6hp - highly dependable. Used it on my Montgomery 17. I put 100 hours on it easily doing the ICW. It has a fresh water hookup for flushing. 56 lbs I sold it with the M17

Yamaha 4stroke 4hp - Used this flawlessly on my dinghy as a daily comuter for 12 months. Has a built in tank plus a conection for an external tank. So range is dramatically improved. 54lbs Liked it so much I didn't sell it when I sold the sailboat.

Suzuki 2.5 - Got this for my Walker Bay 10. 3kts on very calm water. I think it would be underpowered on a decent sized dink in any current or windy conditions. But it only weighs 27lbs. Easy to store. It will not accept an exterior tank.

Torqeedo 3 - Outstanding power for such a small package. Much better than the Suzuki. Only downside is the limited range. 2 miles ok. 3? not sure. but it does have it's upsides. Breaks down into 3 pieces. Heaviest part is 14lbs. Total weight is 27lbs. I have it on my Rosborough and I can charge it while under way.

Bottom line. It all depends on what you plan to use it for:
- As a dinghy for getting back and forth from a mooring ball to the dinghy dock. Torqeedo. If a well protected mooring area the 2.5hp Suzuki. But it's slowwww
As a cruising around dinghy, either the Tohatsu or the Yammy for sure. But they're on the heavy side. So you are probably looking at davits.

Joe
SeaEsta

[PNWSalmon]

I’m reading this thread at anchor in a remote bay in Mexico. Our first trip around the west coast, we have felt pretty snazzy with our torqeedo. No gas, no weight issues, no maintenance. We’ve been using the torqeedo for 5 years, the last 9 months cruising full time. It’s been awesome!

Until yesterday, when the motor died. Threw an error code which means the motor is dead and needs to go to the service center. I took it all apart, no signs of water ingress. But it’s deader than dead, no more trips to the beach, no more exploring the mangroves, no more resupply trip up the river for groceries. We have oars for our dinghy and a paddle board. I can tell you it was a lot of fun rowing two people up wind in 20 knots gusts and an ebb tide this afternoon.

We loved the torqeedo, but it’s totally screwed us now. And it’s basically a paperweight, going to cost 1,000 or more to repair, no service centers in Mexico, no real way to ship it to the US for rebuild. I was foolish to take such a gamble to bring this cruising, and I’m lucky it died in a country where two stroke engines are easily available. I’ll go back to a Mercury 3.3 and won’t be looking back until electrics become field serviceable or until we return to solely inland cruising.

It was fun while it lasted. If anyone wants the carcass of a torqeedo let me know. Hopefully I’ll be able to sell the battery at least.

[Kiwi.]

Originally Posted by PNWSalmon

We loved the torqeedo, but it’s totally screwed us now. And it’s basically a paperweight, going to cost 1,000 or more to repair, no service centers in Mexico, no real way to ship it to the US for rebuild. I was foolish to take such a gamble to bring this cruising, and I’m lucky it died in a country where two stroke engines are easily available. I’ll go back to a Mercury 3.3 and won’t be looking back until electrics become field serviceable or until we return to solely inland cruising.

Love that little 2-stroke Mercury 3.3. Light and easy to start and it has a gear lever so you can start it safely in the water whilst holding the dingy into the waves.
Uncle Ray (gone a few years now) used to make a mean home brewed whiskey; it tasted horrible. One night on the boat when I'd run out of the good stuff I tasted his brew and declared it tasted "worse than petrol". I declared I could run the Mercury on it. So we drained the petrol out of the 3.3 Mercury and pored in about half a bottle of Uncle Ray's whiskey (probably 100% ethanol with some colouring and flavouring). We both hopped into the dink and I pulled the cord. It started OK and ran at full throttle but we couldn't turn it off! We must have been the most unpopular people in the anchorage that night as we circled our yacht at high speed waiting for the whisky to run out!
A decade or more later the 3.3 still starts and runs perfectly.

[Letterkenny]

Mercury just teased an electric outboard. No real info yet but it is something I may consider.

[waterman46]

South of the border its Yamaha, Yamaha and Yamaha, all 2 stroke, service and knowledge available everywhere.

[waterman46]

They also do Suzuki in manama land. Hate 2 stroke so we bought a 2.5hp 4 stroke Suzuki in Rio Dulce. Works well but slow ride of course.

[PNWSalmon]

Like all things cruising, slowing down is always a good thing. Now I have more information that I can share,

I have to recant and amend my statement about Torqeedo. They actually helped me quite a bit, we diagnosed the problem down to the circuit board, and you can actually replace the parts in the field, that that’s the path we are going down.

We might have to replace the whole engine unit, what they call the “Pylon” for about $650. Doing the math, five years of use, $130/year isn’t bad for us. Considering all the gas we didn’t have to buy, all the oil changes we didn’t have to do, all the gas/oil we didn’t have to mix (if we were 2 stroke), all the carbs we didn’t have to clean, etc etc.

I’m glad the unit isn’t truly bricked, it is field serviceable with regular tools, and the spare parts are available immediately. All things I was not well informed on. For our cruising style, we are going to postpone the gas outboard just a little longer and see if we can get another five years out of the Torqeedo.

We are very much still the odd ducks out in the cruising world, and we may well regret this decision, but after dealing with the borrowed outboard for just a week now, I’ve quickly realized how truly spoiled we are we the electric.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Torqeedo doesn’t more widely advertise the “field serviceability” of the units at some point.

[Shaneesprit]

Originally Posted by PNWSalmon

I’m reading this thread at anchor in a remote bay in Mexico. Our first trip around the west coast, we have felt pretty snazzy with our torqeedo. No gas, no weight issues, no maintenance. We’ve been using the torqeedo for 5 years, the last 9 months cruising full time. It’s been awesome!

Until yesterday, when the motor died. Threw an error code which means the motor is dead and needs to go to the service center. I took it all apart, no signs of water ingress. But it’s deader than dead, no more trips to the beach, no more exploring the mangroves, no more resupply trip up the river for groceries. We have oars for our dinghy and a paddle board. I can tell you it was a lot of fun rowing two people up wind in 20 knots gusts and an ebb tide this afternoon.

We loved the torqeedo, but it’s totally screwed us now. And it’s basically a paperweight, going to cost 1,000 or more to repair, no service centers in Mexico, no real way to ship it to the US for rebuild. I was foolish to take such a gamble to bring this cruising, and I’m lucky it died in a country where two stroke engines are easily available. I’ll go back to a Mercury 3.3 and won’t be looking back until electrics become field serviceable or until we return to solely inland cruising.

It was fun while it lasted. If anyone wants the carcass of a torqeedo let me know. Hopefully I’ll be able to sell the battery at least.

Buy an old Villiers Seagull, some of them must be 50 years old, the jet is huge and designed to be serviced on the passage.
They say even if you drop it in the drink you can get it going again.