I have a Mercury 6hp 4 stroke outboard and the instructions forbid carrying it with the convenient carrying handle located below the choke control. This means it is a pain to carry. What is the big deal with carrying it this way? I guess the engine oil will end up in the cylinder but I always drain the fuel by running it dry before taking it off the boat, and as long as I check the oil level before I start it what damage could I do?
If you get oil in the cylinders then as you say you will need to top up the oil before each use (not that big an issue but a bit of a PITA, and in my experience small outboards are very sensitive to being exactly level when checking / topping up oil) which may not be easy. HOWEVER, there are a couple of other issues:
(1) if you get enough oil in the cylinders there is a potential for hydraulic lock - with consequential bent bits and expensive damage. Not sure if you'd manage this trying to hand start an engine with a rope though.
(2) a small amount of oil will foul the plug and make it a bugger to start. You'd probably want to remove the plug and turn it over a few times before refitting the cleaned plug to mitigate 1&2. More hassle.
(3) it will smoke like mad even if you try to get any oil out the cylinder (I speak from experience).
You have a Tohatsu 9.8hp on a SIB under 3m.....that would go well. How fast does it go? The Mercury will manage about 14mph with two of us onboard my Zodiac 2.85m SIB, would it be worth me upgrading to the Tohatsu, which weighs about the same?
Going back to the engine, it can be carried either upright or facing down according to the book, but not facing up. This means you cannot carry it by the handle! But it is OK when tipped up on the transom,as this is facing down. I have carried it with the handle and it does then smoke on the next startup for a few seconds.
Our 2.85m Zodiac boat has a solid floor with inflatable V- keel.
The Mercury 6hp is pretty good for it's size, with one person on board (sat near the front with a tiller extension) it planes pretty much instantly when you open the throttle.
With two of us on board (combined weight 21 stone) it takes a few seconds to get "out of the hole" but will then quickly achieve 14-15 mph on the GPS. With 3 persons it won't plane.
However the engine is of course flat out and therefore fairly noisy. You can back off the power a bit and still maintain 12mph or so, but I thought with the Tohatsu on it might be a bit more relaxed, with some power in reserve.
