Quietest small outboard?

[Glow]

My 98 Merc 6hp was a twin cylinder.

[9D280]

Originally Posted by Searider

They were always noisy.

Indeed, but on he plus side are thin & light.

Noise I reckon is down to a couple of thigns:
1) no air intake box (I think the later ones might have had one) so the intake noise shoots straight out the carb instead of being diverted-ish backwards. (and there's a big slot for the "go lever" to let it all out at the front)
2) lower cowl (case) is held on with a clip & a single screw, and has vast acres of thin sheet to vibrate.

As I'm going to have to run with mine until I replace the A- frame with a toob diameter following one, I'll let you know how the noise reduction plans go....

[lightning]

I had a 6hp mercury four stroke and it was pretty quiet at lower speeds. However it was a bit of a racket at WOT, a fairly loud drone that was tiring after a while. Also the vibration through the tiller made my hand go dead after a while.

Despite suggestions to the contrary, the Tohatsu 9.8hp two stroke I replaced it with is much more refined, I think for three reasons.
Twin cylinder
Rubber mounted power head
No need to be at WOT to plane/travel at higher speeds

But if you are going slowly on rivers etc a small four stoke such as the Mercury 4/5/6hp will be about as quiet as you will get.

[Brendan Townsend]

I recently bought our Tohatsu 15hp 4-stroke and was very pleasantly surprised how much quieter it was than our old 2-stroke 4hp Johnson and Evinrude motors. I would also suspect more slap and less oil-damped noise on 2-strokes.

One key improvement yet unmentioned is the low through-the-prop exhaust. I would consider this first if I were looking for a relatively quiet motor, though recognise this may be a common feature in modern 4-stroke outboards now.

[steve66]

Originally Posted by GJ0KYZ

Ha ha! Actually it's been chewed to death by my rats over the years. They've eaten the throttle cable, twist grip, choke lever, most of the propeller and even some of the cowling. Bloody swines they are..!!

I will buy it!!

[colcreate]

Originally Posted by Siochair

Hi John, I thought you had mentioned a while ago that you were going down the electric outboard route. I take it that this did work out the way you wanted?

Maybe this is worth looking at?
Outboard Engine for sale , Electric Propulsion Outboards - Boats And Outboards

[steve66]

Interesting that you can buy a kit to convert your petrol engine to electric. Id like to see the size of battery or usage time on a 25hp electric motor. Im contemplating converting an outboard to run on propane, not as difficult as it sounds and also you dont have to worry about fuel going stale over the winter

[samt]

I experimented with an electric motor on an outboard leg, it worked, but found the gearing in the gearbox was too low for an electric motor. Replaced a 4hp 4 stroke powerhead with an electric motor of similar power. To have enough juice for a full days use the batteries weighed over 100kg.