Outboard choices

[stepaway]

Hi guys, first post here so go easy on me please

Bit about myself - i've always had a love of boats, and just recently have managed to get a Honwave 2.7 VIB, mainly for some fun on the river at the end of the road i live on. Although i've always had a keen interest, and spent a lot of time enjoying the Broads on hired boats, and enjoying the local rivers and lakes in my Canoe, i've never had the oppurtunity to acquire a powered vessel, so i'm making my first foray into this area and have some questions if any one would be kind enough to chip in their experience.

I have the Honwave, but i obviously need an outboard to power it. I have two choices in front of me at present. The first is a low hour (ten) 2008 Tohatsu 4hp four stroke from a local marine specialist priced at 350 pounds, fully serviced and ready to go, the second choice is a fairly old but visually good 4hp 2 stroke Evinrude, from a guy who i work with's father, who will make sure it's fully serviced and good to go for 150 pounds.

My questions are,

1. The Evinrude has a neutral/forward gearbox only with a spin round arrangement for reverse, as opposed to the Tohatsu's forward/neutral/reverse arrangement. In practise, how much of a pain is having no reverse and having to spin the engine?

2. The Tohatsu has a tiller throttle against the Evinrudes throttle control being on the engine housing, how much better is the tiller throttle in real use. Is it a bugger having to adjust the way the Evinrudes set up?

3. In terms of maintainence, are spares readily available for the Evinrude? Although in lovely condition it looks to be 20 or so years old at a guess, maybe older.

4. How much of a difference will a 4hp 2 stroke make in performance against the heavier fourstroke? For a first time Sibber will i really care? I'm not planning on going out that often anywhere the engines full potential will be useable anywhere as said, just mainly rivers locally.

5. Will the Tohatsu need any more maintainence against the two stroke?

Sorry for all the questions, i haven't actually got any previous experience with engines, so am just looking for some advice from you guys who have already been there! It's a matter of cost obviously, but is it worth the extra money invested for a novice part timer! Many thanks for any advice in advance.

Si.

Apologies and please move mods if this should be in the engines section.

[Jizm]

If it were me I would go for the newest most modern outboard I could afford, just my 2p.

Welcome to Ribnet.

[Nasher]

The Evinrude will be such a pain to use compared to the Tohatsu, which will give you much better control with the twist grip throttle and 'proper' gearbox.

In my opinion the extra cash spent on the Tohatsu will give you a much better boating experiance.

Nasher.

[stepaway]

Ok guys, thanks for your answers, i was fairly certain that would be the response. Annoyingly, i went to leave a deposit on the Tohatsu after work tonight, and the owner, who is the brother of a friend of mine, has informed me that they have found the gearbox needs some work doing on it and that the parts are proving very difficult to get . I find this very hard to believe, as most of what i read about them is the availability of spares being very good.

I get the feeling he may now be trying to fob me off, as when i initially went to see him i caught him on the hop slightly when we were discussing what i wanted, i don't think he had thought properly about a price on the Tohatsu at the time as we were talking about me wanting a cheap two stroke and it just came into the conversation. Oh well, i'll keep searching!

[kerny]

Unlucky there, I guess you was one stepaway from getting it !! Sorry mate ,couldn't resist I hope you don't mind. and welcome to RIBnet.

[stepaway]

Originally Posted by kerny

Unlucky there, I guess you was one stepaway from getting it !! Sorry mate ,couldn't resist I hope you don't mind. and welcome to RIBnet.

Ha ha no worries! My normal forum username is 'stepawayfromthemachine', i'm a regular over on CRX-UK, but there wasn't enough room when inputting my details when signing up. That name comes from my other passion in life (other than my little 5 month old daughter), it's a Honda, but not a boat.



Fully restored by myself over the last three years, my mates all laugh as i now have a Honda boat to go with it

Happy days.

[lightning]

Your engine choice also depends on how fast you want the boat to go. There's a point where the boat will start to "plane", that is rise up on the keel and go faster. A small engine of 4hp may struggle to get the boat to plane, particularly if you have 2 people on board, which means you will be looking at a top speed of about 6mph.
If you can get the boat past this speed it will rapidly speed up as it begins to "plane" and you will achieve maybe 15mph fairly quickly.
You can buy outboard engines the same size/weight as the 4hp ones you were looking at, that give 5 or 6 hp. This does not sound like much more, but it can make all the difference.

[Flotsam]

Just a couple of things, further to your post...

I used to use a 2.5 four stroke Honda with a work boat that I used for herbicide application. It too had a single gear and relied upon being reversed to propel the boat backwards. Once you are used to this, it is actually quicker than shutting the throttle, changing gear and re-opening the throttle again.

I would not discount the engine for this reason alone.

The other notable issue is that when reversed, these engines provide the same amount of thrust and control backwards as forwards. This is not true of an engine with a reverse gear.

Hope you find a suitable engine soon.