small outboard choice

[searay215ec]

Hi people

I just purchased a 2.4m inflatable to use as a tender, max hp 3.7 and now need to buy a motor.

Question is 2 stroke or 4 stroke?
Brand?
Pros? & cons of each


Any info or recommendations would be great.

Cheers

[FrankFWM]

I would go with a Tohatsu - they make the Mercury smaller HP motor's for Mercury.

In saying that - I have a Zodiac 2.6M with a Mercury 2 stroke on the back(made by Tohatsu - why? Because I didn't know about Tohatsu making them at the time.

I have a Tohatsu 140HP one of my other boats - never missed a beat in 4 years...

Tohatsu's are usualy a couple of hundred cheaper than a Mercury or Yami.

The main benefit that is meaningful with a 4 stroke in the smaller HP motor's in my opinion is not having to mix oil with fuel - the noise factor difference isn't that different since most of your driving around on a tender is just putting around from a boat to the beach etc. so your not running at 4000 to 5000 revs anyway.

Obviously, a 4 stroke would be better for the environment also - but then again, most people only run them for a few minutes at a time so given the lack of hours, this probably wont be a big deal anyway.

I think I would go with a two stroke again... my Mercury made by Tohatsu is 7 years old - used every 2nd week end - never had a problem ever and the fuel usage is so low it's not funny - so I wouldn't even consider 4stroke fuel saving as a factor in my buying criteria.

One last thing - if you intend lying the motor down on it's side when transporting it - you have to be careful with a 4 stroke - it can be done but it should sit a certain way to it is not actualy level and thepower head is higher than the leg. If you do it wrong, I am told that you can end up with oil in the bores and trying to compress oil usualy has the same result as trying to compress water - disaster.

I don't believe this is an issue with two strokes - but I am happy to be proven wrong.

Just my opinion...

Frank

[marco]

as frank said the mixing of oil aspect is a pain , and i have a yami 3hp 2 stk which is great but when i flush it in a bucket , the amount of oil amazes me .



i think 4 stk is the go .

[Timmy94]

Tohatsu 3.5 2stroke - $850 I have one and it is foward and Neutral with no reverse. And $760 Just Foward - River City Marine

Tohatsu 3.5 4stroke - $1250 from Currumbin Marine on their Website this has Foward and Neutral im not sure about reverse though.

[searay215ec]

Thanks for the advice.

I can get a Merc 3.3 with forward and nuetral for $700.

I'll pick one up next week.


Cheers

[joeT]

Thanks for the advice.

I can get a Merc 3.3 with forward and nuetral for $700.

I'll pick one up next week.


Cheers

Do you mind letting us know where?

[on-one]

Hi Searay215ec, For a little more you could get the 4hp with reverse (I paid inside 900 for a new 4 hp merc with reverse last year) Reverse makes pulling up to the duckboard and putting out crab pots a lot easier

[propdinger]

i would go 2 stroke mixing oil is a pain but how often are you going to mix the oil not often . i had a yammy 4 stroke 4hp and it was as rough as a 2 stroke and no better than the 2 stroke but cost more. if you go over 30hp i reckon thats the only time you start to ge tyour money out of a 4 stroke we have a 60hp and a 200hp 4 stroke didnt even look at 2 strokes in those sizes but my 15hp is a 2 stroke and goes great and lighter than a 4 stroke which is handy when storing



jeff

[marco]

i would go 2 stroke mixing oil is a pain but how often are you going to mix the oil not often .



jeff

yea but with shelf life of the premixed fuel not being that great i usaully throw fuel out before i get a chance to use it all