Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Small Outboard Motor Advice

Looking to pick up some small (2-10 hp) motors for the cabin.

Have been running older 6 hp evinrudes and johnsons with a couple smaller johnsons for portaging

Looking at some Honda, Suzuki, Tohatsu and Nissan motors. These would all be used.

What's the consensus on motors these days?

Now I see more and more 4-stroke motors so I am beginning to consider them, but I don't have any experience with them. I hear some of them are fairly light and might be an option. Don't know if I really want to mix it up with 2 and 4-stroke motors in camp though.

Many of the smaller ones are all made by one company and labeled for each other.

I've tried a couple of the 4 stroke, single cylinders in 2hp to 4hp and got rid of em immediately because of the excessive noise and vibration. The little Honda air cooled is quieter but has has a damned centrifugal clutch so when I want to really troll slow, it's out of gear. WTH?

I've found none as good as my Evinrude, 1965 Ducktwin 3.5hp.

Spend a few bucks to have the old 6 horseys tuned up and keep using them. The newer 4 strokes are heavier and damn expensive to boot.

I have an older outboard mechanic who claims that the old slant cowl Johnson/Evinrude kickers are the most bomb proof outboards even made. I've seen him get some of them running that looked like they were left on the ocean floor. Heck one 9.9 the last time I was by his place had been run way hot and he had to deck the head .035" to get the warpage flattened out. New gasket and a carb adjustment, along with a new impeller, and it was singing like a sewing machine.

Tohatsu makes many of the small 2-strokes, whose light weight go along with portaging. One of the finest among these is the 3.5 hp without gearshift, as these weigh only 27 lbs. I've had two, a Nissan, previously, and now a Tohatsu.

The older Johnson and Evinrudes is really the only way to go for trolling and dependability. The old 6horses and 9.9's are among the best ever made. They can be fixed by almost anyone and are basically bomb proof. powdr

Just like to say that my experience with older Mercs and Evinrudes was not so positive...particularly for trolling slow

First person I've ever heard say that about Evinrude's but not Mercury's. powdr

OMC = Johnson & Evinrude ......I've had a bunch of the 50s, 60s & 70s models that were all very reliable and trolled slowly, reliably and quietly. Friends with Mercs bought em because the were faster.

The 3.5 hp from the 60s had a weedless drive system that worked very well.

I have had merc Honda and Yamaha...great power out of the Yamaha but hard on gas...Honda runs great but plastic throttle lock kept breaking...
Back to the old merc 15 best one of the 3

Merc 2 stroke I like better then my merc 4 stroke...

I have a 2.5 horse Suzuki 4 stroke. It is a 2006 but only had it a year. Last weekend it blew a gear or something in the lower unit. I'm a bit disapointed in this motor. I dont know who the other owner was but I bought it from a dealer last year. I have not looked at it yet but imagine it is going to cost a bunch.

I have a 2.5 horse Suzuki 4 stroke. It is a 2006 but only had it a year. Last weekend it blew a gear or something in the lower unit. I'm a bit disapointed in this motor. I dont know who the other owner was but I bought it from a dealer last year. I have not looked at it yet but imagine it is going to cost a bunch.

I have a 13-year-old Honda; great motor. Had to do the first real work on it this summer (due to almost submerging it in the salt several years ago.) But I was talking to the dealer that I bought it from this fall. They carry Yamaha, Evinrude, and, Honda, (the big three). He said it's a toss-up between Yamaha and Evinrude for performance and technology in the current stuff, but the service is solidly in Evinrude's court. (Never overlook the service aspect.) I love my Honda with 1200-1500 hours on it, but they are really dropping the ball on service according to the dealer - who might drop the brand for that reason (and their motors are not keeping up with performance technology for the most part.)

Yamaha would be a good bet in hands off 4 stroke; Evinrude if you're savvy to keeping up with technology at all in two stroke.

I have a 1980 Evinrude 7.5. All freshwater use and never had any issue. It will troll all day long down to 1 mph on my 14 foot cartopper.


Great little outboard

I have a Honda 9.9 four stroke and I love it.I can run around 20 miles on a gallon of gas.It has the power of a 20hp two stroke,motor has some a$$.The draw back is it weighs about a hundred pounds.I also have a much lighter Mercury 6hp four stroke,weighs about 55lbs.Burns more fuel and has about half the a$$ of the Honda.I would take a serious look at the Hondas.

Come on!

All of the Kenai water system and soon The Little Sue require 4 stroke or compliant fuel injection. Lots of areas are going to 4 stroke.

I have a 2 stroke 8 HP Yamaha at 58# love it but not legal on the Kenai, Also have a 9.8 HP 4 Stroke Nissan 78# (Tohatsu under a Nissan brand) most small 4 stroke outboards are made by Tohatsu. The 2 cylinder 4 strokes are quiet and almost no vibration, but heavier than a 2 stroke.

Nothing worse than owning a nice 2 stroke that you can,t use do to new regulations.

If your gonna buy new I would say Suzuki or Yamaha 4 stroke, if your just gonna buy used motor I would say Johnson or evinrude 15 hp cause its the same as a 10 hp with a bigger carb and from 1974-1992 they are almost unchanged and have tons of parts available. Mercury and mariner in the 90s and early 2000s are nice 2 strokes and have the shift in the throttle, very nice. Stay away from older mercs.

The 9.9 - 15 HP 2 stroke OMC (Evinrude Johnsons) are a great LW motor. Easy to keep running to. The 8 HP 2 stroke are lighter and have great power. It kind of comes down to weight and reliability. 4 stokes are great but heavy, and they don't like cold weather harder to start. The new fuel injection models may have cured that, but prefer simpler for cabin operation, fuel injectors will not tolerate water in fuel. And costly to repair.

I have a Johnson 9.9 from 1968 that seems to have a life of its own. They guy I bought it from said he hadn't started it in 8 years, and the thing started on the 4th pull. I've never had to pull it that many times to get it started since.