Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Small outboard motors

You can still find those

Funny this post came up. I started with a small Jon Boat 9 yrs ago and got sick of rowing . I buy a 2 horse Evinrude made around 1970. The guy on Craigslist said " Might need a tune up." First warning right there. I take it in and they say it si not worth it. I buy a 2.5 horse Suzuki for 500 bucks. It starts good and runs fine. The problem is , it is a wimpy unit. The shear pin breaks off at full throttle , the lower unit bolt broke ( likely from hitting a rock in the river) and I didn't know it till it started to grind. I buy a 2010 3.5 horse Mercury for 800 . It never really ran all that good but was told it is cause it is gravity fed and has a laps when giving it gas. I have it at the neighbors house . He tore down Mercurys for 44 yrs there at the plant in Fon Du Lac. He sais the float stays stuck down . If he can fix it I think I am in luck . It would deb a good outboard for my new 1436 Jon boat and it planes at less than full throttle and goes 9 mph. It is a short shaft however and so is the Jon Boat. I decide to swallow hard so down to the Merc dealer I go. A new 5 horse longs haft for my bigger boat ( Alumacraft V16) This outboard is new but far superior to the others, ,, but it is new. It has reverse, has a tank on top and can be run from the 6 gal. tank too. It also has a 2 amp charger and that makes sense cause it will likely be used for back trolling and the big TV sets I see on boats that are called fish finders use some juice. I have not been happy with small motors at all. I think they should charge a few hundred more dollars and make them 2 cylinders so they are even smoother and quieter.. The 3.5 horse Merc is not good at starting when its cold. I need something that starts and the colder , the more dangerous my hunting is cause I cross a river with ice chunks floating down and they are hard to push away.

I had a little 6HP Yamaha 2 cylinder and it was a sweetheart of a little motor. Sold it to a buddy who runs it on his john boat and it's a great fit. They aren't that heavy and are superior to the little one-lungers.

Sockpuppet, I found that out today when I took out my new 5 horse. It is very quiet but it does vibrate much more and shakes things in the boat and makes it rattle. I am going to try to find the rattles and also take some rubber roofing and perhaps glue it on top of the transom and perhaps the back of the transom and tighten the heck out of it. Maybe even bold the motor on too. This might help a bit. I wish they would spend a few hundred dollars more and make them 2 cylinders. A better product always sells better when it comes to hunting and fishing.

I read it somewhere but it is a fact that the more carbons there are in the hydrocarbon molecule the more heat it produces when it is burned. If using more oil was beneficial the engine makers would have recommended more. Nobody cared about a little more smoke in the 60s.

Clean water free new gas is the key esp. in a 2 stroke! Old gas will cause lots of problems in a 2 stroke. I drain carbs end of season and add stabilizer. Had an issue this WE on a fast river in buds 2 stroke jet boat betting carbs had water which creates rust and plugs jets.

Good to know. About to go through a 1985 Evinrude 15hp that's been sitting for 10-years plus. Hope it's savable.