Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Small Outboard Recommendation

You DO NOT want to find another Force outboard. You were lucky if your first one was great. I will always recommend Yamaha first. But a VERY close second would be Suzuki.

I have had different experience. A 2 stroke is virtually no maintenance. Use real gas. Mix good oil as recommended and use it for 30 years. I just traded a boat with a 1980 25 evinrude that ran great. I have 2 4 stroke 10s. Both are heavier than a 25 2 stroke. The old honda 10 is comparable to a 6 The mercury that has a yamaha engine runs like a 7.5 . The Mercury carb has to be cleaned often. They don't smoke. Get better mileage and are quiet. But if you do have to work on them they are more expensive by a lot.

Our group of 4 freight canoes make an extended trip every summer.....sometimes 1k miles.
We all run 15-20 hp and have all switched to Suzuki and Yamaha.....no more Hondas unless 6HP or less.
The EFI Suzuki's EFI is well received and they are real fuel sippers.

What is wrong with a Honda over 6hp? What issues did you have with them?

Again, remember good dealer support. It's not "sexy', but important.

2-stroke or 4-stroke certainly does matter as an increasing number of bodies of water do not allow 2-strokes. Also 4-strokes are quite a bit heavier than 2-strokes. However there are important advantages to 4-strokes, like much better fuel economy and very much quieter.

If your boat calls for 15 hp max, buy a 15. Though some bodies of water are limited to less than 10 hp, which is why there are so many offerings listed at 9.9 hp.

Quality-wise there is not much difference between a new Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, Tohatsu... Local dealer support just might sway. But Yamaha has earned a solid reputation as THE top brand and might bring better resale.

If buying used, condition is only everything.

This

The 20 Hondas just didn't compare......froze one up this year as it developed an oil leak
while underway. Replaced with Suzie.

Local Honda dealer quit outboards because of issues. Some of the larger ones won't
run well in very cold water and others had valve issues......which sizes I don't recall.

Our Canada fly-in camp owner went to 15 hp four stroke Yamaha outboards with electric starting and those outboards run every week all week long all summer long, They were two stoke guys for a lot of years, but there is no comparison for the quietness, way better gas mileage, no oil smoke and mixing, ease of maintenance and durability.

If you are looking for a new outboard in the 15 HP range, I don't think you can make a bad choice. I am uncertain who has gone to EFI at 15HP and who has not. I'd go with EFI though. DO NOT USE ethanol gas. If you cannot avoid it, use fuel conditioner.

Touching on some of the previously mentioned cross pollination of brands. Nissan no longer manufactures outboards. 15 HP and under Tohatsu, Merc and Evinrude are all Tohatsu products. Tohasu continues to build Mercs up to 30HP. Interestingly Tohatsu 60 HP and above are made by Honda.

Not all Japanese brands are made in Japan. Tohatsu is. Suzuki is made in Thailand.

If you buy new, you'd be hard pressed to find a better deal than is offered here: https://onlineoutboards.com/collections/ They are legit.

I just went through a 1984 15-hp Evinrude that hadn't run in at least 10 years, probably more. Changed water pump/impeller, fuel pump, installed carb kit, changed lower unit lube, replaced a few miscellaneous small parts, and was going to change spark plugs, except ... it fired right up. Ran it at the lake a few weeks back, and it thought it was 1988.

I presume there will have to be a four-stroke in my future, but ... there can be value out there if you are willing to look and are handy.

Check out BrandonsGarage on the 'Tube.

I do hate to lift our 20 horse Merc four stoke, it's heavy. Otherwise, it runs quiet, and cheap.

I bought a 5 hours Mercury last year. There are things I don tike about it. It is a 1 cylinder and it is not very smooth. Also, it does not start well when its was cold, like 25 degrees during deer gun season. I had to take out the spark plug and put s bit of gas in it ( a real little bit) and on the spark plug. I can tell you though, it uses so little gas its not funny. This is a 5 horse and use it on my fishing boat in the summer so it doesnt matter if it doesnt start when its cold cause I am getting another outboard that is a short shaft . Not the best idea using a long shaft on a short shaft Jon Boat. I will get another for the Jon boat for cold weather. Does anyone have experience with cold weather starting ? I would buy whatever you guys said starts in cold weather. Sometimes even as low as 15 degrees to cross an icy river for gun deer season. BUT, the darn thing has to start when its cold!!

Only four stroke and only EFI. I can't understand why anyone would buy a two stroke or anything with a carburetor in this day and age. That pretty much leaves Suzuki, Tohatsu, or Mercury in 15 hp unless I've missed some. I'd pick between the Suzuki and Tohatsu myself.

Never ran an outboard in that cold of weather .
Once on a six day river hunting/camping trip my 6hp yamaha took a few pulls to start , very cold for here below freezing . Motor foot was in the cold riverwater all night . Next day also cold - took cowl off engine - lit my single burner propane stove - let the carb and head get some heat on them - fired right up in a couple of pulls . **no gas can/tank close to flame** .
I figured even in the coldest of cold i could put a towel or something over the motor to trap the heat and get any motor to start much easier doing that .

I had a Suzuki for a few years and the biggest problem was finding someone to work on it. Shops that serviced the other major brands wouldn’t touch a Suzuki.

Look around on Craig's List or Facebook Market. I see that type motor for sale all the time. There are too many lightly used older Johnsons, Evinrudes and Mercury motors from the 60s and 70s still around to consider buying a brand new motor if you have any mechanical ability. They were made to last and easy to fix. If they have compression, everything else is bolt on. Stay clear of the motors from the mid to late 80s when they came up with the stupid 100 to 1 oil/gas ratio. There's a reason there aren't many still around with good compression. 50/1 is the ratio they should have stuck with, but they tried to beat some Government regulations on 2 strokes, and it nearly ruined the industry. That's why the 4 strokes came around a little later.

I like yamaha but I would look to see who has a dealership around.