outboard engine for cape dory 26

[brianmurphy]

I have a cape dory 26 for the past 26 years. I am looking to repower. I have looked at the new yamaha, honda and tohutsu 9.9 hp, X-long but they are to large for the transom well. However, tohutsu has a 6 hp X-long that will fit but I'm hesitant because I'm not sure it will be enough power to push a 5000 lbs. boat . I would appreciate any comments and advice you can offer. thanks
Brian

[Jay B.]

I know that a Nissan (same as Tohatsu and Mercury) 6hp pushes my CD25 just fine. My slip neighbor has a CD26 with a 8hp.

[drb9]

I'm Jay's slip-neighbor. I have a Yamaha 8hp, with the 25" shaft. It fits, if you put spacers to bring the mounting board forward about 1 1/2". This is a very easy modification.

If you search the board, you'll see that I bought a Honda 9.9hp before realizing that the new, larger head did not fit. Learn from my mistake!

The 8hp Yamaha is plenty of power.

Darin

[Droofus]

The Yamaha 9.9 came with the boat. We have only had the boat about 3 months. The motor just fits in the well, BUT it cannot be rotated at all. This makes backing up a challenge. I am considering replacing the Yamaha with a Tohatsu 6.x . The tohatsu is supposed to fit in the well, such that you can rotate the engine, and not depend on the tiller only.

[Kilgore]

I can fully rotate the Tohatsu 6 in my CD25, but only if I remove the fuel tank from the lazzerette.

[CruiseAlong]

I always had the Yamaha 9.9 25 inch skeg in my CD26. Moved the mount forward 1-1/2 inches to accomodate the engine. The 8hp 4 stroke is also almost as big. One of the other factors, besides the distance from the front of the board mount to back of well dimension is height of back of the engine relative to the side of the center engine well. May not be able to turn even though the back of the engine clears the back of the engine well since the back of the engine may hit the side walls.

[drb9]

Just to add to my earlier post. With my 8hp Yamaha mounted forward as it is, I can rotate it enough to make close-in maneuvering slightly easier. Maybe 15 degrees to either side.

Darin

[Roy J.]

Tohatsu/nissan offers what they call an 8.375" dia x 6" pitch "elephant ear" high thrust prop, which i think comes standard on the 25" extra long 6hp motor. The Sail Pro also comes with the charger standard. On the shorter shaft models you have to order both separately at an extra charge. Tohatsu's part # is 399B6451212. A must I think for our relatively heavy boats. I can recommend onlineoutboards.com in Tenn. Fast good service, low prices, free shipping and no tax outside of Tenn. Ordered online on Sunday night, motor at my house on Thursday morning, exactly as ordered.