Honda or Tohatsu outboard for dinghy

[Capt Hook]

I just have a small 8' West Marine dinghy.
I'm thinking of buying an outboard for it.
I'm between the 2.3 hp Honda and the 2.5 hp Tohatsu.
The extra 0.2 hp for the Tohatsu isn't significant.
The two things I'm looking at are: air cooled Honda v water cooled Tohatsu and
29.5 # for the Honda and 38 or 41# for the Tohatsu (two different sources).
Any comments on either as to reliability, other factors, etc.?

[Capt Hook]

Doing some more looking I see Suzuki has a 2.5 hp water cooled, four stroke that's only 29#.

It less expensive than the Honda or Tohatsu by $120-150.

Any comments on a Suzuki?

[Dick Kobayashi]

No probs with my 2007 Suzuki 2.5 hp ob. These small engines are well designed and can be owner serviced in large measure. Tip: most probs are carb related, don,t waste time cleaning,fixing, screwing with the carb. Just buy a new one for a hundred bucks and spend the 30 minutes to swap ou the old one. The orifices in the carb are tiny, so.......

[K Chiswell]

The Honda has a centrifugal clutch instead of a gear shift. I borrowed a friend’s and found this very awkward while coming along side the dock or our boat. When I slowed down the prop would stop spinning so I would lose steerage, it felt like I was giving it too much throttle to regain control.

I’m sure there is a learning curve with this but I think I would prefer a standard gear shift.

[fmueller]

I have the Honda and agree with the critique ... the clutch is sometimes difficult. I just got a great deal on the Honda at the time (one yr old and used twice for $500), and was going on brand reputation. I'd get the Suzuki or the smallest Yamaha if I were buying again. Just sticking with what I have for now because I don't use it much and it does work basically and reliably. Most of these small motors have a forward and neutral gear, and rotate to provide reverse. I use ethanol free gas - available at Home Depot or West Marine in 32 oz cans. $5 a can. Eliminates the ethanol deterioration problem. I only use about a can per summer. In the Honda that's an hour of run time ...

[mgphl52]

I use ethanol free gas - available at Home Depot or West Marine in 32 oz cans. $5 a can.

Wow! That's an obscene price to pay for "real" gas... Have you checked on google for nearby stations that sell real gas?
Fortunately we have many of those here the Florida panhandle.

[wikakaru]

I just bought a Yamaha 2.5 and so far I'm very pleased with it. It has forward and neutral gearshift and is water cooled. It's available in a long shaft model, which you don't care about for your dinghy, but was very important to me for use on my Typhoon and CD22.

I read somewhere that the Honda 2.3 is built in China. The lower unit is plastic. Let that sink in a minute: a PLASTIC lower unit. Scares the bejeepers out of me.

I can't comment on the Tohatsu 2.5 except to say that I have owned both Tohatsus and Yamahas in the past and I think the Yamahas are better quality in some of the little details.

--Jim

[Carl Thunberg]

I love my Honda outboard except for one annoying problem. If the engine stalls while still in gear, it is extremely difficult to get the gear shift back in neutral. It only happens when I forget to vent the gas can, so it's my own fault when it happens.

[kerrydeare]

... I'm between the 2.3 hp Honda and the 2.5 hp Tohatsu ... air cooled Honda v water cooled Tohatsu and
29.5 # for the Honda and 38 or 41# for the Tohatsu ...

I have been using a Tohatsu 3.5 for at least a decade, after a few Nissan and Johnson motors went "by the board." BTW we like oars, but then ...

Were it possible to go back to a simpler 2 cycle, I'd probably do so. The Tohatsu is heavy and sometimes awkward when mounting and bouncing around, and there is a learning curve getting the thing RE-started at times. Aside from these issues, this is one of the best small outboards I've encountered. I've used it on an 8 foot Dyer, an old Achilles inflatable, and a CD 10. Fully recommended.

[fmueller]

Obscene gas price? ... $5-10 a summer? ... my point really is: small price to pay for gas that you can forget about for two years (AFAIK, unsealed, indefinitely) and 32 oz is exactly the size of the Honda internal tank ... handy cans that stow easily.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/TruFuel-Tru ... /203571144

ok $6 bucks

Also, the Honda 2.3 is not plastic, the lower unit is cast magnesium, there is a bolt on sacrificial zinc ... some of the motor internals are certainly plastic ... the prop is ... so is the cover ... maybe that's good ?? no corrosion and lighter in weight. The carb float bowl has a reputation for corroding, but aforementioned non ethanol gas takes care of that.

I might buy a different brand if I did it again ... but not worth the effort/cost to switch now. Was trying to be honest about that.

I think my Cape Dory is actually plastic come to think of it .... hmmm

cheers

Fred

PS. I like oars too ...

[Jim Walsh]

I read somewhere that the Honda 2.3 is built in China. The lower unit is plastic. Let that sink in a minute: a PLASTIC lower unit. Scares the bejeepers out of me.--Jim

Your bejeepers are safe, the lower unit isn’t plastic as Fred noted.
I purchased my Honda 2.3 in 2018 and it was made in Japan. The salesman mentioned that production was being shifted to China and at some point they would expect their restocks to be from there.
I have nothing but praise for this small workhorse.

[s2sailorlis]

Yamaha 2.5....?

[wikakaru]

Also, the Honda 2.3 is not plastic, the lower unit is cast magnesium, there is a bolt on sacrificial zinc ... some of the motor internals are certainly plastic ... the prop is ... so is the cover ... maybe that's good ?? no corrosion and lighter in weight. The carb float bowl has a reputation for corroding, but aforementioned non ethanol gas takes care of that.

Thanks for the correction. I noticed from the specs on Honda's web site that the prop was plastic, and I saw a review on Amazon that said "Plastic everything - even the propeller" and somehow got it in my mind that the lower unit was plastic. Everybody uses plastic covers these days on outboards so that's not a worry.

Good thought on using the store-bought stabilized fuel. In Florida I can by zero-ethanol gasoline at some gas stations, but in Maine I can't find it at all. As little as I use my engine, and as much as ethanol seems to screw up small outboard carburetors, it's a good solution for my situation.

--Jim

[sgbernd]

The Tohatsu 2.5 and 3.5 are the same engine, just tuned for higher rpm. I purchased the 3.5 new in 2007. It never ran properly, wouldn't run without the choke, and had endless problems all fuel related. I replaced the carb twice, each of which worked for a couple of years and then wouldn't run properly again after 2-3 years. I liked the engine, it was well made and designed, straightforward to work on, but reliability was poor to put it mildly. In 2017 I scrapped it and bought the Yamaha 2.5 which has run flawlessly going on 3 years now. It starts every time, idles, and runs as it should. I am meticulous about maintenance, fresh water wash out, change drive oil, etc., and competent mechanically, however I did not use ethanol free gas which likely contributed to the Tohatsu demise.

Long story short, I'd recommend name brand, either the Honda or Yamaha as both seem to give reliable service. Pretty much everybody I know has ended up with one of those two (excluding the electrics, propane, old 2 strokes, etc.). Tohatsu may have upgraded their product by now so I may be out of date, but the significant price difference at purchase is minor compared to cost of unreliability.

Steve Bernd

[wikakaru]

Yamaha 2.5....?

Yep. https://yamahaoutboards.com/en-us/home/ ... 5-hp/6-2-5.

Can I buy a verb or should I guess the rest of the question?

--Jim