Tohatsu 3.5 hp 4 stroke outboard review

[chase]

Last spring I bought a Tohatsu/Nissan 3.5 hp 4 stroke outboard and I’ve been very satisfied. I paid $830, delivered, during Defender's March sale. If you are not familiar with Defender, check them out online at www.defender.com

This motor fills a unique niche, as far as I'm aware in terms of weight/power, and I've been meaning to write a review. I used it for many hours this summer cruising around coastal NC. I had been using a friend's Johnson 6 hp to date and it was just too much. Too much to lift off the stern rail and mount, too much weight on the back of the dinghy, too much exhaust, and another fuel container to get in the way onboard.

Here's why I like my new motor:

It weighs around 40 pounds. It is very manageable to get from stern rail to transom of the dink, sooo much easier than with the 60lb Johnson. I never leave my motor on my dink when I'm on the move, any more than I'd haul a nice Angus heifer loose in the back of my pickup down the highway.

It has plenty of power to push my entire family (525 lbs) around in 15- 20 kts winds and moderate current. We always made 3-6 kts and I made 6-7 kts, alone at slack tide. I just never felt like I lacked power and usually worked at partial throttle.

The machine does in fact consume fuel, even though I dreamed it to be different. It has an internal tank, which streamlines the dink. I carry gas in my old MSR fuel bottles, basically thermos looking things made of aluminum. They do not leak and worked just great. Transferring fuel can be interesting if the anchorage is bouncy, I used a funnel and some ninja moves and did just fine. The fuel docks love me when I show up for my 80 cents worth of fuel. One place didn’t even want to deal with a currency transaction after a “fill-up”. A word of caution, even feathering the fuel handle, the little containers will shoot gas right up at your face. Clearly sub-optimal.

It starts easily.

The price is the same as the Honda 2 hp. I’m a big Honda fan. I drive a 92 Accord wagon, bought my wife a Civic, and had a 5hp outboard on my trailerable sailboat. I also bought two junk Honda riding mowers and made one good mower, bringing my total inflated tire count in the Honda category to 16 --hardly a Honda critic. Honda needs to get their butt in gear if they are going to compete in this category, because right now they jump from a small 30 pound motor to a 5 hp 55+ lb motor. They have bigger fish to fry, I guess.

What I don’t like:

The fuel shutoff is a standard fuel cock inside the hood. A molded “switch” fits over the fuel cock and is accessible from outside the cover. It came apart, but was no big deal. It was repaired in the warranty service I’m about to describe.

The internal fuel tank will leak all over the motor if any amount of fuel is left in the tank and it is left on its side. I thought I was safe leaving the smallest amount in there, but it wept. I think it would be ok if it was stored upright in the sun, like it is on the stern rail or while in use, or on it’s side in a garage. Otherwise, it will weep out and ruin the finish on the motor, which it did on mine. Seems obvious, but I thought it would be O.K. the day I stashed my motor in the bushes at a fellow Cape Dory skipper’s house while he was away. Ron, did I kill any bushes? I won’t ask Tohatsu to cover it.

Also the chain that keeps the fuel cap connected to the tank came loose at some point. No big deal, unless you drop the cap in the water off the stern and then want to use the machine. This required great focus on the last cruise. It could have been a real inconvenience.

I was going to suck it up and deal with all these little issues on my own, they seemed small and I “kind of” took responsibility for the fuel leak. Then, a couple of months ago I sat down to write the review after a post by Warren about outboards. I said, “wait a minute dummy, perhaps you should see what Defender/Tohatsu are going to do about some of these issues and report that as well.”

I called Defender and left a message for Bill, the outboard guy. He called me the next day and gave me the local Tohatsu repair locations. He also said to make sure to have the shop contact a certain person at Tohatsu and reference his name and their prior conversation and asked me to let him know how everything went from there. I’m convinced that Bill’s relationship and conversation with Tohatsu facilitated the warranty service that was not definitively their problem, that is, the fuel leak and related finish destruction. Clearly both parties provided exceptional service and I’m left feeling very good about my purchase. The caveat is I have not had a chance to pick up the motor from the shop yet. With a new hood and all the other minor details taken care of, I’m optimistic that all is O.K.

Bottom line, this Tohatsu is a solid little machine and Tohatsu warranty is for real. Hope this helps. Fire away if you have any questions.

Chase

[Carl Thunberg]

Thanks, Chase

That's some great information. One additional comment on Nissan outboards is the zincs seem very small to me. I leave my Nissan 6HP in the water all the time. I'm on a mooring with no shore power. The zinc on my boat still has a lot of life left in it. Everything's properly grounded and I have minimal electronics. All switches on the panel are left in the OFF position every time I leave the boat. Still, when I hauled the boat out this fall I was dismayed to see the zinc was almost entirely gone. I also have an Evinrude 6HP and the zincs are about twice the size. IMHO, they tried to save money in the wrong place on this one.

Carl