Outboard weight?

I just ordered a 2.6m airdeck to act as a back up tender for next years cruise.
£299 from Gaelforce seemed too good to miss.

Already have a couple of 3.5hp tohatsu motors but was looking to sell one of them to put money against something that will plane the boat with two of us in.
Thought a Tohatsu 8hp 2 stroke looks good, they seem to weigh in under 30kg.
Not having tried, can anyone advise how easy it is to lift something like this from dinghy to mothership? etc
And has hanyone got this sort of set up? I assume it will go well.

Nick

Only you know if 30kgs is manageable. I think it is borderline. The best power to weight money can buy is the Tohatsu 9.8 2 stroke, if you can find one! This weighs 27kgs which is about the same as the current crop of single cylinder 4/5/6hp four strokes. Sooooo if you can manage 27kgs, hunt out a Toto 9.8. If you can't you might get away with an old 6-8hp 2 stroke but I am guessing they aren't going to weigh a great deal less. In that case you might as well forget planing and go for something like a 3.3hp 2 stroke from Merc, Mariner or Tohatsu. Great little motor and only about 13kgs.

I have tried various combos on a 2.5m Valiant rib which has a hard hull but is very lightweight. I found that a 6hp 4 stroke would plane with only 1 adult on board but would not with 2. I have put a 9.8 Tohatsu on it which is massively over its 6hp maximum rating, and it was an absolute blast. With 2 adults it planed at quite high speeds, but you needed to treat it with care :D
 
I too have a dinghy crane on the stern. It can lift a person so can can lift an outboard. Lowering the outboard into the dinghy is a doddle. BTW I now use a sling and a 3:1 pulley to lift the 2.8M Avon off the aft deck, over the guard rail and into the water. All in all pretty painless

TS
 
We have use a Tohatsu 6hp 2 stroke as an auxiliary on our yacht.

It is virtually the same weight as the 8hp and 9.9 hp motor

The differences
8hp has a different carb to the 6hp so the 6 can be uprated cheaply.

The 9.8 has significant other differences in the power head so you wont get 9.8 out of a 6hp without major cost.

I would recommend a crane for lifting any of these on or off the boat to flubber.

Flubber will be fun with 8hp and adequate for your requirements with 6hp


We also have a twin cylinder Johnson/ Evinrude 4 hp 2 stroke which is much lighter and would probably allow your flubber to plane 1 up with the right prop.

This is easily handled to and from the yacht and flubber without need for a crane just a lightweight SWMBO!

I believe you are still able to purchase new 2 strokes in the Caribean.

2 strokes because of there weight and size are more suited to cockpit locker storage and will be more secure than on a pushpit mount.

They dont have to be carefully positioned for storage on one side.
You dont have to worry that it might drain its sump contents into your bilges the first time the boat heels the wrong way.

Both these engines run off external tanks the smaller one also has a small internal tank.

We always run our carburettors dry before storage and have never had any problems with reliability from either engine.

Choice is will be down to how fast do you want to go and how many times you will be lifting on and off.
 
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