sick and tired of my honda BF5A engine. constant issues. want another. what to get?

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woozy-UK

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hi. i have had constant issues with the engine. its been off my yacht 5 times so far this year for work on it. its had two services doen the past 3 months and it still isnt reliable. also a single recoil cog was £42. ridiculous! i have been put off Honda after my Honda motorbikes engine valves went and constant issues with this outboard. its a 2005 model.

should i maybe get a Tohatsu or Yamaha or another make? 5hp / 6hp seems recommended for the intro 22
 
woozy-UK said:
hi. i have had constant issues with the engine. its been off my yacht 5 times so far this year for work on it. its had two services doen the past 3 months and it still isnt reliable. also a single recoil cog was £42. ridiculous! i have been put off Honda after my Honda motorbikes engine valves went and constant issues with this outboard. its a 2005 model.

should i maybe get a Tohatsu or Yamaha or another make? 5hp / 6hp seems recommended for the intro 22
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The choice is Yammie, Suzie, Tohatsu, rebadged Tohatsu , rebadged Tohatsu or rebadged Tohatsu ITYWF unless you risk one of the Chinese ones
 
We never got on with Suzie: difficult to start with fierce recoil that made some crew members scared of it, noisy and eventually managed to knacker the gear box when the shear pin didn`t break when it should but not sorry to see it go.

Yammie is easier to start, quieter but is a little heavy and to make it useable have had to develop a technique for using the boom to lift it off the dinghy onto the OB bracket, god use for the mizzen boom on a ketch!

I almost thought of an electric one despite the expense of the Torquedeos, the trip form yard to mooring is only five minutes so a charge should give us bags of use and the long term cost may even out without cost of servicing a petrol engine. I was slightly nervous of finding myself out of charge in a bay like Braye or Studland with an offshore wind, at least with petrol you can keep a spare can in the dinghy etc.
 
chubby said:
I almost thought of an electric one despite the expense of the Torquedeos, the trip form yard to mooring is only five minutes so a charge should give us bags of use and the long term cost may even out without cost of servicing a petrol engine. I was slightly nervous of finding myself out of charge in a bay like Braye or Studland with an offshore wind, at least with petrol you can keep a spare can in the dinghy etc.
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ITYWF that the OP is talking about a main engine for a 22 foot yacht .... not for his dinghy.
 
sorry, wrong end of stick, incorrect assumption and all that, the Yammie we have would be good as a main engine for a small yacht, just a bit heavy as a yacht tender engine.
 
no electric or gas powered thx. i saw the reviews in the last PBO mag. they are rubbish

id have to carry at least an extra heavy battery for the torqueedo, the butane ones dont last as long as petrol do
 
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This might not be helpful, but why not keep your eye out for a 2 stroke. I bought a Johnson 4.5 for my tender off a guy in my old yacht club who clearly thought getting a 4 stroke was the way ahead. He said the engine could be a bit of a pain to start and didn't idle well. Having spent a lot of my youth playing on boats I cleaned the carb, replaced the spark plugs and adjusted the mixture and now it starts 2nd pull every time. I have never had it seviced in 5 years of ownership and look after it myself. It's a great engine. It also only cost £125 with the external fuel tank.

When it stops it won't be worth repairing - sort of like banger-nomics for outboards.
 
+1 on the Yamaha. It's quiet, reliable and frugal. It's hands down better than the Mariner 2 stroke I had. You can have a conversation in the cockpit and a gallon of fuel is good fro nearly 5 hours at 4 or 5 knots.

Annual service costs about £100
 
On my Intro I had a Mariner 4 (2 Stroke) with a standard shaft and that was fine, including cruising the West coast with some strong tides, but I had chance to buy a long shaft version of the same engine and that was a lot better. 4 hp seemed plenty.
 
thanks all for the replies. to be more specific im still looking at brand new engines. cannot be bothered with the hassle of second hand, the Tohatsu 6hp seems the most popular
 
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC said:
Tohatsu 6 hp four stroke; probably the most reliable outboard in the world.
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I have had Mercury 6HP four stroke on last two boats and found them very reliable. Tohatsu/Mercury/Mariner/Nissan(USA) are same with minor differences. Nowadays the Saildrive 5 hp is the one to get as you need the 6" pitch prop and may like the 2 amp battery charging. 6 HP saildrive no longer exists but even with the 6" pitch saildrive prop the 6HP will never get up to the revs where the extra horsepower is developed! If you insist on 6HP the engine plus bits to make a Mercury 6HP into a saildrive works out cheaper than Tohatsu although the Tuhatsu engine is cheaper!
 
many thanks all for the replies.

ordered the Tohatsu 6HP saildrive with integral fuel tank and power charge outlet.

MASSIVE HUGE thanks and hugs to my mum for the help in paying for it
 
im going to be using the fuel tank i use for the honda. would it be wise to clean it out before i use on a new engine and if so what should i use or should i just connect it up and carry on
 
woozy-UK said:
im going to be using the fuel tank i use for the honda. would it be wise to clean it out before i use on a new engine and if so what should i use or should i just connect it up and carry on
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I've had one of these engines for 5 years, done yearly basic servicing myself and rarely flushed the salt out as the instructions suggest and had no problems other than the plastic gear on the pull start.

I put that breakage down to my superhuman strength/occasionally pulling the cord with it in gear.....

I'd rate it as really reliable, funny how your experience is the opposite!

Maybe start again with the fuel tank...:)
 
xyachtdave said:
I've had one of these engines for 5 years, done yearly basic servicing myself and rarely flushed the salt out as the instructions suggest and had no problems other than the plastic gear on the pull start.
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Very important to flush the cooling system of the Honda 5hp. If you find after a while that it won't run with the hood on it will be because the salt has rotted the exhaust channel in the engine casting so that the exhaust comes out under the hood. Once you have seen one like this you will flush religiously!
 
Drascomber said:
Very important to flush the cooling system of the Honda 5hp. If you find after a while that it won't run with the hood on it will be because the salt has rotted the exhaust channel in the engine casting so that the exhaust comes out under the hood. Once you have seen one like this you will flush religiously!
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I think I'll improve my engine flushing regime!

It's just the water in the barrel at the yacht club looks like it might do more harm than good....:)
 
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