Which small outboard?

Considering how much they are derided, it's amazing how many Hondas you see around about 50% of inflatables seem to sport them. I've had one and liked it, my pal had one and the carb bowl rotted away - but he still bought another one. One advantage is that you can check it will start when it's still attached to the rail. I've only got a Seagull now but thats another story. It is nearly fifty years old though, I doubt if any of the current crop will still be running in 2060.
 
UK-WOOZY said:
hate my 2017 honda 2.3. my boats on a swing mooring on the thames and the thames currents are very strong. i get nervous everytime the honda changes pitch, it often stalls despite having a service, has to be warmed up lots. POS thing. the honda 6hp i had on my previous yacht too was also crap so should of avoided honda again
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I can sort that for you if you send me your carb
 
Thanks to all for further replies and search will continue. Visiting a dealer to handle a few small ones seems useful idea . Last time I bought an OB was in 2001 so as in no desperate hurry so plenty of time to visit a few in quieter months when weathers worse. Might even see what I can find out as SBS on various makes.
 
Ashtead,

I am a huge fan of 2-strokes, I think you'll find they are still readily available secondhand - clued up marine motor engineering places tend to have a few, the place at Emsworth Marina ( whose name I sadly forget ) seemed to have a few last time I looked a few months ago.

When we were considering building new Anderson 22's it coincided with 4-strokes becoming mandatory so I went to the Excel boat show ( first and last time ) to check out the outboards available.

When I tried the 4 - strokes I thought ' OK, what joker has bolted this to the floor ?! '

Could well be a safety issue transferring such engines to and from tenders.
 
I had an early Suzuki 2.5 for a number of years; it was pretty good but took a few pulls to start didn't like idling and putting into gear, sometimes stalling. I bought a new one recently and it's different experience; no problems at all, light (14kg), starts on first pull, relaible. Recently it had to push us for three hours and didn't miss a beat. It feels like a different engine and a dealer said there had been some changes from the original ones.

I do make sure that I use Aspen for the fuel.

I bought one now as there are some pretty good deals around atm at the likes of Ron Hale, SeamarkNunn and Marinesuperstore. I don't know if it is a sales pitch but when I bought mine recently, I was told that when the current UK stock is sold, they are going up in price.... indeed my dealer price went up nearly £100 subsequently.
 
The great thing about the 2.3hp Honda is the ease at which you can launch from the beach with a surf. Any other outboard, by the time you’re in deep enough water to start it and then start it the surf has put you back on the beach. But you can safely (in terms of the safety to the engine not the safety of any nearby swimmers) start the motor in the fully trimmed position and then get the boat into water then quickly get the engine down before you catch a wave.
 
Hmmmm. Leaving a surf beach in a tender, a pretty tricky use case! With pretty much any engine you can run it for a minute without water if needed especially from cold, so I'm not convinced that it needs to be a Honda air cooled donk.
I have had both and in my opinion the little Honda's don't last for long as many bits deteiorate in a salt water environment. IMHO the Tohatshu 2 stoke's are the longterm winner hands down.
 
That's about the worst bit of advise I have heard on this forum. With the exception of Seagulls ALL impeller based engines must be started in water. You will not damage the actual engine but the impeller will burn out quickly.
 
ghostlymoron said:
Considering how much they are derided, it's amazing how many Hondas you see around about 50% of inflatables seem to sport them.
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I was put off Honda for life by my other half's experience with a Honda lawnmower. Less than a year from new the automatic choke in the carburettor failed, and it turned out that the entire carburettor had been obsoleted, with no replacement available. So, after one season's light use, three hundred quid's worth off lawnmower had to be sold back to the dealer for breaking. It was replaced by an Al-Ko (yes, like the trailers) which is still working fine, six (I think) years later.

I would never buy from a company which can turn something from "current" to "obsolete, no spares available" in under a year.
 
Thanks Seajet -yes often down in Prinsted so aware of Emsworth outboards who did help previously with my OB and repaired it last time so its working but not very reliably in terms of keeping going -it starts fine and then cuts out after a couple of minutes so hence my decison to bit the bullet .

Luckily we dont have a mooring in Chi harbour or such like so no need to OB to each weekend but I just feel if I can trade mine in for a reasonable sum a new version by Yam or Suz might be a way of pacifying crew who seem to have deloped a deep mistrust of the Merc version.
 
You were lucky to get one for three hundred quid, ours was over twice that. The engine was good but it kept shedding the drive chain which was annoying. I've now swapped it for a Viking which are apparently made by Stihl. It starts easily, cuts well and so much lighter than the Honda.
JumbleDuck said:
I was put off Honda for life by my other half's experience with a Honda lawnmower. Less than a year from new the automatic choke in the carburettor failed, and it turned out that the entire carburettor had been obsoleted, with no replacement available. So, after one season's light use, three hundred quid's worth off lawnmower had to be sold back to the dealer for breaking. It was replaced by an Al-Ko (yes, like the trailers) which is still working fine, six (I think) years later.

I would never buy from a company which can turn something from "current" to "obsolete, no spares available" in under a year.
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