Yamaha 2.5 or Honda 2.3?

N

Neil

Well-Known Member
Joined
6 Apr 2004
Messages
7,518
Location
Ireland
Visit site
In the market for a new motor for the tender. The Yamaha as N and F gears, the Honda is air cooled and is 4kg lighter. What else should I consider?
 
In respect of noise and ease of start, these negatives are attributed to the the Honda? As for 2 stroke, I do have some seagulls, but the two nicest ones are long shaft.....
 
I have had 3 Honda 2/2.3.
Having now switched to a Suzuki 2.5 I would not go back to the Honda.
Suzuki were doing a deal. £540 instead of about £600 but dealers may have run out of the discounted stock.
 
Neil said:
In the market for a new motor for the tender. The Yamaha as N and F gears, the Honda is air cooled and is 4kg lighter. What else should I consider?
Click to expand...

While the Yamaha has a conventional F&N gear change the Honda has an automatic clutch. Some people find this difficult as it disengages at slow speed. Others are quite happy with it.
The water cooled Yamaha is quieter I believe but as a Seagull user I'd not call the Honda noisy.
 
VicS said:
...the Honda has an automatic clutch...
Click to expand...
Chainsaw clutch I believe. If water gets in it (which never happened with us) it's a write off. When the engine is cold and you have the choke out the initial reving of the engine has the potential to launch the dinghy forward.
The annoying thing with the Honda is corrosion. Many parts are not 'marinised'.
The drain plug on the carb is known to be seized solid by the time you want to use it. I found the number of rusted components was just too much to accept any more.
 
Talulah said:
Chainsaw clutch I believe. If water gets in it (which never happened with us) it's a write off. When the engine is cold and you have the choke out the initial reving of the engine has the potential to launch the dinghy forward.
The annoying thing with the Honda is corrosion. Many parts are not 'marinised'.
The drain plug on the carb is known to be seized solid by the time you want to use it. I found the number of rusted components was just too much to accept any more.
Click to expand...

corrosion was prolific on the first engines "bolt on " parts, so you are saying they still havnt learned how to marinise a lawn mower engine
 
sailorman said:
corrosion was prolific on the first engines "bolt on " parts, so you are saying they still havnt learned how to marinise a lawn mower engine
Click to expand...

Yes. Having gone through 3 I have seen the changes but they still haven't gone far enough.
I used to be a fan having worked at Honda HQ. But I'm afraid the Honda 2.3 has in my opinion much better rivals.
 
I have had a Yamaha 2.5 4 stroke for about 3 years now. Been a great machine, never missed a beat and starts first time even after winter layup. Only very slight issue I have had is that if used in salt water and then left for a while, the small cooling water "tell tail" hole easily blocks with salt. However, this is easily sorted with a piece of thin wire to clear the hole. Best bet is to run it in fresh water asap after using in sea.
 
I would reiterate the corrosion issues on the Honda - the rocker cover, and bolts are all mild steel and because its air cooled, they are readily exposed to salt spray - and corrode very quickly as a result. It's ok as long as you never need to take anything apart - but if you do, then the trouble starts....

You can kind of excuse the use of mild steel on a chinese engine which is hundreds of pounds cheaper than the Honda. But when the RRP of the Honda is 650 pounds, I think the lack of quality materials used is inexcusable, and enough reason to look elsewhere.
 
I would also add the warranties are bit of a waste of time.
They require you stick to the service interval.
On the Suzuki the first service is at one month old. Yeah. Right. You bought a new Suzuki. You may not even have used it and it's due its first service. I wouldn't mind if the first service was included in the price at one month but it's not.
Instead, my advice is never to get these bottom end outboards serviced. You can put the money saved to a new outboard every six years or so. If it lasts ten years your quids in.
 
Talulah;4874390 said:
Bad advice though.
If it fails due to lack of maintenance it will be while it's being used. If that's on a dark breezy night against a foul tide you are up shit street.

Sensible advice is to learn to service it yourself.
Click to expand...
 
VicS said:
Bad advice though.
If it fails due to lack of maintenance it will be while it's being used. If that's on a dark breezy night against a foul tide you are up shit street.

Sensible advice is to learn to service it yourself.
Click to expand...
My advice is never to get it serviced. Servicing it yourself is different.
 
Talulah said:
My advice is never to get it serviced. Servicing it yourself is different.
Click to expand...

I decided that the five year warrenty on the tohatsu was not worth the paper it is written on because of the mad service regime and the ease with which they can say you broke it

in the event the engine has been great apart from the unsafe failsafe recoil preventer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYgV5OA1BwY

I also have the little Honda - it has been great so far

good starter, powerful little blighter, light, weed proof due to water cooling

although I am a bit alarmed at the rusty bolts

and the little plastic jobby on the kill cord dropped off

http://www.keepturningleft.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/kill-cord-button.jpg

in the image you can see the mild steel bolts starting to corrode



D
 
I do think weight is an important issue - and the Suzuki and Honda are the only ones around 13 kilos.

The Tohatsu/Mercury/Marina seem well made - but at 19 kilos are monstrously heavy for a 2.5HP output. I seem to recall on a bollard pull test they were no better than the Honda and Suzuki.
 
dartmoor said:
I do think weight is an important issue - and the Suzuki and Honda are the only ones around 13 kilos.

The Tohatsu/Mercury/Marina seem well made - but at 19 kilos are monstrously heavy for a 2.5HP output. I seem to recall on a bollard pull test they were no better than the Honda and Suzuki.
Click to expand...

which is why i have a Tohatsu 3.5 2 stroke
 
The Suzuki seems a good option, in terms of weight, at least. I remember they had a crazy service schedule, and not complying voided the warranty, but then the EU law stated that that couldn't absolve them of fulfilling the rights of the consumers under the Sale of Goods act? That you could get it serviced elsewhere (or yourself) and still fulfil the warranty. I know my new Betamarine 14 can be self serviced with voiding the warranty.

What are the views on Suzuki performance and reliability?
 
Tohatsu 2 st is the way I would go. If you can manage without a neutral the 2.5 if not the 3.5. Many other manufacturers also sell same engines rebadged.

Mind you the 5 year warrenty is worthless. My larger Tohatsu failed at 11 months and neither the selling dealer or Tohatsu will do anything.
 
We have an Honda 2.3 for about 7 years , almost from the start we couldn't get it to idle , most time it just shot off in gear , rust as always been a problem , I strip it down every year to try and keep it going , three years ago the gearbox packed up , we contacted Honda dealers in Greece , Italy and the UK for the part , at last we found a dealer on the east coast who said he could get the part , the cost was outrages , lucky we found a second hand gearbox half the price of the gears we wanted . We shall keep it going as long as we can but when the time comes it won't be an Honda that we will be replacing it with .
The only good things about Honda is 2.3 is there plenty of old outboards about to take parts from ,

www.bluewatersailorcroatia.webs.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top