Out board and fishfinder advise needed please

[woodyapex]

Ive a Islander 23 bilge keel sailboat.
I currently have a 9hp out board mounted right on the back ( not in the hole that looks like its meant for a out board ) , it works but its awkward to start being there and now and again slightly unreliable .
Ive really only got a cruising speed of 3.5 knots ish so don't need to push it fast. .
I'm happy to mount it on the back or in the "hole" but i do want electric start .
seen new honda 8 remote control , not sure yet what that means .

The next thing is besides sailing in this boat i would like to fish from it ( with no sails up ) in effect just using it as a fishing boat . i need a fish finder , on research one guy says it needs to be through hull until he found out i use a outboard .So then said id be ok with it mounted on the transome .
so my budget is £300 for finder and £1000 to £1500 engine .
Any advise would be great and i'm going to put pics on as soon as i can work it out but heres a link to a near identical one

Thanks
woody

[woodyapex]

heres a picture or mine

[mstrebe]

A 9.9hp is the right size motor for a 23 foot sailboat, and it should be able to get you up to hull speed with no problems. If you have to deal with strong currents, you may want to go up to a 15hp but those motors are bigger and may not fit correctly in your motor well. Tohatsu makes the Nissan, Mercury, and Tohatsu brands and would be my pick.

As for fish finders, unfortunately most of the brands differentiate sailing chartplotters from fishfinders even though they're similar hardware, so they will come branded and with software for sailing (B&G) or branded and with software for fishing (Lowrance).

The basic sounders that come with sailing chartplotters are not suitable for fishfinding, so I think you'll need to buy a dedicated fishfinder and then get an upgrade cartography chip for sailing.

Probably for your requirements I'd look at the Garmin echoMAP™ 43dv as the best value for money.

[woodyapex]

Thanks mstrebe , I like the sound of 9.9 so to sit in the outboard hole do i need a long shaft or short ? At the minute when i'm done i pull the engine up on the spring loaded bracket and it gets it almost fully out of the water . Am i right in thinking i'm either going to have to leave my outboard in the water or remove it everytime ive finished using the boat ?
thanks

[mstrebe]

You definitely need a long shaft. Short shaft engines are for dinghys whereas longshaft engines are for heavier sailboats.

You should remove the engine when you're not using it to avoid corrosion. Motors that sit in the water will corrode, and have to have zinc anodes that are maintained to protect them. Taking the motor out when not in use avoids that problem.

probably the previous owner put the spring-loaded jack-plate on outboard in order to raise the motor without having to lift it manually out of the motor well. If the position doesn't inhibit starting too much, it's probably the better place to keep it.

[woodyapex]

Originally Posted by mstrebe

You definitely need a long shaft. Short shaft engines are for dinghys whereas longshaft engines are for heavier sailboats.

You should remove the engine when you're not using it to avoid corrosion. Motors that sit in the water will corrode, and have to have zinc anodes that are maintained to protect them. Taking the motor out when not in use avoids that problem.

probably the previous owner put the spring-loaded jack-plate on outboard in order to raise the motor without having to lift it manually out of the motor well. If the position doesn't inhibit starting too much, it's probably the better place to keep it.

Yeah not sure in what order the jack plate got added but he'd had his old outboard stolen ( previous owner ) and made out he was making do with this one .
I'll have no problem removing from outboard well ( i'm a little younger and stronger ) . So the" remote " means remote start ? trim ? or is there such a thing as remote steer ? i would not be asking this if a could find a video on the engines they are selling even the main websites are vague , i do like the thought of in built fuel tanks that i'm seeing on the toshatsu engines if thats what the 12l tank means .

[mstrebe]

Remote refers to both steering and throttle and indicates that the motor has no tiller of its own.

In your case, steering is not necessary as the boat's rudder handles that. With a motor well, most people use a tiller version with the tiller arm straight up so the don't have to mount a throttle somewhere.

You should get a tiller version, which would allow you to use the same motor on an inflatable dinghy in the future.

You can get away with a smaller motor if your only use is docking and mooring. I used a Honda 4hp with my 32' Columbia Sabre which worked well in protected waters. The issue with smaller motors isn't that they can't get the boat going, it's that they can't stop the boat quickly in an emergency. But if you were to use the same motor for a dinghy, you might consider going down to a 6hp for lighter weight. These motors are not sufficient to get you up to hull speed, but they will to 3-5 knots which is good enough for protected waters. They would be pretty useless in any kind of chop however.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Cheechako]

Remote start and shift would be real handy. Get a long shaft for those choppy days. If it's a light boat 5-6 HP would be fine. If a lot of currents get bigger. There are high thrust versions with big props etc that are great comparatively.

[woodyapex]

Originally Posted by mstrebe

Remote refers to both steering and throttle and indicates that the motor has no tiller of its own.

In your case, steering is not necessary as the boat's rudder handles that. With a motor well, most people use a tiller version with the tiller arm straight up so the don't have to mount a throttle somewhere.

You should get a tiller version, which would allow you to use the same motor on an inflatable dinghy in the future.

You can get away with a smaller motor if your only use is docking and mooring. I used a Honda 4hp with my 32' Columbia Sabre which worked well in protected waters. The issue with smaller motors isn't that they can't get the boat going, it's that they can't stop the boat quickly in an emergency. But if you were to use the same motor for a dinghy, you might consider going down to a 6hp for lighter weight. These motors are not sufficient to get you up to hull speed, but they will to 3-5 knots which is good enough for protected waters. They would be pretty useless in any kind of chop however.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

Thanks again
Well since we last spoke ( 2 hours ago lol ) I think i've found the one . Its the
Toshatsu 6hp sail pro , I cant find a bad review and thats even from people that are pushing 25ft ers a lot further than i am . With the weight and size it will fit in my out board well and even though not the electric start i was looking for i can access it easily from there .
Heres one guys review .
What do you think mstrebe ?

http://https://backbeatsailing.wordp...il-pro-review/

[woodyapex]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Remote start and shift would be real handy. Get a long shaft for those choppy days. If it's a light boat 5-6 HP would be fine. If a lot of currents get bigger. There are high thrust versions with big props etc that are great comparatively.

You read my mind re size . shame this tohatsu does not come in remote i don't think . I do hate that pull starting as i'm floating to impending rocks though . what do you think of the tohatsu pro sail 6 cheechako ?
thanks

[woodyapex]

Tohatsu 6hp outboard

[rbrentp]

I too fish from my sailboat. There are a lot of good used GPS/chartplotter/fishfinders in one unit that are always listed on EBAY and other sources. Often with a transducer. The difference in cost for the most part is the size of the screen. Black and white are quite inexpensive. I have used Hummingbird, Garmin, Raymarine, and lowrance on various boats. I find the Hummingbird and Garmin to be most reliable but I am sure others will have found the opposite. There are mounts for your outboard for the transducer.
Lots of options with a little patience.

[HopCar]

I think right now the only company selling an electric start 9.9 is Lehr. I have one of their 15IB. IB stands for Internal Battery. The battery is mounted on the engine under the cover. It is a wonderful engine!
I should state that I'm a Lehr dealer so I have a financial interest. That said, I did buy two of them for my personal use.

[mstrebe]

Originally Posted by woodyapex

Thanks again
Well since we last spoke ( 2 hours ago lol ) I think i've found the one . Its the
Toshatsu 6hp sail pro , I cant find a bad review and thats even from people that are pushing 25ft ers a lot further than i am . With the weight and size it will fit in my out board well and even though not the electric start i was looking for i can access it easily from there .
Heres one guys review .
What do you think mstrebe ?

http://https://backbeatsailing.wordp...il-pro-review/

That would be my #1 recommendation if you're intending to put it in the motor well and also potentially use it for a dinghy. Tohatsu makes a very reliable engine, I personally don't feel electric start is worth the complexity or weight, and I don't think remote is necessary either. This is an exceptionally reliable configuration and it's extremely flexible as well.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by woodyapex

You read my mind re size . shame this tohatsu does not come in remote i don't think . I do hate that pull starting as i'm floating to impending rocks though . what do you think of the tohatsu pro sail 6 cheechako ?
thanks

The Tohatsu's seem pretty well liked. I don't know enough about them to really comment. Looking at the picture, it doesn't look like that motor has a much/any bigger diameter prop than normal though...? I wonder what they mean by high thrust if that's the case?
Here are a couple pics of what is "high thrust" to me. Of course these may be too much $. We put an 8HP High Thrust kicker (Yamaha I think, maybe Suzuki) on an aluminum 29 ft fishing boat and I was amazed at how well it pushed the boat into a head wind and small chop!
Merc, Honda, Suzuki all make electric start. I imagine Yamaha does also.