Best used outboard engine for dinghy

[DarwinHolmstrom]

Originally Posted by alansmith

Btw. Look at getting a used 8 foot Portabote. They are tough as hell. Plastic and collapsable. Easy to assemble. Ride very well with rowing and plane well with 6-10 hp. Won’t puncture, won’t rot like a tubed dingy, carry a ton of stuff, not tipsy, and can take hard beach landings that could really be mentally challenging in many tubed Dingys. They ain’t pretty but I think they are incredible bits of kit.

Thank you. I'll look into the Portabote. My plans may be changing a bit--I may end up with a full-keel boat that I'll be comfortable taking across the Pacific so I might make my way across the Panama Canal sooner than I thought. If that's the case, I may make it up to the Sea of Cortez before heading west. It's hard to plan too far ahead, not knowing if the world will ever open up again, but sooner or later I'll definitely make it to the Sea of Cortez so that's a big check in the favor of a four-stroke.

[jdenglish]

2005 Mercury 15hp 2-stroke.
Gear shift and throttle combined. Simple, stupid. Carb overhaul kit $15.00
84 pounds. What's not to like?

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

........................................
Older Mercs are good.
Johnson/Evinrude 9.9 are plentiful so parts are easy. But most are pretty old........................

My 1981 Merc 7.5 was excellent, sold it with the C22 in 1987.


Still have the Evinrude 9.9 I bought at a swap meet in 1998 for $800. Runs our Cadet fastroller 10-2. Planes with three people.

[BlackHeron]

Go with the 10' Porta Bote rather than the 8-footer. It is hardly bigger and is rated for 3 people instead od two, and a bit more weight. Unlike inflatibles an 8' hard dinghy isn't rated for much. Load 2-3 adults, some folding bikes, a hundred pounds of groceries or 4 jerry cans of water and the boat is riding pretty darn low in the water. That extra 2 feet is a lot more displacement and isn't a big deal on deck folded up.

We run ours with an ancient 2hp Yamaha that is down on power since it seized a few times when we had the water intake plugged up. Even so, it still pushes the 10' Porta Bote at over 4 knots. The little 2-stroke weighs just 22lbs and I can carry it in one hand while I climb over the lifelines and down into the bote even in a rough anchorage. It won't plane, but it's fast enough for us old folks who are retired and would rather have a light motor than go a tiny bit faster.

Works for us and we are full-time anchoring cruisers. We rarely anchor more than a couple of miles from where we need to land the dinghy.

[Boatguy30]

The 6 hp Suzuki was recently redesigned and we have one I bought in October last year. First new motor I've bought since I was 15!

See a few in every major anchorage. They are a bit lighter than the others and able to be stored in more positions. Also has a fuel filter.

Prop design is not so good with a very small thrust rubber that seems to fail easily. Can repair it fairly easily with seizing wire.

Also, has a very easy to access carb drain that I open every few weeks to get any water out of the system.

The point is, I use about 3 gallons or gas every several weeks using daily with frequent 3-4 mile expeditions.

[HobieDog]

I've had great luck with Mercury 4 strokes. First one was an 8hp mounted to a 21' trailer sailor. Had to rebuild the carb after a few years due to a minor clog --- likely due to my failure to drain the gas during the layover that year.

When we bought our bigger boat and needed a dinghy with a motor we started with a 4hp Mercury on a 10' Zodiac rib (fiberglass floor). The 4hp could get me up on plane (170lbs), but couldn't get me, the wife, kid, and the dog all on plane.
I upgraded the carb and prop to the 6hp and now it can get us all on plane. If there wasn't a weight penalty to go bigger I probably would, but as it is a 10' RIB with the outboard attached is pretty heavy for my wife to help carry up a rocky beach.

[boatpoker]

Suzuki 2-stroke with oil injection, awesome engines and no need to mix oil.
Wish I hadn't lost mine to the bottom of Lake Ontario