Best Outboard For Heavy Weather

[Moonshadow-]

As a quick question on this subject-I have a Bristol 27, outboard well model. She came without an outboard, and I have two choices from my last sailboat-a Johnson 9.9 long shaft 2 stroke, and a Yamaha 9.9 long shaft sail drive. They are both external tank, electric start, with the same shaft length. Any thoughts? Rolland

[Sailorbob8599]

Originally Posted by thomm225

The 5 hp 4 stroke is easy to start and it doesn't stink like the 2 strokes.

Gear shift is right up front which makes it very convenient

Mine is so clean running I've changed the plug once in 7 years. I can motor for maybe 4 hours on a little over a gallon of gas

A year or so ago I was motoring across the calm bay when this cloudline brought in some fresh breeze. I rolled out the jib but left the engine running....old video

Tried to watch your vid but my God man, the noise of that OB … sounds like a bloody Harley. Too hard on the ears. My diesel is so much quieter than that.
As for Mercury OB's, ... never had much luck with 'em. Water pump always failing. Had much more luck with Johnson 6 hp. great little engine, ran forever with no problems & I mean NO PROBLEMS PERIOD.

[Shawn67]

Originally Posted by Moonshadow-

As a quick question on this subject-I have a Bristol 27, outboard well model. She came without an outboard, and I have two choices from my last sailboat-a Johnson 9.9 long shaft 2 stroke, and a Yamaha 9.9 long shaft sail drive. They are both external tank, electric start, with the same shaft length. Any thoughts? Rolland

Whichever runs better. If they both run great then whichever has easier to reach controls.

Or, if the outboard can't be raised out of the water whichever you care least about regarding corrosion and such.

Shawn

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Sailorbob8599

Tried to watch your vid but my God man, the noise of that OB … sounds like a bloody Harley. Too hard on the ears. My diesel is so much quieter than that.
As for Mercury OB's, ... never had much luck with 'em. Water pump always failing. Had much more luck with Johnson 6 hp. great little engine, ran forever with no problems & I mean NO PROBLEMS PERIOD.

The sound is due to my camera. Sorry I should have warned you.

Example 20 knot winds aren't this loud except with my camera:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRccc0PBkkI

I've had like 8 outboards mostly old 1960's era 2 stroke 40 HP Johnsons, one 70's 25 Evinrude 2 stroke, an old Mercury with a white cover 2 stroke, a 1973 or 74 Mercury 65 hp 2 stroke, a 1970's era Homelite Bearcat 55 HP 4 stroke, and this 4 stroke 5 hp Mercury I have now.

I've had this one seven years and it's great!

It runs a lot cleaner and much more efficient than any 2 stroke I ever owned.

This is going against a really strong tide heading out to the Atlantic. One of the few times I had it on max throttle. There would be some heavy weather at anchor on this night three years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6sHpweobRM

[Shawn67]

Originally Posted by Sailorbob8599

Tried to watch your vid but my God man, the noise of that OB … sounds like a bloody Harley. Too hard on the ears. My diesel is so much quieter than that.

I think part of the noise in that is the directionality of the mic. The Tohatsu 6hp was pretty quiet (much quieter than the 2 stroke Johnson 8hp it replaced) and the Suzuki I am using now is even lower noise. Any time I throttle back to idle it always surprises me as it sounds like it isn't even running.

For example, watch this video at the dock. Engine is about 1/4 to 1/2 throttle would be about (3-4 knots or so) and then I throttle back to idle.

https://flic.kr/p/KikNE1

Compare that idle to the old inboards idle....

https://flic.kr/p/AUGbMk

Shawn

[Seaward22]

Originally Posted by Teebeedee

Hello,
When I motor into Brisbane Marina, there is consistent wind that that blows about 25 knots and and has a chop of about 3 feet. While motoring in with a 1995 4 horsepower Johnson outboard in a Montgomery 17, I almost always lose control and get blown back into the Bay.

What extra long shaft outboard Tohatsu motor should I use for these conditions? Am I not moving forward because the motor is too old, or because it does not have enough power?

Thanks

I have a NissanNSF6A2S (Tohatsu), 22" from top of mounting bracket to anti ventilation plate which I bought back in 2004. Its on a Seaward 22,LOA 22,LWL20.6,Beam 8.33,Draft 1.91,Disp2200. It's on an adjustable mounting bracket where I welded on a stainless plate with deep, sharp, notches to adjust the height (typically run on the lowest setting) I also made the mounting plate out of stainless with pins to keep the motor in place (Had my old Evinrude 9 pop off the wood mount once in high winds at the dock). I do some coastal sailing, now mainly Beaufort,NC, area and on lakes I usually don't go out unless it's in the mid to upper 20's. Never had issues with currents or winds with this motor (last trip back side of Shackleford banks current made it difficult to get on the stern ladder) although in large waves it will come out of the water for short periods. Video of boat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6TgMTA689A

.

[Teebeedee]

I did not think to check back on this forum because I did not receive any emails. So, thank you all who have posted, it was an awesome suprise to see four pages worth of comments.

I decided to o with the 6hp sail pro extra long shaft outboard motor from Tohatsu. Wow. First of all, the motor fits perfectly on the transom. Second, it is incredibly fuel efficient, quiet, and smooth. Of course, this is compared to the old motor.. Third, it has an amazing amount of power. No wind or wave height has slowed the boat down to under 5 knots with the motor at or just under 1/4 throttle.

Thank you again for all the comments

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by Teebeedee

I did not think to check back on this forum because I did not receive any emails. So, thank you all who have posted, it was an awesome suprise to see four pages worth of comments.

I decided to o with the 6hp sail pro extra long shaft outboard motor from Tohatsu. Wow. First of all, the motor fits perfectly on the transom. Second, it is incredibly fuel efficient, quiet, and smooth. Of course, this is compared to the old motor.. Third, it has an amazing amount of power. No wind or wave height has slowed the boat down to under 5 knots with the motor at or just under 1/4 throttle.

Thank you again for all the comments

Good choice! I love my new Tohatsu Sailpro with extra long shaft. As you have found out, it is remarkably powerful while sipping fuel at mere fractional throttle, quiet, smooth and it charges my battery when operating. I too hit hull speed at below 1/4 throttle. So much better on all accounts than my previous significantly larger horsepowered outboard which had to be operated at 2/3 to 3/4 throttle to reach hull speed. Hope you enjoy many days of sailing and motoring.