Please advise on first outboard purchase.

[Salty Cracker]

My young son and I restored an old 16ft Loweline Jon boat and want to add a small outboard. Up until now we had electric-motor-only lakes available to us, so we just used a trolling motor. Now we have the lower Chesapeake Bay to play in and we’ll need more power to get around in the open water.

I don’t really have any idea where to start. I did find the Maximum Outboard Horsepower Capacity Guide sticky and it looks like my max is 15 H.P. I’m not necessarily interested in max though if it’s not needed. But I do want to be able to get out of the way when I need to. We’re just pikers that goof around some when we have the time. So I’m not looking for “the best”. Entry level is the name of our game.

Key considerations:

Cost

Market availability

Weight (I’ll be lifting it off after every use)

Ease of maintenance and DIY repair

Parts availability

Tiller steering

Electric vs pull start

2 stroke vs 4 stroke

MINimum recommended HP

[FishinBuck07]

No matter what 4 stroke!  Just my opinion but I have a feeling there are a whole lot of others that would agree.  Mercury is the only ones I have ever owned and never had an issue with them.  

[newbiedmv]

1 hour ago, FishinBuck07 said:

No matter what 4 stroke!  Just my opinion but I have a feeling there are a whole lot of others that would agree.  Mercury is the only ones I have ever owned and never had an issue with them.  

I concur on 4 stroke. Not nearly as finicky as a 2 stroke

Also there should be a motor weight limit on the boat somewhere.  I don't know personally but I've seen many 20hp Hondas and heard 0 complaints. 

WELCOME TO THE DMV ? You'll have to dig around.

[GaryH]

Yamaha or Mercury both state of the art and parts and service readily available. 4 stroke, pull start if concerned with weight. As for H.P I always go max. Never hear anyone saying I wish I had less power. Both are relatively easy to service and both have great reliability. Good luck on your search.

[Captain Phil]

Over the years I have had numerous Johnson/Evinrude, Mercury and Yamaha outboards. Most were good, a few were awful.  Today's modern 4 stroke outboards are nothing like them.  They are miracles of engineering and reliability.  Both Mercury and Yamaha outboards are excellent. What it comes down to is service.  I had a Yamaha on my Skeeter for ten years.  The closest Yamaha dealer was 35 miles away making it a hassle every time I needed service.   Mercury dealers were much closer. I'm on my second Mercury 4 stroke now and I couldn't be happier.  

[desmobob]

I'm a life-long Mercury owner/fan and currently have a 40HP four-stroke.   But when I shopped for a 15HP four-stroke engine a few years ago, I chose a Suzuki.  Mainly because it had electronic fuel injection and was lightest in class.  It has been a reliable, one-pull start, fuel-thrifty engine.

 

 

[NYBasser]

I'm a merc 4 stroke owner and I love the engine but you can't go wrong with any mercury/yamaha/suzuki 4 stroke.

[JimT]

I'll second or third the advice to go 4-stroke, and I can tell you I've been really happy with the small Suzuki that we bought. 

[TnRiver46]

If the boat says max is 15 horse, I would start looking for a 15. 9.9 horse might do great if it’s all you can find. 4 stroke definitely makes life easy but they are what I would call “the best” which you said you don’t want. If you can keep your weedeater running, you can usually keep a 2 stroke outboard running. Running a 4 stroke is like driving a car. They start easily and the maintenance is much less frequent.  From what I understand, 4 stroke outboards are heavier if you are carrying the motor into a garage or something. If you’re worried about weight inside the boat, go with rope start and keep an extra cord on hand. What’s nice is having electric AND pull start on small outboards. 

[DaubsNU1]

I've owned this 1974 Mercury 20hp 2-stroke since 2000. 

 

Replaced the plugs every few years...replaced the water pump. That is it.

 

I have never done anything else to this outboard.

 

Starts, runs, stops. It will make 20MPH with my added decking.

 

 

 

[desmobob]

I had a three-cylinder twin-carb Merc 65 back in the '70s that ran and ran and ran...

 

I'm curious about one thing: have you had any problems related to ethanol in the gasoline on that older engine?  It has caused me no end of trouble in various older engines where the fuel system wasn't designed to deal with alcohol.

 

I had to replace an expensive pair of carbs on my 1995 Ducati 900SS SP, for example.  

[MN Fisher]

Just now, desmobob said:

I had a three-cylinder twin-carb Merc 65 back in the '70s that ran and ran and ran...

 

I'm curious about one thing: have you had any problems related to ethanol in the gasoline on that older engine?  It has caused me no end of trouble in various older engines where the fuel system wasn't designed to deal with alcohol.

My old runabout had a 1972 Evinrude 2-stroke 40HP - I ran standard gas with 10% with no problem for about 8 years before I sold the boat.

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, desmobob said:

I had a three-cylinder twin-carb Merc 65 back in the '70s that ran and ran and ran...

 

I'm curious about one thing: have you had any problems related to ethanol in the gasoline on that older engine?  It has caused me no end of trouble in various older engines where the fuel system wasn't designed to deal with alcohol.

 

I had to replace an expensive pair of carbs on my 1995 Ducati 900SS SP, for example.  

To me that’s an easy problem to fix, don’t buy gas with  ethanol in it

[desmobob]

22 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

To me that’s an easy problem to fix, don’t buy gas with  ethanol in it

 

Early on, the potential issues with the use of the ethanol-laced fuel weren't commonly known and there was no ethanol-free fuel available in my area.  The horror stories I heard involving the use of the new fuel usually involved weed-eaters, chainsaws, etc.  The new blended fuel caused me trouble with some very small engines, but I never suspected I'd have trouble with one of two motorcycles.

 

There is one gas station in my area now offering non-ethanol fuel.  It's 93 Octane high-test, and very expensive.

[Jigfishn10]

1 hour ago, desmobob said:

I'm curious about one thing: have you had any problems related to ethanol in the gasoline on that older engine?  It has caused me no end of trouble in various older engines where the fuel system wasn't designed to deal with alcohol.

 

I had to replace an expensive pair of carbs on my 1995 Ducati 900SS SP, for example.  

I just traded in my 1997 Zodiac that had a 40 hp Yamaha 2 stroke and the advice I got was to run the lowest octane gas with Star Tron Fuel Enzyme treatment. 

 

Ran great for the 5 years I had it!

[desmobob]

I use StarTron religiously these days...

[TnRiver46]

38 minutes ago, desmobob said:

 

Early on, the potential issues with the use of the ethanol-laced fuel weren't commonly known and there was no ethanol-free fuel available in my area.  The horror stories I heard involving the use of the new fuel usually involved weed-eaters, chainsaws, etc.  The new blended fuel caused me trouble with some very small engines, but I never suspected I'd have trouble with one of two motorcycles.

 

There is one gas station in my area now offering non-ethanol fuel.  It's 93 Octane high-test, and very expensive.

It’s cheaper than a boat mechanic no matter what they charge 

[Biglittle8]

44 minutes ago, desmobob said:

I use StarTron religiously these days...

Me too!