Buying a new outboard.

[Cods_hit]

All,

Brief history - I bought my first boat... an old Seahunter 4.0 off the side of the bruce at Proserpine back in 2008, spent a lot of love, sweat and tears on fixing her up, slammed a second hand 15 horse on the back and had some fun.

Then I sank my 15hp 2-stroke Merc in the drink at Kinchant Dam nearly a year ago... :(

I now have the coin again for a new / used motor - I have very little knowledge on outboards, the merc was my first.

I want the new motor to -

charge my deep cycle while running;
possibly have electric start;
be reliable;
have some grunt (i'm going to upgrade to a 25 this time around).What do you all recommend? will $3500-4000 cover a new motor or am I better looking at used motors?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated Ausfishers.

Gaz.

[STUIE63]

if you want to save some coin get a 18 tohatsu . very powerful motor for its rated hp

[Matt76]

I had a 25 yammy 2 stroke on my last tinny and it was a great little motor, no electric start though. It was far smoother and quieter than my mates 18 tohatsu, but his was a few years older so maybe mine would have ended up the same?

My yammy charged my battery no problems but it wasn't a huge one, you might want to check what the charging output is. I think you should be in the right budget for any of the new 2 strokes but the 4 strokes will blow the budget.

[krazyfisher]

suzuki 2/s with elect start is about $3500 for a 30hp

[Cods_hit]

Cheers all, appreciate the input.

Done a bit of reading this morning at it seams that unless I go electric start and most likely four-stroke then I wont get the 12amps needed and even then it's unlikely to charge a large deep cycle back to capacity.

Does anyone have experience with electronics to advise?

Might be better sticking with a manual start and the old battery charger.

[nick_75au]

A battery will charge with a lower than recommended charge rate, you could charge at 1 amp and it wouls still charge, what you have to consider is the load when out on the water, starting takes very little out of the battery, maybe 5 AH, depending on the electronics may be 2-5 amps and lights at night, 1 amp.

That would require 6 amps charge capability approx.

As long as the load is lower than the outboards charging capacity then providing you start with a fully charged battery then less is ok. I assume you get the 12 amps from being 1/10 of the battery capacity?

Nick

[krazyfisher]

I have a 54lb pow mount and I have no problems with the 30hp suzuki keeping it going. the good thing is it has a pull start as well.

I always charge my battery before going because in a 6-8hr trip to the dam I only use the outboard for maybe 20mins, not enought to charge even if it had 20 amps

[BILLY THE KID]

30 hp merc 2 stroke with rectifier all fitted to boat $3180 2 mths ago

[PADDLES]

get 30hp minimum. don't bother with battery charging from your outboard, small boats/outboards never run long enough to charge up a battery properly anyway. just use a good charger when you get home.

that's pretty good value for a 30 billy, that's really early 90's prices, i bought a johnson 30 new in 1994 for $3k.

keep in mind that these two strokes are going to be getting very cheap very soon.

[gazza2006au]

check out the trading post online i bought a new 2010 tohatsu 18hp free bottle of oil and fuel tank for $1999 from blacktown family boats in sydney cheapest tohatsu and suzuki dealer around the mercury 25hp sells for $2600 and mercury 30hp i think was selling for $2700 in sydney last time i check on the trading post or those prices on the mercury could have been the tohatsu's other than a little rough idle the new tohatsu absolutely fly i had my 18hp tohatsu on a 3.75m tinny 3 90kg adults fishing gear life jackets live bait tank full tank of fuel absolutely hauled ass

[Cods_hit]

cheers for the input everyone, although it seems everybody has there own preference as to which way to go on this size boat.

I got some prices on 15's and a 20hp fourstroke Honda yesterday, here is how they stack up -

Honda - 15hp 4S - Manual - $4274 (5yr Warranty)
Honda - 15hp 4S - Elec - $4652 (5yrs)
Honda - 20hp 4S - Elec - Powertilt - $4960 (5yrs) (*on special)
Yamaha - 15hp 4S - Manual - $4414 (4yrs)
Yamaha - 15hp 2S - Manual - $3125 (4yrs)
Susuki - 15hp 2S - Manual - $2740 (3yrs)
Susuki - 15hp 4S - Manual - $3750 (4yrs)Pretty ordinary price I reckon, this is Mackay prices so i reckon I could get cheaper elsewhere.

Gonna hit the Yamaha dealer up for the price of a 25hp 2S and get on to Mercury for their 2S prices too.

PADDLES - why are the two strokes going to be cheap very soon?

[Cods_hit]

At the minute the 15hp 4S Honda is leading the way, good warranty, super powerful for its size (350cc).

[krazyfisher]

make sure you check the prices on the size up sometimes next to no extra $$.
I have a 4mtr with a 30hp and it is a good fit. You can get the 30 2/s with elect start in mackay for under $3500....

[Cods_hit]

What flavour 30 are we talking krazyfisher?

[krazyfisher]

suzuki from reefies

[krazyfisher]

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/vbclassified.php?do=ad&id=3563

this is my set up

[Sheik]

PADDLES - why are the two strokes going to be cheap very soon?
I think Paddles is referring to the fact that governments are cracking down on 2strokes because they have higher emissions. Also you may find some water boards restrict access to certain dams-4s's are allowed but 2s's aren't.

While talking about 2s's... I owner a little yammie 30, which has 3 cylinders. It was a great little motor although not elec start or trim tilt.

Hope that helps.
regards jim

[PADDLES]

yep, that's why i mentioned it, when it's announced that the sale of new conventional 2s will be banned, the distributors will be dumping these things like there's no tomorrow.

don't buy a 15 or even an 18. i used to have a 30hp johnson on a 414 stacer workboat and wished i had a 40hp, it was great with 2 people but when you put 3 or 4 on board it was krap. i have just purchased an 18hp tohatsu and like has been said, it's a brilliant little motor, i have it on a 3.7m clark cutter and the thing scoots, but there's no way i'd put it on a 4m boat. you really need 30hp minimum if you want to have 2 or more people on board and still have good performance.

the hard part about buying a new outboard is it's virtually impossible to test drive one on your old hull before you buy, so in order to avoid major dissappointment it's best to go bigger rather than smaller. unless of course you can borrow a motor off one of your mates or even a second hand one off the dealer you want to buy from.