Need outboard suggestion...

[LunaticFringeInc]

I am looking for 4 stroke outboard suggestions in the 2.5-3 hp rating for a 10ft aluminum Jon rated at 3 hp Max (for use in FW) and was wondering i there was a particular model that stood out among the experienced boaters here. I was originally looking at the Mercury 2.5 but after checking a number of reviews it appears it makes a better anchor weight than an outboard motor.

Would appreciate any suggestions, opinions, words of advice you might be able to offer. Thanks in advance!

 

[aeviaanah]

I am looking for 4 stroke outboard suggestions in the 2.5-3 hp rating for a 10ft aluminum Jon rated at 3 hp Max (for use in FW) and was wondering i there was a particular model that stood out among the experienced boaters here. I was originally looking at the Mercury 2.5 but after checking a number of reviews it appears it makes a better anchor weight than an outboard motor.

Would appreciate any suggestions, opinions, words of advice you might be able to offer. Thanks in advance!

Boat engines are similar to car/truck engines. People find their company and stick with it. Die hard Chevy guys hate Fords....etc. There are people with experience with many different brand motors but they are all close to the same, where one lacks the other gains. I doubt most people have used the same year, hp and boat with different brands for a true test. What you need to compare is what is special about each engine and what they are worth to you. I just bought a brand new 15 hp Mercury...i looked around at several brands and it just stood out to me, the look, the feel etc. Good luck.

 

[Skidz]

Hard to beat a small Nissan/Tohatsu engine for the price and value.

 

[LunaticFringeInc]

Been looking at both of those brands as I am okay with buying Japanese made products a lot more than Chinese made ones. I have herd a good bit of good things regarding the Tohatsu. Might consider a 12 ft John instead for the extra 2ft of space and additional 80 lbs of weight capacity and spring for a 5-6 Hp outboard.

I dont need to bounce around the lake at warp 9. I do a lot of fishing in my Kayak but there are days when there is a bit of a breeze and fishing from a Yak is more work than fun. Just need something to putt around in, anchor over a summer time Crappie hole for some lazy fishing, a little camping or possibly jumping back into duck hunting again. Want to keep it small as I dont want to deal with a trailer and I have a short bed truck and even with the tail gate down thats only about 8 feet of truck bed. It will almost always be just me in the boat so I dont need anything big that I cant easily man handle myself. I dont plan on decking it or tricking it out, so its going to stay pretty basic and light weight. Might mount a low profile comfy seat or two on it over the benches, maybe carry a spare battery and if I get into duck hunting use a PVC frame to drape camo netting over. Thats about the extent of my asperations.

 

[DanMC]

Hi ,
Did you consider an original by Honda ?, on our fishing boat we have a 2010 Honda BF2 (2 hp) air cooled four stroke that does without water pump so if you accidentaly picked up some sand or weeds you have no worries.The fuel tank in integrated and it's from legendary Honda. Beeing that is air cooled it is a little on the noisy side but it's not unbearable.Also it's designed and made in Japan.For me i wouldn't look at anything else when comes to reliability.
Dan

 

[LunaticFringeInc]

Thanks for the suggestion danMC. After seeing quiet a few disappointing reviews of the smaller Mercs, this is the next brand I started looking at before looking at several others. It looked like that one was really light weight and pretty good on fuel consumption. I was just hoping to hear from others here that had some of the smaller engines and see what seems to be the most reliable when it came to the 2-9.9 horse outboards.