Which Tohatsu?

TinBoats.net

Help Support TinBoats.net:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Fowlgunner935

Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2016
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Looking at buying a new Tohatsu 40 or 50 haven't decided on that yet. But my other decision is the 2 stroke or their 4 stoke? It's going on a 1652 and be used strictly on the rivers hunting with longoing trips (15-20miles)
 
Personally I have a Tohatsu 2-stroke and it has been a great reliable motor and seems to be a tank. I know a lot of people love 4-strokes for the quietness, but running a 25-30mph ain't nothing quiet, so for me it works. I didn't know you can still get new 2-strokers though.
 
I'd look at weight. If the 40 and 50 are the same weight, get the 50.

2 vs 4, well that's up to you. I used to be solid in the 2 column, but I think I'm slowly coming around, the 4 strokes are very quiet.
 
FWIW, my Tohatsu 40/25 jet is very quiet and smooth compared to my older Johnson 3 cyl (which is much quieter than a Johnson 2 cyl 2 stroke).

Tohatsu makes good motors.
The 50 and 40 hp 2 strokes are the same engine displacement. If you can legally run it, I would get the 50 hp.
 
I have no motor restrictions anywhere I go. The 4 stroke maybe the waY I go. I may sale my 2010 30hp instead of trading also
 
in june i'm picking up a tohatsu 25 4 stroke tiller electric start and hopefully tilt assist.i'm tired of launching the boat cuz the wife can't get it to start.i will definately be keeping my yamaha 15 2 stroke though. i love that motor but the wife absolutely hates it.too loud,too smokey and too hard for her to pull start.she just does't appreciate how rugged that little bugger is.
 
I think if I bought new I would go with a 4 stroke. I'm a hug fan of 2 strokes as they are easy to work on, however, I'm not sure these modern 2-strokes are that much simpler than the 4-strokes thanks to current epa regulations.
 
I would go with the 4 stroke. Had a 50HP Honda (same motor) and it wasn't only quiet, it would sip gas. Ran it on a 16 Crestliner. On one camping/fishing trip to Lake Oroville we put over 30 miles of run time on the boat in a day, and never even thought about adding fuel to the 6 gallon tank. I fished a small tournament on another trip and used about 3 gallons of gas. A bassboat ran nearly the same route on the lake, played leap frog alot, and fished the same length of time. He switched to his second 20 gallon tank sometime that day.
And yes, you can talk to your partner in the boat while at full throttle.
 
Well my motor is going to have to wait. Wife decided we needed washer, dryer and new fridge. Just so happened to add up to $500 short of a new motor
 
wmk0002 said:
I think if I bought new I would go with a 4 stroke. I'm a hug fan of 2 strokes as they are easy to work on, however, I'm not sure these modern 2-strokes are that much simpler than the 4-strokes thanks to current epa regulations.


I haven't messed with a Tohatsu much, but the ETEC is way more complicated than any carbureted 4 stroke. Of course now most of the 4 strokes are EFI, yamaha still stuck in the 90's with their carburetor (up to 25hp anyway, the 30 and up are EFI).

And I'll say it once more. I used to be that die-hard 2 stroke guy. Nothing sweeter than firing up an outboard in the morning and drowning in your own smoke until the motor was warmed up. In 2008, or thereabouts, I ran across a steal of a rig, 1542 Grumman, trailer, seats, battery, trolling motor but it had a 2000 model Yamaha 25 4 stroke on it. Wasn't sure about the motor, but I'd worked on a few of them so I had some familiarity with them. I also at that time had a 25hp 2 stroke (twin carb) Yamaha left over from a previous boat setup, figured I'd just store the motor until I needed money or whatever. Anyway, I got the 4 stroke up and running, headed to the lake on the coldest day of the year, about 8 degrees outside and thin ice on the surface of the water. Ran it anyway. Actually I was TICKLED with it's extremely stable idle. I was impressed with it's torque and responsiveness. And best of all, how quiet it idles and how much fuel it doesn't use. A week or so later, I went back to the same lake but with a little better weather, with the 2 stroke mounted on the same boat just for giggles. After I could see through the smoke and get over having to pull the choke for a minute or so to keep it running, I ran it across the lake. To my surprise, it ran exactly the same speed, 28.6 mph. Exactly the same as the 4 stroke, with the same prop. I ran it back and forth about an hour and used up an easy 4 gallons. The 4 stroke motor, I haven't been able to use up a 3 gal tank on a single trip and I've run it pretty hard on one particular river.

I ended up selling the 2 stroke 25, just didn't need it anymore after using the 4 stroke motor for about 6 months or so. And thus far, I've grown to love it; and basically forgot about the 2 stroke motor other than the hotrods (3 cylinder 25 Yamaha and the Suzuki DT25).

Now as someone who's had to work on them, I've worked on way more 2 stroke stuff than 4 stroke motors. Part of that is because 4 strokes didn't start getting popular until the late 90's, so before that there were millions of 2 stroke motors out there. By the numbers, naturally, I'm going to see more 2 strokes in teh shop. But, of those, I see way more carburetor repairs, engine rebuilds, linkage adjustments, replacing of worn parts on the 2 stroke stuff. Rarely do I see a 4 stroke outboard in the shop, but keep in mind we're dealing with under 100 hp stuff. I don't do much with the bigger motors (150+)

The 4 stroke stuff is here to stay. There's going to be a few manufacturers who will continue to build the 2 cycle motors to please the die hards. I think sooner or later, even those will fall to the way side as the 4 stroke stuff gets better and better. It's becoming apparent already by comparing the ETEC 25 to the other 25's; there is really no huge advantage to the ETEC in weight, price, or simplicity. Just like the diesel pickup trucks. Used to be that they were the way to go. Then right around 2004-ish, things changed. Now, a few years later, they are "ruined" by DEF and soot filters....costs so much to maintain one that the average Joe can't afford it. $200 for an oil change in some cases, fuel costs more, repairs a LOT more once the warranty is up, and all this stuff adds up to one thing: Once the warranty is up, the resale value drops to basically nothing because sooner or later people will learn that they are wastes of money in almost every aspect.

I don't know, I'm anxious to see what Yamaha's got up their sleeve for the new smaller motors, 25hp and under. A redesign is coming I keep hearing.
 

Latest posts

Top