4 stroke outboard choice

[walberts]

I am thinking about buying a 2003 Honda 8 hp outboard for my Ariel. The dealer measured the distance from the back of the mounting bracket to the back of the oil pan as 15 inches. If anyone reads this and gets to their boat before next Sunday (Sept. 7) would you mind measuring their well to see if it is at least 15 inches. I won't get to my boat until then.

I'm curious if anyone has used this engine. Or do you have any suggestions for new 4-stroke outboards that do fit, if this one is indeed too big. Right now we have a Merc 9.9 2 stroke. We want to go with the 4 stroke for all the obvious reasons. Any input is appreciated!

Bill (Haabet...Ariel #133) Alberts

[Scott Galloway]

Don't forget to measure the cavitation plates. The commonly sold Honda 8hp 2003 four stroke motor didn't fit in my well, because the distance from the front of the cavitation plate to the back of the cavitation plate on the motor exceeds the diagonal measurement of the well on my Ariel. The top portion of my Ariel well has been modified to accomodate the 1980's Honda 7.5 that it once held.
I have been informed by one Honda dealer that Honda is now once again making a "Honda Classic" 7.5 or 8 hp, which is indentical to the 80's style 7.5 four stroke. Again, the top part of my well was modified to accomodate this motor. (See photo below). The arm of the motor had to be removed to make it fit in the lcoker. When I bought the boat, the motor was rigged with a lawnmower style throttle on the starboard side in lieu of the steering/throttle arm. The arm on the "new version" Honda 2003 motor is even longer.

The photo below was taken before I made improvements to this area. Note that someone cut off the bottom of the backstay chainplate knee to make this work. I am not sure if that was a good idea. I subsequently replaced and beefed up the chainplate and added an additional bolt. A paint job helped too. You will find out lots of info on backstay chainplates on this forum.

Eventually, the Honda 7.5 motor fried, and I bought a Nissan 6 hp four stroke. The Nissan fits the well and lazarette with no modifications, lies transversely in the well for storage between sails, it's light at 55 lbs, and it turns easily to nearly 180 degrees, so I have a handy dandy stern thruster that greatly eases the process of escaping from my slip. It would turn 180 derees if my six gallon gas tank wasn't in the way. Much has been written about the Nissan 6 elsewhere on this forum. Certainly the Nissan 6 hp has less thrust than the Honda 8 hp, and lacks an integral alternator, or an integral fresh water flushing system. Use the forum search function to find all of the helpful motor dialogue.

[Mike Goodwin]

12" deep

The Nissan , Merc, Tohatsu fit and 6hp is all you need , but get the lower pitch prop and save the standard as a spare .

[Bill]

I agree, and major mods to the laz are going to be necessary if you want to go with a Honda in that hp range. Or probably any 4-cycle over about 6 hp. I believe there is a photo of a lazarette modified to accept an eight or nine hp in one of the ob threads. Click on the search button at the top of the page and try "outboard" as your search characteristic. Ops, Scott posted it!!

[walberts]

Hmmm...

Thanks for the information. I need an alternator for sure, so the Nissan sounds like it won't be a good choice. Is there a 4 stroke outboard that will be powerful enough and will combine electric start and an alternator?

Does anyone have any comments on the relative power difference between 2 and 4 stroke engines? As I said, we have a Merc 9.9 (which I think needs a fuel pump rebuild...it isn't developing full power consistantly.) It weighs 70 pounds and it fits the well just fine...but it hasn't seemed to really push the boat well enough against a strong tide. Coming down Barnegat Bay last summer against a 20 knot wind we were stopped dead several times.

I was hoping that a 4 stroke engine would give us the additional power that we seem to lack in the 2 stroke. Maybe the thing to do is just rebuild the fuel pump and decide then.

[Mike Goodwin]

If ye be having a 20 knot wind , why are ye not sailing the bugger on her ear?

My Nissan 6 charges the battery, a 4 stroke 9 long shaft with electric start is going to weigh over 125 lbs and not have the torque of the 2 stroke 9.9 or smell as bad or be as loud or use as much gas .

[John]

I replaced my standard prop on my Johnson 9.9 with a flatter prop. This has increased the RPM and allowed me to get up on the torque curve and gave me more power. The cost was about a 10-15% increase in fuel consumption.

Check the past posts as there are several on reproping.


John Graves
Vahalla
Commander No. 284

[walberts]

I neglected to say that the 20 kt wind (gusting to 30) was directly on the nose...and we were delivering the boat from CT...so...we had to make time...

Otherwise, sailing would have definitely been the option!

[walberts]

PS

We'll check into the Nissan 6...sounds like a good possibility! Any other suggestions out there?

Thanks!

[Scott Galloway]

The Nissan 6 does not come from the factory with an alternator, but you can buy one. Actually I think it's a rectifier, but it will charge your battery. Nissan makes the thing but you will have to buy it and either install it or have it installed. Nissan won't do that for you. I understand from this forum that a vertical pull cord is also available. The horizontal pull cord on mine works fine to start the motor, but the handle rubs on the edge of the hatch when not in use, and the handle gets in the way when I rotate the motor from one side to the other. Whether the horizontal pull cord will do this on your boat will depend on the height of your motor mount. The lid of the hatch just barely closes on my motor when it is in the well with the throttle arm folded back as far as it will go.

Again if you want an eight horse 80 lb motor, check out the Honda Classic. My old Honda 7.5 worked just fine and drove the boat at hull speed until it self destructed. It was heavier and harder to move around than the Nissan 6 of course, and both handle modifications and well modifications were made to accommodate the original Honda 7.5.