Briggs & Stratton 5 hp outboard

[Raftman1979]

I'm considering buying a 5 hp Briggs & Stratton outboard. They're $700 or $800 new, sold at Cabela's, Bass Pro, Gander Mountain, etc. I don't know anything about them. I'm pretty sure they use a standard vertical shaft push mower engine and that they don't exhaust underwater.

Can anybody who owns one of these things tell me if they're worth the price?

[Manie B]

i was told that they are going out of production because volumes were too low

rather stick to well known makes mercury yamaha etc.

[Butch .H]

Briggs & Stratton are known as Breek en Staan in SA

[TollyWally]

Fresh water only, and even so it's a step backwards from a clean used conventional outboard. LOL my opinion, worth price paid! good luck with what ever your choice ends up being.

[Raftman1979]

I don't need a salt-water engine. I live in Illinois. Marketing info I've read say they're supposedly good for muddy water. They're air-cooled, so they don't have water intakes down by the prop. My dad and I blew his 40 horse Mercury when seaweed blocked the intake.

I'm familiar with Briggs & Stratton engines, as I grew up with go-karts and minibikes, and the old man didn't chip in one cent, so I found myself putting engines together with parts from several broken ones quite often. I figure I can rebuild a Briggs engine in my sleep. And since these engines are used on so many things, parts can easily be found.

It's the lower units I know nothing about. I'm wondering if Briggs & Stratton builds it's lower units here in the USA or if they import garbage from China and just bolt their engines to it.

[MattZ]

They're cheap, at the expense of noise. Do you really want your lawn mower engine like four feet from your ears? A rather ill contrived idea if you ask me.

[ondarvr]

I think the air cooled part in very muddy or weedy water would be the only reason you "might" even consider one.

Loud, vibrate a great deal, relatively low quality, short lived, warning says not to troll with it and these are the good points. You could get an excellent used brand name small outboard for the same or less money. People sometimes say that these small B&S motors last a long time because they've had the same mower for 8 to 10 years. Think about it, it gets used for an hour or so once a week during less than half the year, that's maybe 20 hours per year. It doesn't take long for them to start smoking and using oil, this means it’s wearing out. Small outboards seem to last almost forever with even minimal care, I have a 6HP from the late 60's that runs great and is light years ahead of a B&S in quality and technology. I may troll with it for 10 hours a day, so in two days of use it would have the same number hours as what's put on mower in year, it's been used that way since new.

[spare parts]

im reading a lot of OPINIONS on this thread but not a single fact.
I am currntly running a 11 hp briggs on my own boat i built the outboard using the lower unit off a 7.5 hp johnson.
Me and my wife took a voayge ojn summer vaction with it from Tampa to fort meyers..allmost 180 miles the route we took.
that thing never fliched sputtered or poped once the whole time I even made my exaust out of stainless and it goes undewater so its considerably less noisy than many outboards ive run across..as for clean running ..being its air cooled four stroke it doesnt use oil in the gas so it burns clean and nearly all the briggs made int the last 10 years have had to meet EPA standards.
as for reliablity it has proven to me beyond dought i would crank it up for any voyage without dout or reserve and it gets excellent economy and parts are available in every corner of the world without the huge marine industry markup prices. i even went a step further wih my home made out board and belt dirve a 60 amp car alternator whick now i can use a inverter on my battery to drive a small air conditoner and a full computer system for GPS and fishing finders and and many other 110v needs that one would never ever find on another 20 ft cuddy cabin.

[spare parts]

yea and i dont type well......the point is the motor not my typing skills

[troy2000]

I have an old commercial belt-drive reel mower, with a horizontal-shaft, 4.5 hp Briggs & Stratton engine. I've hung onto it for years, figuring that someday I'll use the engine as inboard power for a boat.

[Tug]

Very loud exhaust.....
Vibrates like crazy....wont be able to feel anything from the elbows down after 20 min....
I tried to blow one up so i could get a new different one...they are tuff...
The exhaust goes into the boat in the right wind conditions making all the people and stuff smell like the inside of a muffler...
Buy a real outboard...
Suzuki is the best deal for the price....yamaha, then mercury...
Cheers
Tug

[ondarvr]

Originally Posted by spare parts

im reading a lot of OPINIONS on this thread but not a single fact.

Everything I stated was a fact, they vibrate, are loud, it says in the manual not to troll (run at low RPMs) and they are not designed to run (last) for nearly as many hours as a brand name outboard. So other than the air cooled part being possibly better for very dirty and muddy water, I see no advantage in buying one. I have also read the reviews of people who own them, they support everything I said and are typically looking to sell it and buy a real OB.

[CDK]

This post was from 2008 when they dumped the B&S outboard. They seem to have vanished completely.

[pistnbroke]

Well I got one and I love it .....if you rev it up out of the water and it goes over 4000 rpm the rev limiter cuts in and it sounds like it misses ...so dont panic ...on the water its great ..they still seem to be availabe new ....the lower leg is made by B and S and is only for fresh water because it does not have any anodes on it ...let me know if I can give more information.

[Robbo]

Originally Posted by pistnbroke

if you rev it up out of the water and it goes over 4000 rpm the rev limiter cuts in and it sounds like it misses

LOL-thats probably valve bounce not a rev limiter, unless its more sophisticated than any other B&S Ive seen! Top motors though.