Tohatsu 9hp vs other brand options

Sleds work real well, are simple and don't bind. The get all the way up, and go down as far as you need them.

Steve

 

Rather then a convoluted tackle setup, like shown above, which looks like it could bind up, the simplest arrangement I've seen, is a trailer jack and some stainless cable. The trailer jack is hard mounted to the inside of the transom, with a stainless cable attach to it's foot. This cable leads up, behind the jack, over an "exit sheave box" mounted on the top of the transom cutout, then back down to an eye bolt in the top of the sliding engine bracket, which is similar to what's shown above. When you crank the trailer jack down, it shortens the cable over the top of the transom, lifting the sliding bracket. The reverse lowers it. To keep the engine in the raised position a simple toggle, on the top of the sliding engine bracket is turned 90 degrees to prevent the bracket from sliding down under it's own weight. Simple, robust, one sheave, no excess line danging around, a positive keeper to hold the engine in the up position, etc. The one I saw was used in brackish water, so the jack housing rusted a bit, but with fresh paint every few years and regular maintenance (grease), it was very serviceable and trouble free, with a small foot print on the transom.

In retrospect, I'd skip the cable and sheave, substituting a strap of metal, that would attach to the jack foot, bend around and behind the jack, up over the transom and down to the top of the engine bracket. This would work in reverse of the cable setup, but still the same way. Cranking the jack would physically lift or lower the sliding engine bracket in it's track. This would be a heavier arrangement by a small amount, but eliminates the sheave and cable, meaning the only moving parts are within the jack itself.

 

Hi Steve, Question: how is the rig shown held down into the water when shifting into reverse?

Now I am wondering about "drift" back up the slider on my own rig when in reverse? I wonder if it will need a hold down of some kind, or will the engine weight alone suffice?

 

With smaller HP engines I have seen these rise up in reverse, but in reverse there's all kinds of aeration anyway and what happens is the engine looses thrust and the whole thing just drops back down to the stops, usually a few inches.
One good aspect of these arrangements is that you can fit steering to the outboards. A simple Teleflex type arrangement with a small steering wheel mounted low and out of the way or even inset in the console gives a range of manuverability in forward keeping the reverse time to a minimum.

Even with my Yamaha 9.9 Hi Thrust (x2) on sliding brackets that stayed down on my MacGregor reverse was a loud, smokey, (yes, 4 cycle, a lot of mist) ineffective thing, ugly really.

Steve

 

A sled puts the motors just aft of the aft crossbeam, closer to the pitch center than many other options which decreases aeration in a chop / sea. It makes the powerhead(s) readily accessible for repair or maintenance, does not bind like many sliding brackets, retracts fully and is infinitely adjustable even under way. I have even seen some installations where the powerheads "hide" in the backrests of rear seating installed against the read crossbeam, very clean.

Note in my previous photo, the vessel is in the yard and the engines down well below what would be the waterline.

Steve

 

Thanks for that Steve. What are those yellow things on the props in the Esmerelda photo? It looks like to me that to install an earmuff one could climb down onto the top of the sled in that photo easily enough. That was one of my main concerns with my rig. One reason I liked the slider was because I could get it way up high and accessable from the bridgedeck. I also have a clearance problem at the steering crossarms. At any rate, I have already started down the other path, and aim to go ahead with what I have and give it a try. If it doesn't work out, then I may try building a couple of sleds. At least I will learn something, and maybe can help others decide.

Check out this photo. The motor here is in the maximum down position. The squiggly black line is the cavitation plate, so I probably never will need to go this far. I won't know exactly where the waterline will be until I splash, and I hope to have everything together already before then. The dimensions for the outboard mock up came from Tohatsu's site. In this config, it will clear the crossarm (not shown) no problem. I can get way up high before two blocking the lifting lines (not shown either), and should be able to access everything. I have since trimmed the top of the bracket down to within a couple of inches of the top of the crossbeam. It looks better already. I want to wait until I get the actual motors before I go too nuts with the glass and paint etc.

Still I am unsure of how much clearance I will need for the shifter cables to make a smooth turning radius at the front of the motor head. The fuel line will come from the side- I plan to mount a small tank on a lightweight hinged platform attached to the Crossbeam, right up next to the bracket. The battery cables will go thru the hulls next to the engines. Am I forgetting anything??

 

I have a 6 hp Tohatsu SailPro kicker on my 20 footer. It is light and reliable if I can get the fuel from the tank to the kicker. It is noisier and less corrosion resistant than (excellent) Yamaha products I have seen. And a significant discount. But the steering lock on the Tohatsu motor leaves something to be desired. I paid ~$1300USD for mine, rope start, tiller, and cowl mounted shifter, purchased locally.

I think it would be too rough and noisy for a main engine for a sailboat. But the 9 hp might be better.

My electric start 2003 15 HP Honda is heavy (110lb) and nearly silent. $2300USD on a significant sale. Normal price then was $~2700-2900 from Defender.com. Corrosion resistance similar to the Yamaha.

No engine I own will tolerate E10 gasoline left in the float bowls. I drain them after a week of not running.

 

I think you're going to have to stand off the bracket a little more for the control cables, check the spec's on some of the aftermarket kicker brackets or look at a real motor and figure the space needed for the cable turning radius, usually 6” minimum bend radius

Without a waterline its hard to tell but you want the option to really put the motor down deep into the water if you have to.

Steve

 

Maybe the thread ‘‘Brainstorming Retractable Drives’’ provides further info or ideas, post #44 there has a bigger version and an overview of Steve's pic in post #31 here.

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Good luck!
Angel

 

Those are prop guards that are also marketed as improving thrust and they may even reduce aeration a little. The thrust concept is valid on tugs (kortz nozzle) and other high thrust applications. I know that the plastic hydrofoils you see on small outboard boats reduce aeration by keeping the water down on the props, no reason a nozzle wouldn't do the same.

Thanks for the blast from the past Angélique, that was a good thread to reference, I wonder if Cat ever got launched?

And back to the original question, I had a 5hp Tohatsu I bought used for $100 that I used as a dinghy engine. The thing would sit cramped in the lazzarette for weeks, sometimes months, and always started on the 2nd or 3rd pull. Awesome little motor, would plane off my little 100 lb water tender with one person. Extremely reliable.

Cheers, Steve

 

You can follow the build here . . . .

Building a Kurt Hughes Bridgedeck *45*

Sully's Build​

Have fun !
Angel

 

cloosterfook

Hey guys,
a lot has transpired this year. The boat is almost ready to splash.

I ordered a pair of tohatsu 9.8, xl shafts high thrust, with remote shift and throttle, from Central Florida Yamaha, which is somehow a part of the "boats.net" network. Good, personable sales rep, and a good price, w/ free shipping. Whats not to like, right? For some reason, I do not yet understand, these motors CAN be shipped, while some other vendors tell me that they CANNOT be shipped.

Anyway, Murphy has reared his ugly head. The sales rep was told that he had two in stock, when in reality there was only one in stock. The second one turned out to be the wrong model. So, one was shipped. I have it. It came Wednesday. It is partially mounted on the boat already. The rep called this a.m. and said that it seems that the only other one available is THREE MONTHS OUT, ie still in Korea. He was very apologetic and I do believe they are doing all they can to try and find one in the western hemisphere, and have it shipped to me. These things happen, I guess.

My options are to wait and see if they can locate another one, and let them send it to me. Cancel transaction and look for a second one myself, or have them send me two more of a different brand if they can find them, and send this one back. Waiting three months is not an option.

The reason I spill all this out here is to try and glean any more information about the internet sales process. And WHY are some dealers so adamant about no shipping small obs with remotes, when others will? Finally, if anyone knows of a source that may have one of these in stock I would GREATly appreciate that info. I have been googling and calling everywhere but have yet to find one in stock anywhere.

I may have to go back to square one.

 

You can try:

http://www.boatsnmotors.com/

The owner is a chatty fellow, but I got a decent deal 3 years ago- haggling was ok. a little, and he had inventory- multiple years and tiller options for my SailPro. He might ship. They are closed on Saturdays this month, it seems.

He is "THE" Tohatsu dealer up this way. (Boston)

 

I have no names for you but Google Oregon Coast outboard engine dealers or just Oregon
dealers. Tohatsu builds the engines for Yamaha and Mercury and I believe the Yamaha and theirs are the same. Most all fishing boats off our coast (smaller types) carry kicker engines and Japanese models are preferred. Check Washington and California also. Alaska
the shipping would be $$$$$. Good luck, their out there.................PS check E-bay also

Also, call Tohatsu USA for dealers and inventory and Yamaha USA also

 

I still have not located a sister for the 9.8. tohatsu I just received

Now I am considering ordering a tiller model with the remote conversion kit.

somewhere I heard that the conversion kit won,t allow you to choke the engine from the control box, and that you still have to manually choke the thing. that seems nutty, and would be a real pain with my configuration.

can anyone verify this? anyone done the conversion?

Thanks