Honda 9.9hp value?

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You know what would freeze over before I sold a good four stroke for $250.

The problem is it likely won't sell. I've watched several really nice boats and motors, all aluminum 14-16ft models and a dozen motors all go unsold all year.
 
It's all about timing and location.....here in CA right now it would sell for $1000, considering the low hours. If it is beat up (scratches to cowling, gouged prop, etc)...then less. I can't imagine anywhere in our great country where it would be worth less than $700!

Hondas are great durable motors. Easy to work on and parts are readily available.
BTW....It is a great motor for inflatables!
 
There's a 9.9hp Honda on CL right now for $250. It been up for the better part of a year, the seller renews the ad every month. Its about an hour from me here. I called the owner and after a dozen emails back and forth I finally got a phone number to call.

Its shown hanging on a board nailed between two trees half covered in a tarp. The guy said it and 3 other motors came with the place when he bought it two years ago. Other than he said the rope pulls and it feels like its got compression he's clueless and he;s done nothing else but take the pics and list it. The other motors are a pair of older Mercury 40hp models and a small, older 5hp Jonson. It sounded like an old man on the phone.
He said he got only one other email on it offering him $35 but he made it clear 'he wasn't going to let it go for cheap'.

Like most Honda motors, the hood is losing paint in huge chunks but the rest of it it looks okay.
Chances are the carb is gummed up and it needs a water pump, From what I see, the carb is cheaper than the carb kit. There's no telling how long its been there but for that amount, I don't think it much matters. A year or ten years sitting and most motors need the same things either way. If its not stuck or blow up, its super cheap.
The problem is I highly doubt anyone knows enough about motors or has the cash to buy it. It'll likely sit there till the trees grow old and its 30ft in the air on that chunk of wood.
What I really can't figure is why someone from another area hasn't driven here to snatch up all the deals if things are better elsewhere. I thought about making the drive and just parting it out but lately eBay has been dead too. If it won't sell for him, I doubt it would do any better here for more. I'd have to double the price I paid to make it worth my while before doing anything to it.
 
I just saw another one with no decals on it on CL for $250, I think its the same one I looked at a few months ago, it looked like a good motor but the guy refused a $200 offer for it.
Its probably worth a grand or more but it'll need the carb cleaned or replaced, replaced is probably cheaper, and a new impeller but all things any older motor should have done when you buy them.
I just can't see it bringing any more if he or so many others haven't been able to sell one in so long.
The way I see its only worth having if your going to keep it and not worry about making a profit on it. If you have to pay someone to work on it you'll soon have double what you paid into it or more. If you can even find a shop or dealer that'll work on a Honda here, or any outboard for that matter lately.
 
This one has been listed for a while here, a buddy looked at it and said it looked like a decent motor but I think he offered him $50 or something, but that's his limit on a $250 motor.
Who lists a motor for $250 and expects to get $250? If the guy wants $250, he needs to ask $1,000 and then take $250.

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I looked at that motor over a year ago. He was stuck on $300 and wouldn't budge then.
I bought the fuel tank and motor stand for $10 back around June of last year. There's another not far from there that's missing the cover completely that's even nicer but the seller wants $750. I'd go back to my Minnkota 28lb trust trolling motor before spending that much on a motor or boat.
The fuel hose was bad, the bulb was hard as a stone but when I dripped fuel into the carb it fired on the first pull but I didn't let it run, no water and all. I help the old guy hang it on a plank in the shed after I took it off the stand. The fuel in the tank was older, but not bad enough it didn't mow my lawn all last year and this year as well.
I offered him $150 for everything but he wouldn't do it. I probably wouldn't sell it that cheap either but I figured if he's asking $250, he'll likely take less.
I'd have stuffed it my backseat if he said yes to my offer. He had a few others things for sale too real cheap but those were listed for ever too, a buddy bought a pretty nice bicycle off him for $400, he resold it for $1,200 on eBay that fall. He was happy but I think he paid too much.

I have a twin to that motor but there's no way I'd let it go for $250, my thought was to run a pair of them because the lake here says "No motor over 10hp may be run on these waters" It don't say anything about two of them, or three for that matter but they have to be cheap in case the boat sinks from the weight. Just imagine three 10hp Honda motors on a 12ft Duranautic.
I did try a single 18hp but other than a huge rise skyward on launch, it didn't go much faster than the single 9.9hp motor did. I tried getting someone to ride up front but they panicked and started screaming when the bow rose up during the initial start. He kept trying to move to the middle seat but that let the boat rise up higher in the bow.
 
Deals like that go unsold all the time here.

I don't think its a matter of no one wanting it or not seeing the value in it, its a matter of those that do see it are broke and don't have $25 let alone $250.
Most of the guys running smaller motors are on fixed incomes making $950/mo on SS because they couldn't make it to full retirement for health reasons. That same crowd seems to make up most of the flippers out there because they have time to hunt the estate sales and find those $20 motors before anyone else spots them.

I bought a 2007 Mercury 4 stroke two years ago at a yard sale for $50. I thought I had a sure shot to make a few bucks. It looked like it never saw water. I brought it home, took some better pics, and listed it for sale, still in the box. I put it up for $1,495, because at the time a new motor was $500 more. My thought was that someone would offer me $1,000 or $1,100 and I'd sell it. I never got a single email on it, it sat on CL and FB for two years with not so much as a lowball offer. I finally traded it for a new refrigerator a buddy had to sell due to a divorce. Its still here, he never came and got it because his wife got the boat he needed it for. Now I'm storing it on a shelf in the basement for eternity because he's not likely to ever find another boat unless he finds a freebie.

I used to attach a hit counter to my ads. In 23 months, that motor got clicked on 5 times.
Since then CL has banned hit counters on their site.

Even on eBay the hit counts are dismal lately.
 
Someone asked the question; Why doesn't someone from another area drive up here and scoop some of these deals?

I actually am considering it. I'm currently looking for a decent 16' boat for a friend. Something with a flat floor, as he is getting older and doesn't want to climb over bunks. Can't find anything for less than $2k around here.

If any of you have or know of a good deal on a boat like that, please let me know. His wife recently died, and a boat would be really helpful for him mentally and emotionally.
 
I've been watching that thing go up and go down on CL for over a year, if it weren't 30 miles from me I'd go check it out but I doubt he'll let it go any cheaper than what he's asking. I don't need it but if it'll sell for double, it may be worth buying just to flip in a different area if he'd drop to may be $50 or so.

From past experience those Honda motors were pretty indestructible. A buddy ran one down in FL for years, he beat that thing till there as nothing left for 14 years. The only reason he quit running it was because he smashed the lower unit off it on a curb in McDonald's parking lot. I think he paid $300 for at some estate sale back in 2006 or so.

I always felt that those smaller Honda motors were over engineered compared to the other brands and I rarely found one that wouldn't run. They were just 10 or 12 pounds heavier than the rest meaning they were too heavy for a really small boat.

I had a 2003 on a 12ft boat for a while and it flew but it put the transom within an inch of flooding when I was at the tiller. I had to run an extension on the throttle but it was the only boat I have had with a 10hp that would get up on plane. Most of them came factory with a four blade prop too.
I do seem to remember there being an issue with the carburetors on those though, something about the linkage breaking of falling off. If you were the original owner they'd fix it for free, but on mine I was forced to buy an expensive carburetor after only 10 years. Probably $38 I'll never get back.

In the time I owned mine I had to replace the water pump impeller, the prop twice, and the carb, and because I had to replace the carb, I also had to replace the air box because all the metal inserts were seized to the screws and twisted out of the plastic when I tried to remove it. All over a couple of small nylon grommets that dried up and broke on the carb that they didn't sell separate. Over the 20 or so years I've had mine its cost me over $100 in repairs where as all I've ever spent on my old Evinrude 9.5 is about $10 for an impeller about 25 years ago and a couple of new gaskets for the lower unit plugs. Its probably still got the original plugs in it all these years. Its also super light, maybe 60 lbs or so. About half the weight of the Honda. The Honda is a bit faster overall and burns less gas but its a struggle to lift on and off the boat to go to the lake with it.

Worse yet, the nearest dealer was over 40 miles away there, up here, I don't think there's a dealer at all for Honda.
 
This one has been listed for a while here, a buddy looked at it and said it looked like a decent motor but I think he offered him $50 or something, but that's his limit on a $250 motor.
Who lists a motor for $250 and expects to get $250? If the guy wants $250, he needs to ask $1,000 and then take $250.

.........
I feel the same way, if he's asking $250, then he's not going to get $250.
My rule of thumb is 1/2 of what they're asking tops, and I deduct anything it needs from that point.
Its a couple hour drive or more each way for me, but for $50 I'd go get it, it'll sell for than $1k or more in parts on fleabay over the winter.
Forget it now though, for some reason outboard parts only seem to sell well there in the winter, or very early spring.
Of course you could always just buy it, and list it for parts but whole with no shipping and home someone sees it that wants it.
Chance are thought that thing runs fine, or will with minor work.
 
I don't see that ad any more? Maybe it sold? or they gave up?
 
Its not listed anymore because its sitting in the trunk of my car.

I had emailed the seller over the weekend and didn't get a reply till this morning, not long after my last post. (The person listing the ad was not the actual seller, who turned out to be an older guy who didn't own a computer).

I got a call back this morning and after talking to the seller I decided that I'd take the ride. I took my car due to the distance, which turned out to be just short of 2 hours each way. The seller was set up at a fleamarket there behind a place called Cowtown Farmer's Market in NJ.
After talking to the guy he basically told me his bother had owned it since new but passed away in his late 70's about 9 years ago. He got the motor but not the boat.

He had planned to find a boat for it and use it but never did and it sat. He told me that he's been trying to turn some of his things into cash to get some repairs done around his house that he can no longer do. He told me he needed to buy a good self propelled mower to cut his lawn with because pushing one is no longer an option. He said he can buy a cheap self propelled mower for $250, and thus the price of the Honda motor.
I happened to have a fairly nice Craftsman self propelled mower with a Honda engine on it that I trash picked and gotten running a few months ago that wasn't selling here on CL or FB.

To make this shorter, I took him the mower and made a trade.
The mower was probably a $600 mower new, it was about 8 years old but in good shape and started on the first pull with a new blade, fresh oil, and a new spark plug.

I got there and looked the motor over before speaking up, so I had time to assess the thing a bit. Its in fair condition but most issues are minor, and best of all he had a ton of parts that went with it
Like most of these, the carb had a broken accelerator pump cam and missing plunger.
Its got a bunged up air box from were someone cross threaded the screws, and a few missing bolts here and there. The cover is rough, but not cracked, but someone brush painted it and the rubber gasket is hard as stone. It also has the wrong tilt pin in it.

The prop is okay but has some dings.

I didn't realize what all was in the spare parts pile till I got home. but everything is there except for a new tilt pin. A new carb, a new air box, an impeller, new choke and throttle cables, a new four blade prop, and all the gaskets, plus a new fuel pump and diaphram.
He even had four cans of OEM Honda paint and a decal set for the hood.

The fuel coupler on the motor has been changed to one from an OMC, which is no big deal, I've done that to a few myself.

Before buying it I asked if he had ever had it running, ad grabbed a can of carb cleaner and gave it a shot into the air box, and it popped right off for a split second.

The compression felt low when pulling the rope so I went to my car and grabbed my compression tester and got 177/176 psi compression. After seeing that I made the trade, but likely would have either way figuring I could part it out for a lot more the the value o fthe lawnmower.

The motor is a 2006 model, short shaft, manual start tiller with an alternator.
There is no starter but the recoil has the spot for it and the flywheel has a ring gear but its got a block off cover underneath, so I'd assume that one could be added fairly easily but its got no external harness connections. At this point I've got about $40 in gas and $5 in tolls plus the better part of a day in going to get it and one less lawn mower on the floor in my garage that had been listed for $120 on CL and FB for four months without a reply.

Here's some pics.


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Not pictured is also a box of 10 NGK BP5ES spark plugs in Honda packaging. Inside that box was a receipt from a dealer in DE for all the parts $788 from Sept 2013.

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He said he swapped over the fuel fitting on the motor because he could never find a fitting to match the tank, but I think the tank is much older than the motor.

My biggest concern was that the lower unit would be stuck but it came right down, I pulled the lower off to make it easier to carry to my car about 900 ft away in the all grass parking area there. The question now is whether to get it running and use it or just part it out online My thought is that if he couldn't find a buyer at $250, then there's likely zero chance of finding one after its all fixed up for significantly more.

After taking the motor to the car, I went back to thank the guy and ended up also getting a stack of used 5.70x8 trailer wheels for free that the guy didn't want to take home.
I then walked around a bit and found a few more deals that were pretty cheap as well.
Among which were a box of post war Lionel trains and about 30 slot cars for $5, all mostly parts but well worth $5. Not something I normally buy but they do well online in the fall.
I also bought a vintage tackle box from the 70's For $10, an Old Pal PF7500 possum belly model loaded with lures from the 60s and 70's. But what caught my eye was all the stickers on it from all over the place, some as far away as TX and FL along with a good many from PA and NJ.
Parting it out is likely the fastest profit.
 
Wow! Talk about right place, right time.

That tank is from the older series, likely a BF75 or BF100 from the 80's or so.
I have a few of them but I changed the fuel fitting after the dealer told me the line that fit them was $150 and they weren't sure if they could get me one or not. I made a block of aluminum, drilled the bottom to match the pickup tube the same as on the original block, then put a set of 1/4" female NPT threads facing the same direction forward. I used two long through bolts on each side an made a new gasket for it. I put a hose barb on mine and a permanent hose. with a newer two pin style fitting on it.
I was going to just saw the face of the original fitting off and tap it for a hose barb but there didn't look to be enough metal there for it to be a strong connection after removing that much metal.

I priced out the part numbers showing in your pic and got closer to about $450 over the counter prices minus tax. That alone was worth the trip.

I hate to say it but the only way I see to sell a motor these days, at least around here is piece by piece online but I'm not even sure what sort of interest that will all have these days.

In a normal world, that motor should not have even been still for sale all that time. Especially in the middle of summer with prime fishing season approaching.
 
I've converted several of those tanks myself, they turn up cheap all the time here for $5 or so because Honda apparently no longer makes the hose for them. I don't think I've ever seen one with a hose or even seen what the fitting looks like. That fitting has a spring and check ball in it and a fat o ring seal. The last one I bought still had its full tool kit in in it and came with a sealed bottle of Honda oil for $3 at the fleamarket.

I used a chunk of brass round stock and just milled it into the shape of the raised area on the tank, and cross drilled it and tapped it to take the original pickup and an OMC connector.
They seem to be more tolerant of ethanol fuel than most steel tanks, I've not had one rust up on me yet.

Anyone who would trade a late model Honda outboard for a lawn mower likely has bigger issues than needing to mow their lawn.
Of course there's a dozen or so here who have been talking about it and it still just sat for sale for dirt cheap. It goes to show how things don't sell around these parts.

The guy probably went down to the local Tractor supply and saw that the cheapest self propelled model sells for over $800 now, and since he couldn't get $250 for the Honda, he figured it just saved him $800.
 
That's a good example of what goes one here on CL and FB these days.
The same guy who lists a motor for dirt cheap obviously can't look on the very same site and find a good used motor. I see a dozen of them for under $100 in the same area.
Glad someone got a deal though. It would be a tough choice whether to just part it out and maximize the profit or to just put it together and run it. If its about making a buck, chances are its better to part it out, That pile of used parts will bring far more than you have it in it and chances are they'd sell far away, maybe some place where people still buy boats and motors.

I was out for a bit yesterday and didn't see another boat all day. I did see a couple of guys buzz up and back on jet skis but no one else.
 
I quit trying to figure people out a long time ago, I saw the motor there, realized it wasn't too terribly far away, and figured I'd at least investigate a bit, after talking to the guy I got the impression he had no clue about motors and likely no use for it, it was just something to sell for him that he somehow inherited. He needed a mower, I had one that I didn't much care about, (I probably have 30 more in the barn), so I offered to make a trade. He can mow his grass and I have an outboard that's worth five times what that mower was worth to me. I'd have likely offered him $100 for the motor, and maybe go to $200 on it. If he had mentioned the spare parts before we made a deal I'd have probably been more apt to offer more for it but it never came to the point of talking about cash once I brought up the mower. I actually gave him a choice between three that I had, a Honda, a John Deere, and the Craftsman with the Honda motor. When he heard Craftsman he right away said he wanted that one without seeing any of them.

The guy said I was the only one who made any sort of offer, he had a few tire kickers but no one with cash. By the look of his yard he's been without a mower for a long time. Probably all year or more.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. I don't need it, but it'll be a good motor if someone wants to put some work into it.
I sent the hood over to a buddy who does body work on the side for a repaint, I was going to order Honda paint but he said he can match it by just tinting something he's already got. I gave him a few pics of what it should look like and he said he can cut the decals too.

If I sell it this year, I'll keep the parts and just let it go as it is for $800, if I keep it and fix it, I'll have it ready for next spring and I'll send it some place where it'll sell for the proper amount. Both of my boats have motors that I'm happy with, and I really don't run anywhere that restricts boats to 10hp, so it'll just be a spare for me.


Since the carb on it starts and runs, it just lacks the accelerator pump, I may see about getting just the pieces it needs but I'm not sure if they sell that cam that actuates the pump. Its completely disintegrated as is pretty common on these. I went ahead and put a new impeller in it since I had the lower off to bring it home, I also changed the lower unit oil, which looked new.
The prop on it can be cleaned up but I have several here so I may just put a used one on it and clean up the one on it when I get around to it. I see no sense in putting a new prop on a motor that's going to just sit.
Looking at this, I have my doubts as to how much use its had, the water pump housing showed no wear, nor did the spark plugs, or any other wear item. I'm guessing its just sat in a shed most of its life. It was fogged with something because it smoked quite a bit on first start up. The fuel tank had what looked like automatic transmission fluid or Marvel oil in it, about an inch or so of it, and the outside was oiled down too all sealed up in a trash bag and stuffed into an old Heineken returnable box.
The parts were in brown paper bags from Tops Market, a receipt in the one bag showed a 2011 purchase at a store in Hamburg, NY. The box that the prop was in a box addressed to Sportsman's Warehouse in Rochester, NY.
(I bought a few hunting items off him too that had the same name on them, so maybe he was originally from that area.
 
Anyone who would trade a late model Honda outboard for a lawn mower likely has bigger issues than needing to mow their lawn.
Of course there's a dozen or so here who have been talking about it and it still just sat for sale for dirt cheap. It goes to show how things don't sell around these parts.

The guy probably went down to the local Tractor supply and saw that the cheapest self propelled model sells for over $800 now, and since he couldn't get $250 for the Honda, he figured it just saved him $800.

As long as both sides are happy then it was a good deal all around!
 

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