Lightest 9.9-20 HP 4-stroke options - as of 2019?

zuren · Apr 23, 2019

My current motor is a 1986 Mercury 9.9 2-stroke (on a 1974 Smokercraft 14'), which supposedly weighs in at 75 lbs. My dad owned this boat and motor previously, and tried to repower with a Honda 20HP 4-stroke, but I remember the boat did not perform well...the engine was very heavy for it. His solution was to buy a different boat that was a better match! :mrgreen: I believe the motor was a BF20 long shaft weighing in at 110 lbs.

As I have spent time this spring trying to run the engine at home (I'm having some starting issues), it was a little eye opening to see how much oil and "gunk" comes out of the exhaust of an older 2-stroke. I don't think that it is any secret that 2-strokes are all around dirtier than 4-strokes, so once I have the funds, I'm considering repowering.

Is the Honda the lightest 15-20HP 4-stroke currently available? I'm starting to do my research but was hoping for help to narrow the search.

Thanks!

hounddog · Apr 23, 2019

I just did a quick search of this. The Suzuki was the lightest out of the 3 that I looked at.
Suzuki 15-20 hp is 97lbs. with manual start.
Honda 15-20 hp is 104lbs.
Yamaha 15 hp is 111lbs. and 20 hp is 126.
I can say that I have the new Suzuki 25 and am very pleased with it.
I don't know about the Yamaha 20 but my a friend of mine has the new Yamaha 25 and it's really nice too.

zuren · Apr 23, 2019

hounddog said:
I just did a quick search of this. The Suzuki was the lightest out of the 3 that I looked at.
Suzuki 15-20 hp is 97lbs. with manual start.
Honda 15-20 hp is 104lbs.
Yamaha 15 hp is 111lbs. and 20 hp is 126.
I can say that I have the new Suzuki 25 and am very pleased with it.
I don't know about the Yamaha 20 but my a friend of mine has the new Yamaha 25 and it's really nice too.

Thanks! I'm putting together a list of motors to think about and look for. I will need to talk with my dad on what his Honda is specifically. I recall the motor being a bit too heavy for the boat.

blackshear · Apr 23, 2019

Check out the new Tohatsu 9.9, 15, 20 HP motors, they are all built using the same power head. The weight is only 94 pounds for a short shaft and they also have electronic fuel injection (EFI).