reliability

[sonny1]

Looking for a small engine for my 14 ft mod V bottoms boat. Have no problem buying new and would prefer a 4 stroke. Been looking at a 5hp Mercury. How reliable are they? I live real close to Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma and plan on fishing a lot {Retired}. Not interested in performance or speed more interested in reliability.

 

[Ray Clark]

I put a new Merc 20HP EFI on my old 14' Lund in Spring 2021. Like you, I just use the boat to fish.

I like that motor. It's quiet, very thrifty with fuel, and enough power. It will push my boat at 23 mph. I have had absolutely no issues with it. I wanted electric start and rope backup as these old shoulders don't do well yanking on a starter rope. But I have tested that backup pull start and it works just great.

Unless budget is really an issue, you might consider a little bit larger motor. Being able to maneuver the boat on a larger lake like Eufala would be easier with a larger motor, especially in windy conditions.

I have no reason to doubt the quality of the smaller motors. The advantage of that smaller motor would be portability and convenience. It has an integrated fuel tank which would save space in your small boat. However, the small integrated tank might need to be supplemented with a can of spare fuel for those days that you are on a larger lake.

I bought my motor at the local BassPro; they're a Merc dealer. If I was buying a smaller motor like the 5HP, I might buy from an online dealer like onlineoutboards.com. There's discussion about the Tohatsu and the Merc being the same motor with different paint. Merc and Tohatsu do have a manufacturing teaming arrangement of some sort, but their 5HP offerings are not equipped exactly the same. Price is a little different, but not substantially so.

Good luck.

 

[sonny1]

Thanks for the reply. Onlineoutboards.com. was the site I was checking out. I know nothing about boat engines and their capabilities. After reading your post may go ahead and check out the 9 horsepower motors.

 

[Ray Clark]

One thing I found out while I was shopping for my Merc...shop around on price. On another forum the "conventional wisdom" was that onlineoutboards.com had the best prices and that the Tohatsu was much cheaper. However, when I went and looked around, I found that the local BassPro had a better price on the same size Merc and they are a real Merc dealer. The nearest Tohatsu dealer to me was many miles away; not local at all. That might make a difference if you need warranty work done.

 

[Pappy]

I would choose the enigne manufacturer that a good local dealer in my area can service and take care of for me.
I would also give that dealer a chance to sell me that engine.
When looking at an engine for your particular needs try and stay away from any single cylinder engine due to excessive vibration compared to a small twin.

 

[eeshaw]

If it were me I'd shop for a 9.9 or 15 for that size boat. Either would make a good fit for it and when you decide to sell it later on there's more people looking for the larger engines versus the 5 horse. Lots of people use them for kickers.

 

[Stand Up]

I have a 9.9 Mercury. Manual start. Starts easy, runs real nice. Great for slow trolling and really good on gas. Highly reccommend this outboard.

 

[thill]

I just installed a 20 for a customer. Nice motor, and it's supposedly the same size as the 9.9, so everyone on his lake buys a 20 and pulls the badges off.

 

[sonny1]

Good info thanks.

 

[Sailfish_WC]

My son has a 14’ flat-bottom fiberglass skiff
It’s similar to the Stumpknocker hull but with an upturned v-bow

He had. 9.9 yami 2stroke that would push him and I about 11-12kt at wot.

It died.

He bought a new 4-stroke Merc 15 ss manual start at bass pro.

Couple things I’ll say:
I’m a Yamaha guy. All I’ve owned. But these Merc aren’t half bad. Purrs. Pushes the skiff nicely. The neutral tiller handle is nice as well. He’s a lefty I’m a righty. Works out great for us.
Where I live (and it’s not a bad hood) they will steal a tiller in a minute whether it’s bolted on or not. So the 15 isn’t light but not heavy. We can lift it off easily and put it on a rolling dolly and wheel it into the garage without much issue. I think it’s @100#.

Bass pro price couldn’t be beat (from what I found in my areas. . We live close and it has a service dept. For us it was a no-brainer.

Side-bar: Johnny Morris has an exclusive deal with Mercury. He said he’d forgo all others and use only merc but merc cannot sell cheaper to anyone else. Merc agreed and it was done via handshake.

So, my thoughts are the 9.9 would work,
the 15 was more ideal though. Cost, power, weight weren’t significant. He won’t have to run wot to get anywhere and if a summer squal kicked up in the bay he has enough pony’s to get him ashore faster.

 

[Skunked again]

Be careful with the “online” sites for buying outboards, most will not service the engine.
As others said, look for a servicing dealer near you, buy from them.
Plus your now supporting local business.
I talked with a local dealer, the Tohatsu and mercury are the same engine. Different cowling.
There is a difference in the Tohatsu 9.8 vs 9.9hp.

 

[airshot]

If you stay with a brand name, I believe most outboards are well made today, I would go with having a good dealer in case anything went haywire. I am willing to pay more if I gave a good trusted service dept handy to take care of any issues I might have..

 

[overboard]

Agree with the others, a close dealer with a good service department is a big plus, and either a 9.9 or 15 would also be my choice over the 5hp.

 

[seatownlion]

All the small water cooled four strokes are good honestly. Tohatsu makes Mercury. Suzuki, Yamaha, Honda ALL Good and very reliable if maintained.

The biggest concern is the weight, and many 9.9-15hp share the same block so are very similar. Likewise many 8-9.8hp, 4-6hp, 15hp-25 etc.

I had 14’ and anything over 15hp seemed like overkill to me. In the Puget Sound, where I live, you don’t want to go that fast in a small skiff anyways.

 

[seatownlion]

All the small water cooled four strokes are good honestly. Tohatsu makes Mercury. Suzuki, Yamaha, Honda ALL Good and very reliable if maintained.

The biggest concern is the weight, and many 9.9-15hp share the same block so are very similar. Likewise many 8-9.8hp, 4-6hp, 15hp-25 etc.

I had 14’ and anything over 15hp seemed like overkill to me. In the Puget Sound, where I live, you don’t want to go that fast in a small skiff anyways.

 

[sonny1]

What an education. Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma is a large lake made up of hundreds of coves and inlays which at times are not very deep. After a good rain there is plenty of floating debri. Speed in a small boat would not be smart at all. After all the great input plan on going with a 9-15 horse motor. Thought 5 horse would be plenty but apparently not. Going to check out Bass pro in Tulsa along with a few small shops in the area. New to this site but so far I really like it.

 

[Ray Clark]

Reckless speed is bad, true, but "careful haste" can be important, particularly if it "comes up a cloud", not that THAT ever happens in Oklahoma.

 

[airshot]

What an education. Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma is a large lake made up of hundreds of coves and inlays which at times are not very deep. After a good rain there is plenty of floating debri. Speed in a small boat would not be smart at all. After all the great input plan on going with a 9-15 horse motor. Thought 5 horse would be plenty but apparently not. Going to check out Bass pro in Tulsa along with a few small shops in the area. New to this site but so far I really like it.

Just because you have 15 horses, doesn't mean you have to use them all!!
Yea, I know....hard not to when you have them though!!

 

[sonny1]

Have really been studying small boat engines. The Mercury 6hp 4 stroke would suit me fine. Going to buy it local. A shop in Mcalester Oklahoma has a brand new 2022 and are willing to give me a decent price. Engine only weighs 57 pounds and should get me up to about 10-15 MPH which am good with. The areas where I like to fish that speed will be plenty of get up and go.

 

[LaqueRatt]

Before you waste your money, I'd like to point out my own experience with a 14 footer. Sure a 5 or 6 hp will move the boat around, but probably won't be able to get on plane which means you'll have two speeds. Trolling and nose in the air. My MirroCraft 14 pretty much has one speed, WOT. That is with an 18 HP on the back. Now I can throttle it down and stay on plane, but got to keep the speed up or I can't see where I'm going. My backup is a 14 HP and it's about all it can do to keep the boat on plane. I will say though all my weight is in the back. If I moved the tank and battery all the way forward and maybe had a fat GF to sit in the bow I could get by with a 9.9, but I'd not consider anything smaller. Like the other guys have been saying, bigger is better. Nothing to be gained except aggravation by choosing too small of a motor. Just my opinion, and I'm pretty much a noob.