DINGHY DEAL

The 4 hp and 6 hp Suzuki are the same block. The 4 only appears to come in short shaft, where the 6 comes in short and longer. (The long shafts are usable on dinghies, but not as convenient.) I agree with Mike R--depending on age and physical ability, that the heavier outboard is more difficult to get on the dinghy.
Using a davit makes it fairly easy to transfer an outboard of any size (up to about 15 hp), from the cockpit to a stern bracket, to a dinghy transom. Due to our limitations we even do this with our 30# 3.5 hp Merc 2 stroke.
 
Another advantage of the 2 stroke Mercury (it is really a Tohatsu, rebadged as Mercury and Nissan), is that it does not matter how you pick it up or store it. You can even stand it upside-down. You can't do this with a 4 stroke as they all must lay in a certain position, otherwise, the crankcase oil will leak into the cylinder and also come out of the crankcase vent.
Of course the 2 stroke is coughing oil out of the exhaust, when running, as oil is mixed with gas... so there are tradeoff to the MUCH less weight of the 2 stroke.
 
I recollect reading that one of the small 4 strokes could be laid on either side--don't know which model.--and only one of the portables.

Even 2 strokes you do have to be a bit careful...I had warned my son about getting all of the water out of one of my dinghy motors before putting it on the cabin sole, when he took our sailboat to Catalina years ago. I didn't go to fire up that motor for about a year, when we were camping--and wanted to use the inflatable at a lake.....frozen up. Water in the cyl. Fortunately a little WD, and some oil in the cyl, got it rocking back and forth, by turning the flywheel--and eventually got it running...maybe a little less compression!....
 
Dr. Bob,
I have every brand of outboard in my shed (all of the small ones). Non of the 4 strokes can be laid on either side. They all are specific to the side that they can be on during storage and usually have a decal as well as molded stand-off for this purpose. All of the outboards need to be held vertical once removed from the boat to drain internal cooling water. This only takes a few moments, then the engine can be laid down (either side for a 2 stroke) for storage.
 
We ordered and bought the 2.5 Suzuki .We ran it in a barrel for 20 min or so seems to run good .I will try it out next week or so on the WM boat .Jim
 
jennykatz":213y5dgi said:
We ordered and bought the 2.5 Suzuki .We ran it in a barrel for 20 min or so seems to run good .I will try it out next week or so on the WM boat .Jim
Click to expand...

That is my setup and I will be looking forward to your report as I've not used mine yet.
 
With my 2.5 Suzuki on my dink (slatted bottom, so no planing), I rarely get out of idle speed. And a tank of gas last forever. Great little motor.

Martin.
 
Well we took out the WM RU3 boat out, and ran it for about an hour at under 3000rpm about 1/3-1/2 throttle because of 10 hour break in . The next 8 hours or so you can run at 3/4 throttle and run it up all the way WOT for a few minutes until after break in The boat handles nice my friend and i are both over 200lb. and then some .It handled the weight no problem . I really like this set up. Although my Achilles 7 1/2 ft full rubber no transom is built better and it's a 1989 still holds air but no transom still fun for the pool with Grandkids . Jim
 
Well, I just picked up a PRU3 at my local West Marine for $500 down from $900.
I've been looking at craigslist hoping for a decent deal on a gently used inflatable of that size and weight to no avail and thinking I would hold out on buying a new one if nothing came up until the last minute before we leave on the big trip but this is a hard deal to pass up!
 
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