When I first bought Sparrow I was planning to use the elderly and venerable Yamaha 2 stroke I'd been using on Papillon, but just before launch [clicky] I suddenly realised that it wouldn't do as Pap had a lowered outboard well, so the venerable Yam, which was a short shaft, was ideal. On Sparrow though I'd need a long shaft as the transom mount on the Hurley is higher .. cue much running about at short notice looking for a suitable power plant in far too short a time....
Happily, Bill at Home Marine [clicky] in Emsworth happened to have a reconditioned Suzuki that fitted the bill (ugh... pun unintended), a long shaft, 2 stroke, 4HP that looked old but in good condition - I part'exed the venerable Yam (which he'd serviced every year anyway so knew fairly well) and with that I got the Suzuki for about £300 I think...
The Suzuki has done all right - there's nothing fundamentally wrong with it, it's only failed once in two years (spark plug was shot), and it starts well (full choke/half throttle, push the choke in the moment it fires); the only issues are the traditional 2 stroke ones (ie. noisy and thirsty), and also it's age (it is quite old, I think it's a 1991 from the serial number)
The other day though, Giblets, skipper of the good ship "Boobalena" (a Leisure 17 known to us cognoscenti as 'the Boobster'), happened to mention he was selling up so that he could crew full time on his mates 30 footer, and he had an outboard to sell..
Over a few emails (with me getting more interested with each one), we ascertained it was a long shaft (tick), and that it was a sail pro (a high thrust propeller - tick), Tohatsu (a well considered make, so another tick), 4 stroke (so not as thirsty, tick), and 6 HP (more power, tick). She was being sold with an external 12L fuel tank and line, she also had a charging point (12V/60W/5A) and the attached wiring was available, and finally a trolley - full service history, three years old (bought June '11), and Giblets reckons she has no more than 20 hours on the clock... superb!
Arranged to meet on Tuesday, fired her up in the tank at the club (and she started first time after 6 months), carried her around a bit so I could get an idea of the weight (a little more than the Suzi.. perhaps a couple of kilo's more?) and money changed hands yesterday - she's now mine....
Need to get the insurance sorted but I'm absolutely made up, can't wait to get her on the back of Sparrow and see what the new experience is like!
More detail here... http://www.tohatsu.com/outboards/6_4st.html
Happily, Bill at Home Marine [clicky] in Emsworth happened to have a reconditioned Suzuki that fitted the bill (ugh... pun unintended), a long shaft, 2 stroke, 4HP that looked old but in good condition - I part'exed the venerable Yam (which he'd serviced every year anyway so knew fairly well) and with that I got the Suzuki for about £300 I think...
The Suzuki has done all right - there's nothing fundamentally wrong with it, it's only failed once in two years (spark plug was shot), and it starts well (full choke/half throttle, push the choke in the moment it fires); the only issues are the traditional 2 stroke ones (ie. noisy and thirsty), and also it's age (it is quite old, I think it's a 1991 from the serial number)
The other day though, Giblets, skipper of the good ship "Boobalena" (a Leisure 17 known to us cognoscenti as 'the Boobster'), happened to mention he was selling up so that he could crew full time on his mates 30 footer, and he had an outboard to sell..
Over a few emails (with me getting more interested with each one), we ascertained it was a long shaft (tick), and that it was a sail pro (a high thrust propeller - tick), Tohatsu (a well considered make, so another tick), 4 stroke (so not as thirsty, tick), and 6 HP (more power, tick). She was being sold with an external 12L fuel tank and line, she also had a charging point (12V/60W/5A) and the attached wiring was available, and finally a trolley - full service history, three years old (bought June '11), and Giblets reckons she has no more than 20 hours on the clock... superb!
Arranged to meet on Tuesday, fired her up in the tank at the club (and she started first time after 6 months), carried her around a bit so I could get an idea of the weight (a little more than the Suzi.. perhaps a couple of kilo's more?) and money changed hands yesterday - she's now mine....
Need to get the insurance sorted but I'm absolutely made up, can't wait to get her on the back of Sparrow and see what the new experience is like!
More detail here... http://www.tohatsu.com/outboards/6_4st.html
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