The Spoonpluggers Forum

Any one had any experience or know of anyone who has owned a Tohatsu outboard engine? Considering a purchase.

I have a 50 hp nissan 2 stroke. Fuel injection and oil injection. It is not a honda but I still like it. Very good on fuel as good as a 4 stroke. Our club members have bought several of the 9.8 four strokes and one fellow has an 18 4 stroke nissan. No problems with any of them. Tahatsu makes all of the smaller mercury 4 strokes. The only differance is the merc shift is on the handle. John

Hi Sandlapper,
What John may have not said very clearly is that Tohatsu builds a number of engines for various companies. I happen to have a 9.8hp 4-stroke Nissan. Denny in Indiana has the 9.8 Tohatsu. They are identical and run nearly silently even at high RPM's. At the dock, at idle - you can't hear it. Gas mileage is awesome and gets my 14' Jon boat on plane with my fat rear end in it at 12 to 15 mph. I think I drove it for 5 straight days and burned 6 gallons.

The 2-Stroke 50hp that John has is a nice engine although I think it's noisy. But I have a 4-stroke Yamaha on my big boat and you can't tell it's running. Tohatsu builds the 2 strokes for Nissan.

I have absolutely no reservations about recommending these motors and like John said their are a lot of people that we know that have them and I have heard no complaints.

What ever you do, stay with the 4-strokes in this line of outboards. I had a 15 and a 25 two stroke Tohatsu outboard. These engines have "lots" of torque as they were originally made for Japanese commerical use, but,,,,,as far as trolling,,,huh,huh. No thank you. Both of these engines (keep in mind 2-strokes) trolled badly because they overloaded the carburetors quickly which made a hit and miss idle at trolling speeds, then if you gassed them to take off,,,put spit put. I was always told that it was because the engines only had ONE carburetor, only to find out that was pure hog wash. My little johnson 15 only has ONE carburetor and its never missed a beat. SO....my two cents worth. One other thing that might be worth mentioning is the new Johnson e-tecs,,also, (Yamaha 2 stroke 2carb 2cylinder with a 10 pitch prop) which by the way is one great all around engine with lots of zip, light weight, and gives "great trolling speed control" to boot!
W/S

Maybe there has been a change with the Tohatsu motors. I know John has been trolling with his 50hp 2-stroke for 2 years and other than when he was being stupid - he never had a problem with it. Course he may have a good one but I have steered his boat and I thought it ran great - other than the noise level.

The old tohatsu 2 strokes were junk. The new ones are sweet with the fuel injection and oil injection. The 2 stroke yamaha is a very good motor. All the new 4 strokes are good, quiet and great on gas but heavier. I can attain any rpm with no hesitation , no vibration at any rpm .......... And it starts in hot or cold weather immediately. They have come a long way with all the motors. I do miss my honda. John

I can get a Yamaha, 25hp electric start, short shaft, 2 year warranty (2 stroke, 100:1 oil ratio, the only ones currently sold in US outside California) or the Tohatsu 20 hp, electric start, short shaft, 3 year warranty (4 stroke). Both are new engines. The Yamaha is about $600 more. I think these are the last of the Yamaha 2-strokes. I currently run a 2001, 9.9 Yamaha 2-stroke (100:1) on a 15 ft. Alumacraft that still runs sweet. Just looking for a larger engine for non restricted waters.
Thanks for the input. I don't have the bucks to make a mistake as this engine must last a while.

If those were my choices and had the money, I'd get the Yamaha.

I have the Nissan because I was experimenting with a Jon Boat and that was the cheapest engine available to me. If I could've gotten a Yamaha for the same price, I would have got that. However the Nissan 4-stroke has been bullet proof and I really love it.