To Those Who Wanted to Know How I Like My Nissan 4-Horse 4-Stroke:
This Spring a few people asked me how I liked my Nissan (Tohatsu/Mercury) 4-horse
4-stroke. I didn't get my
M17 in the water until the last weekend in June, so as I write this, my outboard has
fewer than the
recommended 10 break-in hours, but I guess I can render an opinion.
The only other outboard with which I have experience is the '84 Suzuki 4-horse
2-stroke that was included when
I purchased my '84 M17. The Suzuki was difficult to start, very loud, very rough,
very "smelly", and had a
tendency to try to cavitate out of the water whenever I tried to put it in reverse.
The Nissan is relatively easy to start. It has forward/neutral/reverse and goes into
gear smoothly. It seems
to produce virtually no fumes once the choke is reinserted after startup. The motor
is not as quiet or smooth
as I'd like, although it seems to improve every time it's run. Compared to the Suzuki
2-stroke, the Nissan is
silent and vibration-free. Bear in mind, I despise internal-combustion engines,
consider them a necessary
evil, and prefer to use my Minn Kota electric trolling motor. I know that, with the
Nissan, I can sit inches
away from the motor while talking to crew in a normal tone of voice and avoiding
asphyxiation, so that's about
as much as I'd hoped from the 4-stroke. I don't really have an opinion on fuel
ecomony, other than that the
Nissan 4-horse's internal tank seems to run dry faster than I would have expected,
however, my expectations
were probably unrealistic. My motor has an optional connection for an external tank,
which I would probably
use for extended cruising, but have no such plans this season. I also added the
optional alternator, but
haven't used that, either. I also have plenty of power. I think I'm close to hull
speed at slightly less
than half-throttle, which is where I've kept the motor for proper break-in, except for
my last outing when an
accidental grounding forced me to throttle high in forward and reverse. I sail Lake
Michigan, where I don't
really deal with strong currents or tides, but my hunch is that, even if I HAD strong
currents and tides, 4
horses would provide plenty of power to handle them. I'm incredulous that anyone
would need 6 or more horses
for an M17, but I'm also inexperienced, so my opinion doesn't count for much.
Where I store my boat, mast-up, my neighbors all have Honda 4-strokes that look
prettier, sleeker (external
tanks) and lighter than my Nissan, but they were also probably substantially more
expensive. So far, I'm
happy with my purchase, and would recommend it over any other 2-stroke, but can't
compare it against other
manufacturers' 4-strokes.
Please understand that my personal experience with the Suzuki 4-horse 2-stroke is
probably not typical: I'm
mechanically inept and I had an old motor that had been used in saltwater. I can
definitely appreciate that
the old Suzuki weighed less!
So, for what it's worth, with less than 10 hours on my Nissan, I'd buy it again, but
ask me again in two
years.
p.s. To those of you who have asked me about my M17 kick-up rudder: I am very happy
with it and can't feel
any
difference from the stock rudder when the blade is down. However, I had to add an
"eye" to the skeg through
which I could run a rope ("uphaul"?) to keep the blade down. The eye was added in
'glass by a local boat
repairman and looks factory original: I'll send a pic of it to Doug to post with the
other photos of my
rudder on the MSOG site. The "eye" works brilliantly.
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