Tohatsu 20hp EFI Outboard Review - Is this the BEST on the market? NOT SPONSORED **Same as Mercury**
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- If you're on the market for a new outboard for your tinny then make sure you check this out. It's a must watch for anyone building a roof topper tinny setup looking for the right motor.
For those that don't know - Tohatsu make the Mercury 9.9/15/20 outboards, it's only the exterior thats different.
This is a genuine unbiased review - not sponsored!
If you're on the market for an outboard for your tinny make sure you check this out.
the 9,8 i have that on a 10 feet pioner because live with the water, very good and light enough to take up in winter and reliable despite carbureator.Before i got that 25 EFI, also a exellent engine but to heavy where i live to pass through a shallow channel before the fjord. The 25 lasted 12 years with no issues on boat all year also in winter. Breac in is 10 hours and i dont take it to seriously , just first 10 min idle, then moore and moore and day 3 it,s full into it. They also like go long distanses on close to full throttle or full if a bit load in the boat. I use automotive full synt 5w 40 One thing with the oil, a 10w 40 semisynth or even 30 goes ok.But a 40 have a bit better sheare properties if run engine on the hard side of it, long full throttle etc. It dont care what oil, as long as it have clean oil and i change 2 times a seson done when boat is on water, the 9,8 have no oil filter only stariner permanent. When he say that it,s hard to start a EFI it,s also not total effortless the carburated one, it need a prosedyre using choke and so on but just in a second and so slowly let the engine warm up before put it under load, if to fast trying put load, it simply stops in some cases. But that is not a problem, just give it the time it needs, ab 1 minute and off you go.When to operating temp, you can drive non stop on full throttle with 2 persons in 1 hour and no problem.
The second pull is to charge the EFI and no problem, i used a 25 Tohatsu EFI for about 1100 Hours (12 years) boat outside year round before downsized to a 9,8 and pioner 10 feet so i can have it at my door and pass through a channel to a fjord. The 9,8 is carburated and no water separator, the trick is to always full tank and fuel it on land at a car gas station, then not any issue. The EFI is moore responive but exellent engines all these tohatsus.
Awesome motor. I have one. I just had a issue with the VST and that took a while for the dealer to figure out. Finally replaced under warranty. It doesn't happen often, maybe I'm the first... But of course, it would happen to me. :) I would still buy another. Power to weight ratio is the best on the market, and fuel economy cant be touched.
I've had two now, for a total of 4 years trouble free boating and I still can't get over the lack of fuel they use! Cheers, ORT
The reason they take a few pulls to start is the charging needs to power up to run the battery-less EFI
That makes sense but then why does my Suzuki EFI always start first go?
Thanks for doing this review.. I’m sold 👍👍
I have an 2013, 20 HP - 4 stroke carburated Tohatsu, in a 3.40m inflatable boat (transom and keel made of wood), and it's wonderful (I sail the Patagonian lakes).
Reliable, quiet, very low consumption (great endurance), cheap parts (solely for manteinance until today), and easily serviceable by myself (repair manual it's for free download).
I'm 56 and it's my 4th boat (including a motor cruiser).
A humble lesson: you don't need a big boat (and a big engine) to get fun: when you're sailing, the further from the water, the less fun you got.
Greetings from Argentina !!!
So very true! thanks for reaching out LARGO. Safe travels, ORT.
I *prefer* a small engine. Costs so much less per outing, and as the HP increases, one gets diminishing returns on speed.
The reason they take a few pulls to start is that the electrical system needs to charge up to run the EFI, I would hope that the dealer explained this but clearly not,
Hey Brett, Thanks for the reply and clarifying. I certainly didn't explain that well in the vid. Overall I love the motor but it is just a small sidenote for those that expect a first pull start motor. Cheers, ORT
Also have the 20FI. Absolutely love this engine. Throttle réponse and if propped correctly throws a bulky 13’ inflatable with a hole shot. Zero hesitation ever. Never had an engine this fuel efficient. Wouldn’t buy anything else.
Hey Jay, yeh I agreee 100% The fuel efficiency is unbelievable until you have one. Cheers, ORT
Your complaints are the color and taking an extra pull or 2 starting? Come on
Sure are. Where I live the colour gets super hot out in the sun and shows the water stains really badly. I can deal with the two pulls to start, but its no where near as easy as the old two strokes. OK for me, but for more elderly people looking at buying them it could be a deal breaker. Cheers, ORT.
What an informative video. Thanks! I wonder how this would move a 12' aluminum hull Zodiac with my son and me.
Thanks mate. I would think it would do it perfectly. The hull I have it on is a 12ft with a boat collar and with two up its a very nice match. Cheers, ORT.
Nice video. Thanks to your video, I'm planning to buy one Tohatsu 20HP electric start & power tilt/trim. However I don't know what year I should buy because 2023 model is almost $4,000.00 in US, while the 2018 model is less than $1,600.00 USD.
I'm not sure exactly what year they changed to the fuel injection but you may find the 2018 is the older model without all the benefits of the new fuel injection. Best check before you commit. Cheers, ORT
Thanks alot brother! This helped me make my decision. I bought a tohatsu 20 a few weeks ago and it is amazing.
Glad you like it mate, I love mine. I still cant get over how good they are on fuel. Cheers, OTR.
I really like those small Aussie V hulls.
They're great versatile little boats. Cheers, ORT
Man, nice I recently got a 2022 Mercury 15hp 4 stroke EFI, because of the adjustable tiller, waiting for it to warm up so I can get out on the lake !
Nice one, yeh they are great little motor.
I have a 20hp Tohatsu 2020
I purposely bought one with electric start and electric tilt, due to physical limitations. Excellent motor. No regrets whatsoever.
Yes they would be great with electric start and tilt. For my purposes I need to keep weight down so they don't suit. Cheers, ORT
I just bought a 20 hp mercury efi, and I was regretting not getting the electric start, I was having the same issue as you starting it, doing it the way you are doing it here too, I was used to my 9.9 2 stroke. But I found, if you stand up, you can give it one good pull and really try to stretch it as far as you can go, it usually starts up with just one pull. Still a little annoying, but better than sitting there trying to pull it over and over again getting a sore shoulder.
Awesome advice mate. Its definitely chalk and cheese to the little 2 strokes, but you are right - if you give it a good pull the whole way through it does generally go first pull. Cheers, ORT
@@ourrealitytravels bottoming out the recoil keeps me in business:) also not pulling on the compression stroke just yanking it haphazardly will cause the springs to go bad quicker.
Manual says pull slowly and when you feel resistance pull hard and fast. Using that technique has worked well for me so far
Mine starts first pull.
Best motor on the market.
Got to be up there thats for sure.
Owe 6 hp 4 stroke, start is always easy, i guess it has to do with efi
Taylor Mary Moore Mary Allen George
A nice big outboard foil would make it even more fuel efficient
First pull charges up the capacitor. Normal. Second pull then provides ecm with enough energy to fire up system. Normal.
Roger that, thanks mate. Makes sense but definitely not as easy as the old two strokes. Otherwise, these things are amazing. Cheers, ORT.
My 2019 20hp fuel injected is a nightmare to pull start when engine is cold.
Tohatsu service in Jacksonville Florida is surprisingly impossible to find.
I bought it new, it runs great once started, but I Regret not getting the electric start.
Thats interesting, as in more than 2-3 pulls cold? It really is an art form with these motors but once you find the right technique it seems predictable.
Years ago I owned a 18hp 2 stroke Tohatsu, it was a bit heavy at around 42kg ( short shaft ), so yeah 43kg for a 4 stroke short shaft , yeah you couldn't complain. The 4 stroke would be a better choice no doubt , only thing that would piss me off is the pull start issue , having to pull it 2 or 3 times when it's warmed up. Currently have a Tohatsu 50 to 4 weeks stroke battery start with trim and tilt , over the close to 7 years I've had it the 2 trim / tilt solenoids have needed replacing , pretty easy job . Few other issues but nothing major . Rather have a Japanese made O/B over say a Chinese made fancy 2 stroke.....
Spell check can be shit , meant to be 50 HP EFI 4 stroke......
@@roughas100 Yeh the new 4's really are the way of the future. The Japanese outboards have such a good rep for reliability its hard to go wrong.
the 18hp 2 stroke nissan/tohatsu are probably the most powerful in their class. the older ones put out about 22hp at the prop. the newer ones are supposedly more, but havent seen dyno numbers. Id be shocked if this 20hp could actually beat it.
I just bought one in with the short shaft.
Hey mate i thought i saw the dart now you have makocraft? Any reason
Hey mate, spot on. So we travelled somewhere very remote and it was too costly to send the Dart back so I had to part ways. When I went to buy another there was too long of a lead time so I decided on a second hand mako and built again. Very similar credentials to the dart HDW. Cheers, ORT
@@ourrealitytravels cheers for the reply. Great vids mate could you do a proper run down one time of your boat loader and what the other one was you mentioned
@@blakee121 Hey mate, check out the channel we recently posted a full review of the boat loader, cheers
if its not run in by 300 hrs, i dont know what to tell you :) one big complaint both me and my customers have is a bad high-frequency vibration from single and twin cylinder 4 strokes (3 cyl and up are glass-smooth). the twins are bad because they both have pistons traveling with eachother, essentially a badly balanced single cylinder. 2 strokes, because of the opposing pistons sound a bit rougher (some are as smooth as 4 strokes though), but are actually much more enjoyable at idle to midrange because hardly any of those bad high frequency vibrations.
mercurys are the higher power tohatsus under a different brand!
I thought tohatsu were Nissan motors
Not sure on the history of Nissan outboards. But Tohatsu is most certainly its own brand.
@@ourrealitytravels Nissan outboard motors are produced by Tohatsu Corporation of Tokyo, Japan.
electric start is the way to go
Only 93lbs. My '94 20HP Johnson is about 120lbs. I dont think any 2 stoke 20HP is that light.
Yeh there wouldn't be many. They have really changed the game with the weight reduction and the fuel injection. Cheers, ORT
nonsense! A 25hp Force 3 cyl was 78 lbs. older fastwin OMC motors from the 60's/early 70's were in that range as well. your 20hp also came in 25, 28, and 30hp versions all the same weight. 35hp as well but that was flyhweel hp.
@ct1762 Uh, the motor in question literally has the weight, in KG, listed on the motor plate at about 54KG. Which is 119lbs. My 1997 25HP Johnson is a little heavier due to the electric start...
@ct1762 Looked up the Force 25HP 3 banger. Weight listed is 92lbs. You're way off.
@@DizzyMan24 i did not say your 25 wasnt 120 lbs. i said the older ones where in the 70 lb range. the Force 25 3 cyl weight for a short shaft rope model is darn close to 78 lbs. a long shaft tiller electric sure. but either way last time I checked 92 lbs for a 25hp 3 cyl is a whole different animal than a 20hp at 93 lbs lol
What a bummer that it cannot start from the first p u l l would you recommend electric start instead?
Depends what you want it for. For me, I have a rooftop tinny so dont want to be carrying a battery etc. I think if you could do electric start it would make it easier. Cheers, ORT.
Thank you
had Merc 20 and tohatsu had my friend. Mercury by far better
They are same novadays
Bro the Chinese clone of the 15hp Yamaha is faster than a 20hp name brand motor? That’s weird, the 4 stroke seems to be very slow compared to a two stroke.
Yeh I'm a sucker for the speed of an old two stroke too haha which is why I've held off from a four stroke for so long. Top speed will more be dictated by prop size and pitch than anything to be honest though mate - this one is propped for cruising and will still plane with 4 POB. Cheers, ORT
thats crazy my old carb 4 stroke started first pull when warm lol theres got to be a way to trick the system to starting first
If it hasn't been off for a while it will. It's to do with the electronics required for the fuel injection. Small price to pay in my opinion, but yes I miss the easy start of the old two strokes.
3:40 I had both those “features” on my 2006 Honda 9.9 plus electric start
No doubt. I think almost all portables come with electric start these days. I use mine for car topping so pull start is best for me. Batteryless fuel injection and its light weight are the key features that sets this motor apart from most others on the market.
What prop are you running? I bought one of these recently for a 3.7m rooftop Ezytopper boat, finding the boat and loads are way too light for the stock 10 pitch prop and it's hitting the governor at 2/3 throttle
Hey mate, stock prop. No load it will get to the limiter. With 2 POB and gear it revs out nicely without hitting the limiter. If you were only ever going to be running 1 POB then I'd consider changing pitch for some more top end but I find the 22ish knots top speed more than enough for me.
Is shallow water drive same as tilting up motor like you showed ?
Yep sure is.
How much does this cost? In USD.
No idea mate, best contact your local Tohatsu dealer. Was about 4k AUD. Cheers, ORT
Now they are made in China and have been for awhile.
Not sure where you have got that info from mate, the little tohatsu's are 100% Japanese. I believe the higher hp Tohatsu's (60hp and up) are made by Honda - which do build some in China. Cheers, ORT.
Do you have to drill any holes in transom to mount the outboard or is tightening clamp screws enough ? MFS20E model talks something about securing clamp brackets using bolts and nylon locking nuts .
Just the clamps mate, more than sufficient. You could permanently mount if you wanted with bolts but no issue just using the supplied clamps. Cheers, ORT.
If you don't bolt it on make sure you have a cable or rope on it so you don't loose the motor
is it easy to carry?
They're not too bad as far as outboards go. It has a good flexible handle on the front and a ledge on the back of the cowl for your hand. Cheers, ORT
i have a 2020 but mine leaks oil out of the exhaust i don't know why.
Hmm not good, it should still be under warranty I'd be taking it back to the dealer.
Check trim angle and make sure engine is not to much off from perpendicular to water and then check oil level. This is simple to do and hopefully it may help.
I normally do a light pull 3 times, and it will be easy to start with a medium effort. Sometimes, when it's warm , a couple of light pulls will start the tohatsu efi. I think others already commented here about the charge.
What’s a kilo?
😂
😂
2.2 lbs
Got rid of the Dart?
By circumstance not by choice. Went for the Mako 370 HD as a comparable hull for my next rooftopper build. Both are very capable and well built little tinnys. Cheers, ORT
@@ourrealitytravels cheers for the reply. I’m Looking at a dart locally for an easy, lightweight tinny for overnight camp trips when I can’t be bothered towing the larger boat. There is bugger all reviews on small boats on TH-cam, you should do one on your makocraft. Safe travels
@@ashleywoolnough4884 You wont go wrong with a little dart mate. The 370HDW is definitely the pick if you can, but the standard dart is still a good little tinny. Thanks for the feedback, I'll see if I can put a review on the Mako together in the future. Cheers.
Don't complain about pull start until you've owned couple 30hp 2stroke tohastu. Only time they start 1st pull is when been off for few minutes, otherwise 4-6 pulls. Talked to other 30hp owners and its quirk of motor, but they are very reliable and gutsy.
Thanks for review, I'm considering switching 20hp 4stroke.
Yes all about perspective! Overall its a brilliant motor, you wont be disappointed. Cheers, ORT
First two pulls... choke and only then put on the safety cord. Then choke off start 1st pull
Also if you get it, if you get an electric start one it is so amazing, i used a 1979 evinrude johnson and would have to pull all the time and now all you do is push a button its so nice
if it takes 4-6 pulls either your starting procedure is not correct, or the motor has fuel or ignition issues! edit: could be tired as well and need a rebuild.
Beluga white is a colour option in europe for the mfs 20e
Nice, yeh I've seen the white in some of the bigger models in Aus now and it looks pretty good.
Does it plane that tinny with 2 people and gear ? Thanks
2 adults with absolute ease. Will plane with 4 adults and still push her to max out about 17knots.
@@ourrealitytravels Thanks so much for replying . I’ve just ordered one for my 12 foot snipe 👍 Safe travels
@@AndyL940 Perfect match mate, you will love it. Cheers, ORT.