Outboard suggestions

[Scheeringa]

Hey gentleman and ladies!

Buying my Ericson 27, and it's coming without an outboard. The owner of the local marine shop is telling me to go with an extra long (25") shaft for sailboats, but the transom seems to sit super low already. Looks like I can almost get away with a short!

I'm sure this discussion has been brought up before, but for 2023, what would you all recommend? Honda makes a 15 hp Power Thrust (High torque) in extra long, or a 20 horse power thrust in regular long. I see the boats with inboards have 30hp, and I would rather have the power and not need it, than need it and not have it.
The 20hp isn't available in extra long.

 

[Nick J]

I don't have great input on the HP, but an extra long shaft is a must in my experience (E25+). With the motor at the end of the boat, in heavier seas, it can come out of the water. the deeper you can get the prop, the better.

 

[Scheeringa]

I don't have great input on the HP, but an extra long shaft is a must in my experience (E25+). With the motor at the end of the boat, in heavier seas, it can come out of the water. the deeper you can get the prop, the better.

If extra long is a must, then it's looking like I'm getting the 15hp

 

[Loren Beach]

I suggest a modern four stroke of either 8 or 10 hp. Your waterline length will not benefit from more power and there is only so much strength inherent in the transom. Those motor choices will weigh in at about 100#. A long shaft might be OK, but the extra long (25" leg) might be better.
Note that the stock mounting for that model is clamped to the transom and Not on a bracket. Bracket-mounted engines are a lot more likely to pop out of the water and cavitate in waves.
There are Several good threads here on selecting OB engines, and opinions do vary.
Just one thread: https://ericsonyachts.org/ie/threads/e27-outboard-version.11851/#post-81016

 

[Scheeringa]

I suggest a modern four stroke of either 8 or 10 hp. Your waterline length will not benefit from more power and there is only so much strength inherent in the transom. Those motor choices will weigh in at about 100#. A long shaft might be OK, but the extra long (25" leg) might be better.
Note that the stock mounting for that model is clamped to the transom and Not on a bracket. Bracket-mounted engines are a lot more likely to pop out of the water and cavitate in waves.
There are Several good threads here on selecting OB engines, and opinions do vary.
Just one thread: https://ericsonyachts.org/ie/threads/e27-outboard-version.11851/#post-81016

I'm a little shocked that a little 8hp would be enough. There's a couple 18' sailing boats that a company used to train, and they both have 9.9s on them.

 

[Alan Gomes]

I'm a little shocked that a little 8hp would be enough. There's a couple 18' sailing boats that a company used to train, and they both have 9.9s on them.

On some outboards, at least, the 8 hp. and 9.8 or 9.9 hp. models are the same physical engine but (presumably) tuned differently to account for the difference in hp. Check out Tohatsu, for example, and compare the specs for their 8 and 9.8 hp engines. Both weigh in at 81.5 lbs and appear to be the identical engine. Their 9.8, by the way, comes in a 25" shaft.

 

[G Kiba]

Tohatsu makes a 9.8 with a 25 inch shaft with option electric starter. Had one on my E27 for 12 years. Great motor. Hull speed at half throttle. More than enough for an E27. Anything bigger will be too hard to raise without a power lift. It is a tight fit in the standard transom cutout so you will have to steer with the tiller. Backing up is also a challenge but i think that is true for the E27 with both in and outboards for some reason.

 

[Scheeringa]

Tohatsu makes a 9.8 with a 25 inch shaft with option electric starter. Had one on my E27 for 12 years. Great motor. Hull speed at half throttle. More than enough for an E27. Anything bigger will be too hard to raise without a power lift. It is a tight fit in the standard transom cutout so you will have to steer with the tiller. Backing up is also a challenge but i think that is true for the E27 with both in and outboards for some reason.

It's like that with the Hondas too. The 15 and 20 hp engines are both the same 350cc twin, and the 8-9.9 hps are 225cc twins.
There's only like a 10lb difference to get more displacement, and I've always been taught there's no replacement for displacement

 

[bigd14]

Also look into the Yamaha 9.9 Hi-Thrust, it’s designed with different gearing and prop to better suit displacement hulls with more torque at lower prop speeds. It is also used by a lot of the salmon fishermen around here as a low and slow trolling motor. I had one on my E27 and it was a great motor. Still going strong on that boat which is owned now by a friend. I bought it from someone who heavily used it in salt water and it’s been an indestructible and reliable engine. I wouldn’t consider anything else for the E27.

 

[Nick J]

Also look into the Yamaha 9.9 Hi-Thrust, it’s designed with different gearing and prop to better suit displacement hulls with more torque at lower prop speeds. It is also used by a lot of the salmon fishermen around here as a low and slow trolling motor. I had one on my E27 and it was a great motor. Still going strong on that boat which is owned now by a friend. I bought it from someone who heavily used it in salt water and it’s been an indestructible and reliable engine. I wouldn’t consider anything else for the E27.

I've seen a lot of Yahama 9.9s on Ercison 27s and I had a Yamaha 8hp on my 25+. I now have a Yamaha 2.5 for my tender. They are fantastic engines. Use non ethanol gas and they will treat you very well (or save a few pennies on ethanol gas and get good at cleaning the carb). One added bonus of the 9.9 engine is the relative ease of being able to remove it from the boat to service or just keep it indoors during long periods of nonuse. As you go up in size, it gets more difficult to remove.

 

[Tin Kicker]

I'm a little shocked that a little 8hp would be enough. There's a couple 18' sailing boats that a company used to train, and they both have 9.9s on them.

Being displacement hulls means that powering more than what the hull speed is a game of decreasing gains. Because the inboard diesel was inop we moved a 10,000 lb E32-3 with the 5 hp 2-stroke from my dingy and did about 4 kts.

Even though this worked fine for a fairly short trip I would agree with the desire for long shaft and 4 stroke.

 

[Scheeringa]

Being displacement hulls means that powering more than what the hull speed is a game of decreasing gains. Because the inboard diesel was inop we moved a 10,000 lb E32-3 with the 5 hp 2-stroke from my dingy and did about 4 kts.

Even though this worked fine for a fairly short trip I would agree with the desire for long shaft and 4 stroke.

That is awesome!!

 

[Scheeringa]

Also look into the Yamaha 9.9 Hi-Thrust, it’s designed with different gearing and prop to better suit displacement hulls with more torque at lower prop speeds. It is also used by a lot of the salmon fishermen around here as a low and slow trolling motor. I had one on my E27 and it was a great motor. Still going strong on that boat which is owned now by a friend. I bought it from someone who heavily used it in salt water and it’s been an indestructible and reliable engine. I wouldn’t consider anything else for the E27.

All the manufacturers have some kind of High Torque model, the just all call them something different.
Yamaha has Hi-Thrust
Mercury has Command Thrust
Honda has Power Thrust.

Gotta love marketing departments and their corny names. I'm gonna design an engine and call my high torque model "hull shover"

 

[Loren Beach]

Yamaha has Hi-Thrust

That particular motor is nothing to sniff at. We had one on our prior 26 foot sailboat. Unlike all the smaller OB motors intended for skiffs, that 9.9 horse had a 2.7 to 1 final gear ratio and spun a stock 11.75 inch three blade prop. Oodles of torque.