the others are better but i get the impression the tohatsu motors are no frills work horses and cheaper than the others.

surf lifesavers use them. 

get a yamaha 2 stroke for it they are a awesome good motor, dont no what you mean buy american/japanese as i thought that mariner where the japenese copy, but i have a 30hp mariner 2 stroke and its been excellent.

in that range mercury is tohatsu i think

honda dont make 2 strokes

i dont like the suzuki 2 stroke.

get the yamaha, if you dont get a yami, then go mariner/mercury

there all good til they shit emselfs, go with the best deal and service you can find.

there are some cheap 4st hondas on ebay.

Yamaha would be my first recommendation but after that just about everythings equal anyway except mercury and mariner seem to be worst. if you do decide on a merc get a mariner because they are identical motors they just go in different directions once they leave the factory.

If your buying second hand then some of the older johnsons are a lot more reliable than anything new and a whole lot cheaper

also be extremely careful about buying a yamaha cv, a great motor but if you maintain your own motor then you will find it just about impossible to get through, everythings just bolted together in a random mess which makes work on it really hard especially if you don't have much experience with the cv

have a look at the cv model yammies on their website.......no frills motors, bloody reliable and if you don't mind premixing your fuel they will last for years. i had the cv 30 and 40 and they were terrific.

i had a 30 hp yammi it ran 100 to 1 very good motor dont know wat mix the others use you could idle around all day and not to much smoke

I hammered that donk for years and never did it let me down and it was still starting instantly every time when i sold the boat

Get a Mercury/Mariner 15hp 2stroke...the US model...it has all the controls on the tiller arm. Great little outboard...My old man has had one for 12 years, still starts first time, every time...gets a good workout at Warrora every year for 2 months with hardly a flush...still going strong

But buy the Mariner when you do and save $400....exact same donk, just different cowling.....I did and it moves my 3.7 quinny tinny along very nicely

oh and judging by the 30 or so old farts (read wise old men) who we seen down at Warrora last year on the beach who all had dinghys, most were mercury/mariners......might be something in that

WA is black anchor country

we have the mariner 30hp not the US model and its been such a good engine

but regardless mercury smaller  2 strokes are very good

yeah yamaha would have been my other choice.....wasnt worried about price....just the old father/son advise won

i would say get a yamaha there one of the best 2 stroke out there but if your on a budget i would say get a mariner because i think there made in japan, tohatsu is just rebadged mariner/merc both merc/mariner/tohatsu are good but go yamaha its worth that extra bit on money

Cheers for the info. Appreciate it.

at that engine size, you are talking a few hundred $ difference, if that. I was looking at a Merc 15hp for my dinghy and in round figures it was $2k for a 2 stroke and $2.2k for a 4 stroke.

If it was me, I'd be on the 4 stroke in a heartbeat. It'll be a bit heavier, but for me the positives of a 4 stroke far outweigh the negatives of extra weight and price.

Someone also recently raised the point though, its cheaper to repair a drowned 2st compared to a 4st, and that is relevant on smaller boats.

but I dont plan on drowning my engine?

Regardless, a drowned engine repair will be expensive, 2 stroke or 4 stroke. Personally I think that is a silly argument to make. Its like saying buy a Commodore rather than a BMW cos the repairs will be cheaper if you have a crash.

a dinghys life is often drag through shallow water with the impeller sucking up sand, engine off, engine on, capsizes. 

a 2 stroke is lighter, a 2 stroke is easier to repair if drowned, its faster, its simpler.

a 15hp will use bearly any fuel anyway.

and with a 4 stroke you have to lay it down a certain side when transporting.

 over time a 2 stroke may be easier to live with

Not really, more like saying you would use a certate instead of a stella for rockfishing ;)

I doubt many people plan on drowning motors, but iuts much eaiser in a smaller boat than a large one.

a famiy member once capsizd and drowned engine when got hit by a larger than normal wave at quobba-14ft dinghy 15hp evinrude2 stroke

the engine was repaired by my grandad.

another family member was at blowholes with a dinghy and a kingwave swamped the engine and dinghy ad the engine was repaired by us-35hp evinrude 14ft dinghy.

these where not in the plan.

but the advantages of a fourstroke will be less noise, less fuel, but more expensive.

Hey wide open sounds like your family needs to find some safer places to fish??? lol

is very dangerous

lots of unexpexted waves even if its dead flat