New 20 hp

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J Hartman

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Location
Spring Hill, Tennessee
LOCATION
Fe, TN
Hello, in the market for a new 20 hp outboard. What you you choose and why? 15" tiller, electric start, tnt or tnt assist.

Was looking at Suzuki... But wanted to see if anyone had any other experiences.
 
Suzuki brand was recommended by a person with experience in another recent thread. I might also check out Tohatsu. Besides their own branding, they make small HP outboards for the Mercury brand. For whatever it is worth, I see a fair number of Suzuki's and Tohatsu's at our local lakes.

I had a 25 Merc four-stroke (made by Tohatsu) and never had any issues.

Dealer support in your area is another consideration -- just in case.

Power trim & tilt is well worth it, IMO, if available and budget allows.
 
Suzuki brand was recommended by a person with experience in another recent thread. I might also check out Tohatsu. Besides their own branding, they make small HP outboards for the Mercury brand. For whatever it is worth, I see a fair number of Suzuki's and Tohatsu's at our local lakes.

I had a 25 Merc four-stroke (made by Tohatsu) and never had any issues.

Dealer support in your area is another consideration -- just in case.

Power trim & tilt is well worth it, IMO, if available and budget allows.
The tohatsu / merc are made in Japan, and the suzuki in Thailand. I can't decide... The Japanese are known for quality products.
 
Any particular reason for a 20hp vs a 25hp? I know recently it seems that the 20hp motors have been the sweet spot on power to weight ratio but Tohatsu/Merc made their new model 25's lighter and kept them 3 cylinders. Don't know much about them but if I was in the market I'd research it some more.
 
Hello, in the market for a new 20 hp outboard. What you you choose and why? 15" tiller, electric start, tnt or tnt assist.

Was looking at Suzuki... But wanted to see if anyone had any other experiences.
Hi, I'm new to the forum, but old in years and had a lot of small outboard of many brands. I have never had any trouble with any of them as long as they are maintained and cared for. My last new 20 hp is a 4 stroke Honda 2020 with electric start and power tilt. I have never had a quieter, smoother outboard and it pushed my 15 foot Alumacraft Crappie Pro with two people and full gear at 23 mph per the Garmin.
 
We just went through this for a new electric start short-shaft 15hp for my boat club. It came down to (listed alphabetically) ... Honda, Mercury, Suzuki, Tohatsu(Nissan) and Yamaha.

-The Yam was ruled out as being the heaviest and members with newer ones have TONS of problems with them. Two, only a few years old, both had to have new carbs put on them to get them to run. I have the OEM service manual and many years experience on OBs and I could never get them to run 'well', where 2 local Dealers also tried their hand to no avail. New carbs did the trick ... now, for how long????

-Honda was ruled out as they are heavy and our local Dealer won't deal on pricing, which left it as the most expen$ive we looked at. Plus the are notorious for only servicing - by priority - those who buy boats and motors and yard space from him. Just buy an OB and need service or God forbid any warranty work? Go to the end of the line and maybe he'll look at it in August when you dropped it off in May ...

-Mercury was ruled out as it turns out that Tohatsu makes all the smaller HP Mercury motors anyway! Plus Merc-induced changes for the tilt lever (and one other feature I forget ... ) isn't placed in a position as user friendly as the base Tohatsu model.

-Suzuki wasn't considered due to local Dealer availability.

Summary - We feel we got the best price and value going with the Tohatsu. The Dealer also let us buy it this past Fall (to save/guard against any future inflation price increases) and they'll have one ready for us by the end of March, where they will put break-in hours on it in their test tank prior to pickup.

All the other Dealers were - You buy it, you own it, you take it ... now ...
 
Hi, I'm new to the forum, but old in years and had a lot of small outboard of many brands. I have never had any trouble with any of them as long as they are maintained and cared for. My last new 20 hp is a 4 stroke Honda 2020 with electric start and power tilt. I have never had a quieter, smoother outboard and it pushed my 15 foot Alumacraft Crappie Pro with two people and full gear at 23 mph per the Garmin.

". . .maintained and cared for"

Best advice yet.
 
Bought a new 20 hp tohatsu in 2017 to power a 15 ft alumacraft jon. It seems to have the perfect power to weight ratio. Only problem i ever had was leaving the fuel line plugged up to motor during summer time when not in use. The tank will swell up. The cure was to either keep the line unplugged until ready to use or modify the tank so it can breathe. The motor will flood if you plug it in to the tank while swelled . If you think it is flooded just advance the throttle a couple of times, when not running. These engines are tough and will just keep on and on running. They are economic and a couple of gallons of gas will last a long time.
 
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I have a 2016 Suzuki DF9.9 remote/elec start/tilt, runs perfect, have had no issue. Would buy again.

Inexpensive to convert to 20hp.

It has NEMA and marine OBD.

As, Dale stated, service centers are limited.
 
If you get a GOOD ONE ??? You will be happy. Luck is SO IMPORTANT today with lots of items.
 
Bought a new 20 hp tohatsu in 2017 to power a 15 ft alumacraft jon. It seems to have the perfect power to weight ratio. Only problem i ever had was leaving the fuel line plugged up to motor during summer time when not in use. The tank will swell up. The cure was to either keep the line unplugged until ready to use or modify the tank so it can breathe. The motor will flood if you plug it in to the tank while swelled . If you think it is flooded just advance the throttle a couple of times, when not running. These engines are tough and will just keep on and on running. They are economic and a couple of gallons of gas will last a long time.

To avoid that problem with the EPA tanks, I put a fuel demand valve in the fuel line from the tank. Like this:

Screen Shot 2023-01-05 at 7.04.25 PM.png
 

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