I’m about 5 years in on my Tohatsu 60hp. It’s been a great motor so far and taken some abuse. I wonder were all 3 powerheads down with the same issue? Or different issues? Do you run a jackplate without a low water pickup? There’s gotta be a causality. They made millions of these motors and I never heard anything negative until recently.
I’m still running a 20 year old Hatsu TLDI 40. Still solid.
Doesn’t sound like he is fishing much these days…
Ron has another boat. He’s still guiding out of it.
2005 was a different time my friend…
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Yeah its sad that as the prices have gone up the quality has gone down on just about everything.
That’s not directly the cause - I run a jack plate without a low water pick up on a Tohatsu 50. With a compression plate, you can raise the engine over 6” high and still keep enough water flow. I have NMEA on my boat and monitor temperature - I can go 8” high until I start to see the temp creep up past 160 (5” on the plate, engine is raised 3" on the highest bolt).
But I will add that I’ve fished with Ron a number of times for nearly 10 years now. I’ve never seen or felt him horse his ride at all. He poles in and out of skinny stuff and runs at cruising speed. He definitely doesn’t drive it like he stole it - more of a get in the middle lane, set the cruise control and relax ride.
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Dang. Interesting thread. Thanks for these posts.
I get that is your situation, but every hull and setup are different so it can absolutely be related. Example, one of my old skiff’s tunnel disturbed water more then it should have. The turbulent flow lead to less efficient water pickup if I was only 1 inch above the tunnel and a compression plate didn’t solve it. Not saying that’s the case, just asking for more info cause he is 3 for 3 on motors that are generally liked and known to be fairly reliable.
Kinda makes ya wonder about all those Hellsbay skiffs People was quick to mount a Tahatsu on 
If you aren’t hitting the temperature alarm you’re not harming the power head. The alarm on Tohatsus is 180 degrees which is not hot enough to hurt the motor. They don’t have temperature alarms that go off at temperatures that are harmful to your power head. If you are hitting the alarm and continue to run it and allow the temperature to reach over 200 degrees then you will start causing damage. The alarm is there to warn you to either back off the throttle some or come off plane and check for the issue. No one is running these skiffs “blind” on a jackplate without at least a water pressure gauge or a way to monitor both water pressure and engine temperature unless they are just oblivious and I promise you Ron is not oblivious.
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I didn’t say he is running it blind, I asked a question about his setup. Anecdotal stories about a different boat and owner may not apply here at all. I’m just wondering what is going on. If you are 3 for 3 either their is a common cause or you have the worst luck in the world.
Was he running an nmea2k system on these boat/boats? Could there be an alarm issue through the programming or setup? Did he do the proper break in? How did all 3 fail? How many hours were on all 3?
You guys need to realize that asking questions does not inherently apply an insult.
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I didn’t claim you were insulting anyone, I am saying your reason (aerated water without overheating) is not valid. Unless you are hitting the temperature alarm it doesn’t matter how high you run the lower unit. If you are constantly hitting the temperature alarm and continuing to run the motor and allowing the temperature to get well over 200 degrees then there’s basis for concern of damaging or negatively impacting longevity of the outboard.
Improper break in and maintenance is definitely going to cause issues eventually but those are not the same as how clean/ aerated the water is that you run the outboard in.
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I run a Whipray non tunnel. Ron’s last two boats were non tunnel, low deadrise boats. Very similar in setup and design.
Ron can speak for himself but like I said, I go back with him 10 years. I’ve owned skiffs for 20 years. We both ran Beavertails on our previous skiffs.
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Every year I tell myself I am going to raise my transom to 20” so I can have outboard options, but every year I dont feel like it.
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But still if yamaha would just make a short lower then you wouldn’t have to add extra weight and material to the transom. Still doesn’t solve the immediate issue w the powerheads. Sorry on the side track.
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Ok, if you guys are close do you know what happened to his 3 motors?
I’m curious too.
This has gone downhill. Must be the moon phase.
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I’m legitimately curious why this could be happening. Is it this common? I am probably 2 months out on my build slot for a Salt Marsh Heron and am planning on powering with a 60 Tohatsu. I haven’t heard too many bad things about Tohatsu or any other brand for that matter. An early thread from a few months ago talked about how loud they were compared to others I inquired about it too. I’m just trying to get as much info/opinions as possible.
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