Outboard Purchase

An early stage in assembling the hull in a Redwing is building the motor well.  To make this right, it needs to be designed to fit the motor that will be installed.  To get the measurements right I really need the motor in-hand to really figure this out.  Thus the motor is being purchased long before the hull is complete or the boat hits the water. 

The first thoughts were to get a Honda 8 h.p.  This boat is intended to be a slow cruiser and 8 to 10 hp should do it well.  Honda has a stellar reputation for reliability and quietness.

Further research found that the Honda 8hp and the Honda 9.9hp are in fact the exact same motor.  The Honda 8hp is just a throttled down version.  So I thought I would get a Honda 9.9hp.

The Redwing-18 is best fitted with a 'short' shaft outboard.  Also, the Redwing uses a ship's wheel not an outboard's tiller handle, so setting it up for remote control is needed.  Honda makes the short shaft versions, but does not offer a remote controlled version in the short shaft length, only on the long and extra long versions. This would mean that a few essential modifications to the Honda would be needed for remote control and some of these parts (Honda OEM parts) are not particularly cheap.

I had my eye on a Honda 9.9hp at OnlineOutboards.com, but before I could pull the trigger they went out-of-stock. After some weeks of waiting for Honda to be back in stock, I went to the local Boat Show.  Not a Honda in sight!  Nearly all the displays were Suzuki or Tohatsu.  

Browsing Online-Outboards, I found not only plenty of Suzuki but lots of Suzuki models in remote versions complete with the Suzuki throttle included.  In addition, the Suzuki 9.9hp remote version was on sale as an overstock item, $2,710.  This one is also their electric start and power-tilt version.  Just what an old man needs.  The motor comes standard with a 3-gallon fuel tank and the fuel line.  The included throttle handle came with the wiring harness that is plenty long enough for the Redwing.

The Honda 8hp and 9.9hp are the same engine (same 222cc displacement, bore & stroke).  It turns out the Suzuki line does the same strategy of sharing the same motor for different HP sizes.  In the case of Suzuki, the 9.9hp is the same engine as the 15hp and the 20hp (same 327cc displacement, bore & stroke).  So whereas the Honda 9.9 would be the maximum h.p. for that engine, the Suzuki 9.9hp is the 20hp throttled and restricted down to be 9.9hp.  A 20hp engine working along nice and easy as a 9.9hp version.