Finally mounted my SailPro; first impressions.

[brackish]

Finally mounted the New Nissan Sailpro that had been sitting in my back shed for three months.  Took advantage of a midweek lull in ramp use and used the Corp of Engineers ramp loading dock.  Backed my 23 in and tied it off so that I could wade in knee deep to work.  Was working by myself so very difficult getting the 9.9 off.   Mounting the SailPro, however, was a breeze at 45 lbs. lighter.

This was the first time this motor had ever been started since factory testing, and it started on the first pull.  Additionally, the pull was very easy (auto decompression of some sort?), unlike the 9.9 which was a bear to manually start.  I idled around for 15 minutes at 1150 RPM, then took it up to 2500 RPM and just motored around for about another half hour, following the break in schedule in the manual.  Ran fine at both settings, about 2.3 knots at the latter.  Then had to come back, had to be home.  When I docked, I grabbed the spring assist mount to lift the motor and pulled with the same vigor it used to take to lift the 9.9.  I almost fell back in the cockpit, as the lighter motor required almost no effort on my part to lift it.

I bought one of those 20 buck tachs to check break in and get an indication of best fuel consumption, speed combo.  Really neat, it is one of those you just wrap a wire around the spark plug cap and stick the tack on the steering handle.  It measures RPM, hours of use, number of times started.

So next time up I'll finish the break in and finish my review. But so far,  I'm very happy with the purchase.  My back is happy and the motor mount is happy.  It does vibrate more than the two cylinder 9.9 but not annoyingly and I can live with that for the other benefits.    

[MacGyver]

What of this "tach" you speak of?!?!?

I have never seen one of those (I do know what your talking about actually, just being a goof)
What is the brand and model? I might think about putting one on my new sailpro, as they are pretty specific of the break in..... but no way to know RPM........

Mac

[brackish]

What of this "tach" you speak of?!?!?

I have never seen one of those (I do know what your talking about actually, just being a goof)
What is the brand and model? I might think about putting one on my new sailpro, as they are pretty specific of the break in..... but no way to know RPM........

Mac

This is the one I got.  It is $27 now but there are others for $16 up.  Got it on Amazon.  Works great, takes about 5 minutes to install 

Hardline Products HR-8061-2 Hour/Tachometer with adjustable input, Resettable MAX RPM and Log Book

[jthatcher]

hi  Brack.. thanks for the info.. my  sailpro just arrived this week.  i will be installing it on the boat this weekend..  but, tomorrow i will order the tach that you mentioned. what a great idea..     this was a very timely post!     the boat won't actually get into the water till mid week  next week, so there should be plenty of time for the tach to arrive..    jt

[brackish]

I'm sure both of you have read the notification in the five or six different places they put it in the packing and literature, but don't forget it comes from the warehouse with the oil drained and you have to fill it before use.  And if it has to be transported laid down with the oil in it, handle side down and elevated a couple of inches at the top.  Laid mine on a chunk of 4 x 4 with a piece of old carpet over it.

[MacGyver]

brackish,
It is just the engine oil right? Lower unit oil is full I think...... I'll probably check it just in case......

Mac

[brackish]

brackish,
It is just the engine oil right? Lower unit oil is full I think...... I'll probably check it just in case......

Mac

Yep, engine oil., No mention in the literature about having to fill the gear oil before first use, just a blurb on how to change it.

[emcginnis]

Please update reviews of the sailpro this summer.  I had a Nissan 6 hp, 2003 and had lots of starting, carb related problems.  Yes I used good gas, marine stabil etc.  I'm a little gun shy so would like to hear from the new sailpro owners.

[Billy]

I like mine. But it did foul a plug and the carb gummed up once. But all that is easy to fix.

I have about 50 hours on it/ 3.5 years old.

I have not had the same luck starting as Brackish though. My wife can start it but barely. And usually takes two-three pulls.

Otherwise it has been very reliable and the performance is excellent. I only ever give it about 1/3 of the throttle. Beyond that it just gets really noisy and shaky. I don't notice anymore speed on the GPS and I'm sure it uses more fuel.

Which brings up another pro.....this thing sips fuel. I think it will use 3 gallons in 6 hours at wide open throttle. Which i never do. And with the external tank, at the end of the day I just pour the left over gas (usually about 5/6 of a tank) into my truck. The one time the carb clogged up, the gas had been sitting for a little over three weeks with no stabil.

It is a little loud and not as smooth as my old Yamaha 2hp, but performance wise, it is excellent! Probably a bit of overkill on my 19 but I bet it would be perfect on a 23.
In calm water on an inland lake the 25" shaft might be a bit too long but great in a heavy chop. It tilts great (almost horizontal) and therefore I hardly need to adjust the motor mount. I keep it about half way up/down.

[Shawn]

I had mine foul a plug as well but it turned out to be my fault. Any excess oil in the crankcase causes problems for the Tohatsu. It foams and makes it's way up the PCV and gets into the carb which gums it and fouls the plug. Be sure not to overfill the crankcase when changing the oil.

Definitely agree about it sipping fuel. Last weekend I was motoring straight into the wind (between 20-25MPH) and waves (2-3 feet), towing a dinghy and had it at maybe 3/4 throttle doing between 4-5 knots for about an hour and a half (roughly 7 miles) and it used less than a quarter of a tank of fuel.

Shawn

[Salty19]

I used to foul plugs on a Nissan 6 too. I felt the culprit was the need to use the choke excessively, but not sure.
Much happier with a smoke belching Yamaha 2 stroke in that regards

[emcginnis]

I like mine. But it did foul a plug and the carb gummed up once. But all that is easy to fix.

I have about 50 hours on it/ 3.5 years old.

I have not had the same luck starting as Brackish though. My wife can start it but barely. And usually takes two-three pulls.

Otherwise it has been very reliable and the performance is excellent. I only ever give it about 1/3 of the throttle. Beyond that it just gets really noisy and shaky. I don't notice anymore speed on the GPS and I'm sure it uses more fuel.

Which brings up another pro.....this thing sips fuel. I think it will use 3 gallons in 6 hours at wide open throttle. Which i never do. And with the external tank, at the end of the day I just pour the left over gas (usually about 5/6 of a tank) into my truck. The one time the carb clogged up, the gas had been sitting for a little over three weeks with no stabil.

It is a little loud and not as smooth as my old Yamaha 2hp, but performance wise, it is excellent! Probably a bit of overkill on my 19 but I bet it would be perfect on a 23.
In calm water on an inland lake the 25" shaft might be a bit too long but great in a heavy chop. It tilts great (almost horizontal) and therefore I hardly need to adjust the motor mount. I keep it about half way up/down.

What is the best way to clean a gummed carb on the sailpro

[Billy]

I take it off , two long bolts, and disconnect the fuel lines.
Then I take it apart, be careful not to tear up the gaskets, and spray it with carb cleaner.there are two jets. A high end and a low end. These are what usually get clogged. They are brass looking screws. One on the top,and one on the bottom. The are a few very small pin holes that need to be clear. I use a needle and then spray more carb cleaner.

But her back together and back on the engine and she should run like before.

Here is a YouTube video of a Nissan, very similar, of how to do it. Didn't watch the hole thing so I can neither confirm nor deny if this is the 100% correct way to clean the carb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgLdm1H0EIU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

That being said, there are several videos out there on the YouTube interwebs that should be helpful.

But I think the main thing is preventative care. Don't leave gas in the tank for more than a few weeks (I pour mine into my truck after each use), use a stabilizer, and I always flush my engine with fresh water after each trip (I'm in salt water) and when i flush it, I disconnect the fuel line fro the tank and let it run until all of the gas is out of the carb.


Good luck!

[emcginnis]

Billy,
Thanks for the info on carb cleaning.  I may have over filled the motor with oil myself.  That could have been my problem.  Im sold on the marine stabil.  I now have an 8 hp 2 stroke on the cp 23 but will have a 4 stroke down the road so that's for the good info.

[brackish]

Ok, finished the break in with a couple of motor trips on windless days.  A few issues to resolve.  I stay in water and like to lift my motor out and tilt it up enough to keep the prop and lower foot out of the water.  When I lifted the motor to the top mount position it would not tilt to lock.  I could not figure out why and forgot my owners manual.  So next trip experimented and found that I had to lift the mount to the middle position and then the motor tilts all the way up until it is almost horizontal with the foot sticking way out.  Don't like that so will probably devise a quick connect strap to raise it to 45 degrees. 

Additionally, the tiller up and down pivot is very soft and loose, so it will always fall down and contact the stern of the boat and then vibration will cause the twist grip throttle to move and change the set speed.  Got to figure out how to tighten it.  On my Suzuki it is very tight and will stay in any position.

Still playing with the RPM's to find the "sweet spot" that speed where everything having to do with the motor, mount and boat seem to be in harmony, least noise, vibration and tail end squat.  It seems to be at about 4K  which puts the boat speed just under 5 knots.  My Suzuki 9.9 was a little lower and moved the boat at just over 5 knots, the difference 4 HP  makes I guess.

Overall very happy with this motor, primarily because of the weight difference between it and 9.9 it replaced. 

One puzzling thing, the manual says that this particular motor is designed to operate between 5-6K RPM's.  Post break in WOT only gets me to 4800.  could be the tack is faulty, but it only measures spark plug fires so not sure.   Could that be the impact of the high thrust prop?