"Chris Edmonson" wrote...
A long shaft Yamaha or Honda would be a good choice. It will run you about
$300 to $800 more than a Mercury or OMC (Johnson / Evinrude) but these are
bullet-proof motors. The Yamaha's are little rare in some parts of the
country but the Honda's are fairly available. If you are going out of
country (like Mexico) you may want to consider a Mercury. Note too that the
Nissan, Suzuki and Mercury (Mariner) small bore motors are actually made by
Tohatsu. The size you want is about right for that boat. Anything from 4
to 8 hp should do the job...

Remember that the 8 HP motor is the same as the 10, except for max RPM and HP
rating (about 105 lb for the Yamaha 4-stroke, long-shaft, 'sailboat special',
IIRC). Therefore, it is MUCH heavier than the 5 HP. For the small boat,
lighter is better!

I had both Honda and Yamaha 10s on my San Juan 7.7. Either one was overkill in
terms of HP. The Honda was lighter, but the Yamaha had a better feature set
with the starter and alternator. I now have a Honda 4-stroke 2 on my SeaPearl
21 (much lighter and cleaner than the San Juan 21, though). A 4 or 5 HP
4-stroke should be plenty for the San Juan. A long shaft is good for sailboats,
mainly because of the pitching action in waves that will lift a short shaft out
of the water. You want to have the prop lower than you normally would for a
transom mount on a powerboat, so it will stay in the water when pitching.