Around 11/27/2004 7:03 AM, OC wrote:

I would appreciate some thoughts and advice from the experts out there. I've
run outboards for about 30 years, but all were Mercs or Johnson in a
freshwater environment. I recently moved to the coast and have been
searching for a small boat to use in creeks and inlets. I've found about
what I'm looking for, but it has a 2002 Nissan 70hp, and I know absolutely
nothing about these motors. If anyone has any experience with Nissan
outboards, good or bad, I'd appreciate your comments.
Thanks,
~OC~

As far as I've been able to tell, the designs for the sub-90hp
Nissan/Tohatsu motors haven't changed much since about the late 80s, and
for good reason.

I've been _very_ pleased with my Nissan 40D. I've been running it in the
Puget Sound and Gulf islands for about six summers now, and I have
absolutely no complaints about the motor. Starts up the first try every
spring, and it'll keep running as long as I keep giving it gas and oil.

I bought a Haynes manual "just in case," but thus far I've never had to
go past the "basic maintenance" chapter in the front; Even that was more
for idle curiosity's sake. About all I've had to do is change the lower
unit oil, check the plugs, and grease up a few zerk fittings.


Like with all outboards, if your creeks and inlets are salt or brackish,
make sure to flush the motor thoroughly with earmuffs ASAP after pulling
it out of the water.

--
~/Garth - 1966 Glastron V-142 Skiflite: "Blue-Boat"
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing about in boats."
-Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows