By Fin Gold
North Carolina
Fin lives next to the ocean, and he loves fishing in shallow water. He’s been fishing out of an 18 ft skiff, but being a big boat with a heavy motor, that skiff drafts 18″, which is less than optimal for shallow water, especially at low tide, when the risk of getting stranded increases. Fin and his family also didn’t like how their big skiff felt in choppy water, and how it reacted to other boats’ wakes. Fin ordered an S4 with the intention of having it replace his 18 ft skiff. After he and his wife tested their S4, they decided to sell their skiff. The S4 will also replaces their tandem kayak. Says Fin: –
The video where I slide it down the ramp is the very first time trying it out.
The young guy on the boat is my youngest son Adam. He is a student and he was excited beforehand. Then he loved testing it out.
The videos are all at less than 1/2 throttle as we follow the 3.5 hp Tohatsu engine break-in procedure.
The S4 also lets us explore all the coastal islands where previously we could only take a kayak.
One question we had was the best position for the engine tilt. It looks like it has 5 holes for tilt and it came in the center hole. Any advice for that?
Here are the first pictures and videos. All unedited happiness.
Thank you Fin,
Looks great! 🙂
Since the S4 is so lightweight, we recommend trimming the motor aggressively, in order to keep the bow from going too high at high speed. So that pin should go in the holes that are the closest to the boat.
This said, you can change the trim completely when you go in shallow water, where every inch of draft counts.
Also, we recommend (per motors’ manufacturers’ recommendations) to always have the driver tethered to the motor’s kill switch. This is an important safety measure.
Yoav
Fin,
I concur with Yoav on the trim position. Those 3.5 Tohatsu long shaft outboards really do perform well with the S4. I took mine out a couple miles offshore in the Atlantic today with no issues.
The, as I recall, 10 hour break-in period will test your patience but persevere. That little motor will last a lifetime.
Enjoy.
Larry J.
That is versatility on water.
Have fun and be safe.
Canada