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Punchy Little Parsun Outboards
  |  First Published: June 2011



Like most of us, I cut my boating teeth in tinnies with little outboards. I’ve run a 3hp Johnson, 6hp Tohatsu and a 15hp and 25hp Mercury before graduating to Yamahas, Mercurys, Johnsons and Evinrudes between 40-200hp.

After taking a Parsun 9.8hp for a thorough test, I can confirm that it’s just like riding a bike – you never forget how to use a little outboard.

As Parsun is a new brand on the block, I was keen to see how the little outboard performed. Slades Paradise Point Marine supplied a brand new motor to try, so I did exactly what any red blooded Aussie male would do and whacked it straight onto the back of my Blue Fin 3.75 Jon Boat without reading the instructions.

Well, that’s a lie, the Parsun people understand the male mentality and have summarised the really important bits on the front page of the instruction book – and then put it in a clear bag so that you can read them without opening it.

So, after filling the tank with some ethanol-free petrol and adding oil at the ratio of 25:1 for the break-in period, we were ready to go.

I admit that I was mentally preparing myself for a battle getting the motor started for the first time, but after priming the motor with the fuel bulb and a couple of pulls to get the juice through, it kicked over easily.

For the first hour or so on use, the motor didn’t like idling at dead-slow throttle – regularly conking out, but ever since, it has idled flawlessly.

In fact, after fishing a tournament in this little craft, I can’t fault the motor’s performance at all. It’s started very easily, is light enough to tilt effortlessly and I didn’t have to get out the instruction book to engage the shallow water drive settings for sneaking up some shallow creeks.

Performance wise, the rig topped out at 33km/h with the wind and tide, but you could take off around 6km/h if you turned around and ran into the elements.

As expected (and coming from a 200hp rig) the fuel consumption was frugal. On a full day of tournament practice fishing with a lot of travelling, I used 12L and on the tournament day this went town to 6L.

There’s no real innovation in this Parsun outboard – it just does what little outboards do, and does it very well.

With a two year warranty and low recommended retail pricing, there’s no reason to assume that these little motors won’t be seen on more and more small craft in our enclosed waters. An expanding dealer network will also give owners peace of mind.

As tested (with 12L fuel tank), this Parsun 9.8hp retails at $1652 for the short-shaft model and $1710 for the long-shaft model. Parsun outboards are available in models from 2.5hp to 40hp, as well as some electric iterations. For your local dealer, call (02) 9532 0002 or visit www.parsun.com.au.

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