thinking about repowering before crossing to bahamas

[bahama bound]

Thinking about taking the mac and doing a extended cruise .looked at several 37-42 foot boats but none give us the versatility of our mac .so we wanna do the at least the exumas but would love to make it further south .we also wanna do the abacos as well .my etec 90 is 2008 and I think it has 125 or so hours .but other than it runs great sand cranks right up I know nothing about its history .i am really considering a brand new motor for my trip ,can a motor be serviced to the point you can have a clean bill of health and feel really comfortable.this would be around 1500 miles @6 knots .hopefully sailing half the time at least ? So figure roughly 250 hours or so ?

[Starscream]

A car with about 5,000 miles on the odometer would probably have about the same 150 hours of total usage that your E-Tec has. Essentially that's brand new.

IMHO it's better to spend the boat bucks on accessories and insurance for the trip.

Why not buy a good dinghy with a reasonably light kicker motor, and add a backup motor mount to the X so that the dinghy motor could be transferred to the X and get you out of an emergency? Spend a couple of bucks at an Evinrude dealer to get a total overhaul and clean bill of health. This would probably be about $5k cheaper than a new motor, and you'd have a new dinghy and kicker. I think I'd prefer to have two reliable low-hour motors available, than one brand new motor.

150 hrs on an outboard, especially on a 2 stroke, is not worth worrying about. Especially if you have a mechanic you trust inspect the thing and replace anything that could be even vaguely suspect.

[dlandersson]

Ditto.

A car with about 5,000 miles on the odometer would probably have about the same 150 hours of total usage that your E-Tec has. Essentially that's brand new.

IMHO it's better to spend the boat bucks on accessories and insurance for the trip.

Why not buy a good dinghy with a reasonably light kicker motor, and add a backup motor mount to the X so that the dinghy motor could be transferred to the X and get you out of an emergency? Spend a couple of bucks at an Evinrude dealer to get a total overhaul and clean bill of health. This would probably be about $5k cheaper than a new motor, and you'd have a new dinghy and kicker. I think I'd prefer to have two reliable low-hour motors available, than one brand new motor.

150 hrs on an outboard, especially on a 2 stroke, is not worth worrying about. Especially if you have a mechanic you trust inspect the thing and replace anything that could be even vaguely suspect.

[bahama bound]

I have the 9.9 that came with it and I bought the drop bracket .the 9.9 is a sail drive motor .the only other thing I could really use is a ssb radio ,thanks to this post I know which one to get .i believe I could get 4500 for my motor and I found some new etecs reasonably priced .so I would guess around 3500 difference I would have a new 2014 motor ? I figured by the time i had my motor serviced it would be around 500.00 ? I just changed the plugs .the mileage analogy is alittle different to me in that it is not the hours but the down time ,I have a friend right now that has 2 Suzuki 115's with around 125 hours that are trashed .filled up at Costco with cheap gas and let it sit almost 2 years put it in the water ran it ,it shut down .got towed back and let it sit 6 more months .it is unbelievable the damage .i saw the fuel pumps ,regulators,injectors. The metal is eaten up and all pitted inside .he has spent a fortune and they are still not right .so I guess I don't look at as spending 8 grand ,more like 3k for the peace of mind ,tried to find some authorized etec warranty center in the islands but no luck yet .i have found some good deals on Suzuki as well .

[rruyack]

When you do set sail, make sure to post some pictures and tell us about your trip. Happy and safe sailing.

[yukonbob]

I put around 125 hours on every season. Bad practices and maintenance as you describe with your friend should not be your deciding factor unless you practice the same methods. I regularly see guys heading out in powerboats with mid 80's and early 90's outboards with who knows how many thousands of hours on them year after year. If you regularly properly maintain your OB it should give you years and years of reliable service. That being said you could buy a brand new motor head out somewhere and throw some bad (water) gas in your tanks and ruin a new or old motor it won't make a difference. I'd take that money and take some small engine repair courses instead. Most things are fixable on the water and with your Mac having two other means of propulsion theres little risk.

[dlandersson]

Nice point. My 98 Merc 50HP BF has never giving me any problems.

I put around 125 hours on every season. Bad practices and maintenance as you describe with your friend should not be your deciding factor unless you practice the same methods. I regularly see guys heading out in powerboats with mid 80's and early 90's outboards with who knows how many thousands of hours on them year after year. If you regularly properly maintain your OB it should give you years and years of reliable service. That being said you could buy a brand new motor head out somewhere and throw some bad (water) gas in your tanks and ruin a new or old motor it won't make a difference. I'd take that money and take some small engine repair courses instead. Most things are fixable on the water and with your Mac having two other means of propulsion theres little risk.

[Tomfoolery]

I'd take that money and . . .

. . . put a little of it towards a good filter/water separator unit, mounted near the engine and fuel tanks, with a quick connector on a flex line that matches the fuel tank connector.

Those modern engines with fuel injection scare me when it comes to fuel contamination.

[yukonbob]

I'd take that money and . . .

. . . put a little of it towards a good filter/water separator unit, mounted near the engine and fuel tanks, with a quick connector on a flex line that matches the fuel tank connector.

Those modern engines with fuel injection scare me when it comes to fuel contamination.

Excellent point. Also pay the extra two dollars at the pumps and run premium. Worth it in the long run, or if you get water in your engine and need a tow somewhere, its a lot cheaoper for higher quality gas.

[RobertB]

Please explain how running premium in an engine that does not require it is of any benefit to anyone but the gas company? It is just a different octane level to control knocking. In the USA at least, by law there are no differences in the additive packages. If the fuel is E10, then it is E10 regardless of octane (ethanol content). Really, this may have been true in the 1970s but it is no longer the case.
I have the ETEC60 that is set to run on regular gas. I am aware of no advantages in running high octane fuel.

[bahama bound]

I had a 26 foot power boat that was kinda of a slug .then I ran non ethanol gas and man it was like a different boat .could not believe the difference.of course it was several hundred dollars a weekend in fuel back when non ethanol fuel was like almost 5 bucks a gallon ! I don't know which one of you instigators put that marketing video of the etec pontoon series ???? But it is all your fault !!!!!!

[Tomfoolery]

Please explain how running premium in an engine that does not require it is of any benefit to anyone but the gas company?

I'm guessing he's referring to non-ethanol premium gas. There are some stations around here (FasTrac is one) that sell non-ethanol premium gas. And at least one fuel dock I know of on a finger lake sells non-ethanol gas. Just a guess.

[Gazmn]

Hi Bahama,

You can, of course, do whatever you want. But I'm not getting the reason for wanting to repower. Has your motor broken down, leaving you no confidence in it? Is it powerful enough for you?

You should get $4500 - 5K trade in value if you want to sell & repower - but you'll need ~ 6k+ to make it worth your while in pvt sale. Are you staying with Evinrude? They're giving 7 yr warantees. I think Suzuki's giving 6 years. It's a buyer's mkt.

What are you looking to repower to?

I did my re repower because I was losing confidence in my year, '06, engine. From '08 on, Evinrude 90's are fine for what they do. & you have the great networking capabilities mine lack Do you want more?

Up until this year's problems + my personal frustrations I felt the Etec 90 was a good balance of power & efficiency - & I still do. So long as your motor does not have a history of uncertainty & problems, I'd consider an '08 or newer, Etec 90 to be a good engine & more versatile for a Bahama crossing/ cruising than any other engine out there.

Personally, I thought You had the best deal/ value in your engine purchase of All of us. Didn't you get it from a pawn deal where you sold the trailer & boat? Something like that?


I just saw this while posting:

I don't know which one of you instigators put that marketing video of the etec pontoon series ???? But it is all your fault !!!!!!

Was it me


Firstly, I'm waiting for the great NE thaw to check my new 115 pontoon. Till confirmation, it's all advertising. & a very expensive solution. Ya gotta see my reasons in original post.

& chances are: that if I had an '08 Etec 90 gotten for pennies on the dollar I wouldn't have been re repowering

[mastreb]

Well, I'm going to make a plug for Ethanol gas here. Yes, it's not quite as powerful as 100% gasoline by about 2%. However, unlike pure gasoline, E10 can absorb quite a bit of humidity and even a little direct water without the water separating from the fuel. This is because water is miscible in ethanol, but not in gasoline. Too much water will cause the fuel to phase separate into gas and watery ethanol, but until that point it will carry the water (and dissolved contaminates like salt) completely through the engine and into the exhaust.

In a marine environment, these are really important characteristics of a fuel. You'll have fewer starting issues and never really need to clean your tanks or fuel system if you run E10 through your motor.

Also, I see absolutely no need to re-power. Just have an ETEC dealer do the 300 hour service, and you'll be assured of many years of trouble-free service.

[bahama bound]

I can get a brand new pontoon 90 for 7900.00 in the box and they toss in controls .i can get a Suzuki 90 for 7200.00 and a Suzuki 70 which they say is the same as a 90 for 6000.00 .we plan on spending several weeks cruising the boat .time to knock out the bucket list .Tortugas -exumas in the next few months .i really like the pontoon motor .i don't really know if it is true but it says twice the fuel economy of a 4 stroke at low rpm ? If you google fuel.consumption of any given outboard motor brand that cool tach with fuel flow meter and it looks like Suzuki has the best fuel consumption .pontoon motor has that lower gear and 25 amps of charging and can pull start ! When I run the 115 on the fuel consumption the 115 seems alot harder on fuel .but most troubles I have had with boats (which has not been many ) is not from using them but from letting them sit .they want 895.00 to mount the etec but that includes water testing and singing off on the warranty inspection .thought about selling my motor and taking boat down and having it done either in savannah or Florida on the way down .i think I will call tomorrow and see what 300 hour service cost .like I said I just did plugs 5 hours ago .it was really easy but I did have to take a hand full of plugs to get three to index right .