Quote:
Originally Posted by JBASS02
Time to make the big decision... I've been reading and reading and reading about different outboards and have ended up between two brands, Etec (115hp or 150hp) or Yamaha (115hp). I have a couple questions.
Boat setup: '72 20' SF with 25" transom. I freedive/spearfish the channel island off Santa Barbara, CA. It's a ~30 mile crossing to get to the islands, it's rarely calm enough to reach speeds greater than 30mph. I'm more concerned with handling, safety and fuel efficiency than high speeds.
There is a ~30lb difference between the etec 115 and 150 will that be noticeable in handling/low planing speed? How about fuel consumption(ie. bigger engine works less for the same speed). I'm assuming there is a decent difference at high end speed.
What MPG can I expect at cruise from each motor(etec vs yamaha)?
When I look around the harbor everyone has Yamaha outboards which makes me think it will be easier to find a decent mechanic. I've always had two strokes and like that there is less maintenance and fewer moving parts.
In short what would you buy?
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I’d buy the 90 hp E-TEC which is MUCH lighter than either the V-4 or V-6 and should be enough power to do what you want! The SeaCraft VDH hull is surprisingly efficient and doesn’t need nearly as much power as the fat modern hulls designed for the heavy 4-strokes! You’re right, the V-6 is only about 30 lbs heavier than the V-4, which has the lowest hp/lb of any motor in BRP’s inventory since they added the V-6 lower unit. Terry England runs a 90 on his 19 and a pair of 115’s on his 25 Bertram, so I’d defer to his judgement, as I think he’s had good experience with both. The I-3 doesn’t have the 2-position exhaust valve of the V-4, which likes to run best at 4000+ rpm when the valve is in the high speed position! If you get into rough conditions and have to throttle down to 3000-3500 rpm at about 12 mph, I suspect the I-3 would be happier at those conditions if it’s propped right. The I-3 is probably about 100 hp vs 125 hp at the prop for the V-4. Terry can probably give you good advice on the prop. I’d lean toward a 4B prop, which will give you more stern lift and reduce min planing speed, which will be your single most important performance parameter for the type of running you’ll be doing.
Regarding fuel economy, the 4-stroke will be slightly better at cruise while the E-TEC will be MUCH better running at hull speed when it’s in the stratified charge mode (like 10 mpg!) so the overall difference in fuel burn will not be very large, especially if you spend a lot of time at low speed. The best data I can give you is from my S. Fl. Circumnavigation trip in my Seafari in 2010 with a very heavy cruising load, when I burned 158.5 gallons of gas and about 1.5 gal of oil to run 693 miles across the Okeechobee waterway, Lake O, down the gulf coast to Flamingo, across to Key Largo, and back up the east coast to Palm Beach for an average of 4.4 mpg. This was with a relatively inefficient PowerTec prop that only got about 3.7-3.8 mpg at cruise. I later found a BRP Cyclone prop that easily got over 4.0 mpg at cruise; your SF is at least a couple hundred pounds lighter so should do a bit better. And because they’re much weaker in low and mid-range torque as well as heavier, the 4-strokes may have trouble planing at 12 mph! This definitely seems to be the case on heavier twin engine rigs.
As far as maintenance is concerned, the E-TEC’s are basically very simple motors with some sophisticated but very reliable sensors and electronics and no valves to burn or adjust, so they don’t need much maintenance, plus you can buy the same basic software the dealer has that runs on a Windows laptop that will allow you to do a lot of troubleshooting. However in the 11 years and ~650 hours I owned my E-TEC, I never really had enough problems with it that I needed the software. If you check out
www.etecownersgroup.com, you’ll find a very good forum, much like this one, that’s run by some very experienced E-TEC technicians who can answer any questions you might have on operation and maintenance!