23 Sceptre vs 23 CC ride delivery

Lars Koster · #1 08-03-2003, 11:14 AM

I have a 76 23'Sceptre with a 225 Ficht on the transom. This past weekend I was headed offshore out of Freeport Texas and my EMM cratered 5nm off the jetty. Resulted in a tow from Boat Us, luckily I had insurance and was not 50nm offshore.
It openeded me up to a whole new perspective of feeling helpless when the computer fails, there is nothing you can do. My motor only has 190 hrs and is in excellent condition. DFI is the vendor for Evinrude and it's going to be $700+ in parts only to fix it.
Anyone know of issues with EMM failures on any brand outboard? I need to learn more about why.
Be careful out there and always carry your sea anchor (drift sock) to cut down on the wave action when drifting.

Lars Koster · #2 08-03-2003, 11:29 AM

For this post I meant to add...
Friday I fished offshore on a buddy's 01 23' CC with a 225 Optimax in 3 foot seas. The boat is cherry and rides very well with a crew of 3 and all the gear. It does ride different than my 23 Sceptre, even with trim tabs. Obviously my old Sceptre is heavier, especially in the nose so the ride is different and it's noticed on the rentry by the amount of spray curling back over the cowling. I think the hulls are the same and with trim tabs you can push the nose down but can't compensate for the nose weight.
I did like the open bow of the CC and truthfully have always been a CC guy. Both boats have their pros and cons but both also catch fish which is what counts.

Reel Smoker · #3 08-03-2003, 11:09 PM

Lars, what year is your motor?

Brian Rice · #4 08-11-2003, 04:40 PM

I have a 23'CC with a 350 Horizon and a Bravo 3 drive. I cruise around 30 knots and get 2 miles to the gallon. I feel that this is one of the best sea boats in its class. We run 30-50 miles offshore and have never felt the least bit uneasy about it. Like anything else there are maintenance issues we change the boot every season and keep a watchful eye on all the systems as any good captain should. I dare say if you hit anything that would tear the drive off a boat than there will be signicant damage to the hull as well.

My thoughts for you all.

Captain Brian Rice

Shadetree · #5 08-11-2003, 09:53 PM

Just curious guys, as the designated caretaker of a 20cc i/o(120/140 Mercruiser w/ Alpha 1 Gen II drive) what kind of rpm do you all run when cruising. I was always under the impression that cast iron pushrod engines(NASCAR engines excepted)would not live long at high(over3000)rpm. I know a lot of boat owners that run thiers close to wide open a lot of the time(4000+rpm), and was wondering what kind of longevity one could expect under those duty cycles. I guess if it takes 5 years to rack up 500 hrs before a repower, it doesn't seem so bad. What is a realistic lifetime in hours for the average gas i/o powerplant? Or straight inboard, for that matter?
Pat in MD