Camp Return Motors ?

Peterman

Active Member
What do you guys think about these Camp return motors?

I was thinking about maybe a 9.9 yamaha with 1 season under its belt.. Im guessing they dont get flushed and probably have a fair number if hrs on them..

How about the bigger ones been aswell?

any comments!!
 
my ol man just got a 150 yammi this summer, lowish hrs, runs awesome, no hic-ups at all, half the price of new with 2 yrs warranty on it from the dealer,, guess we will see
 
They can be alright if you want to save a buck. But there is no computer to tell it's history. I would think if the lodge is busy that motor has more then 1000 hours on it and it most likley never got serviced till the end of the season.

Remember the main motor gets you there. Then you troll for the rest of the day. Trolling motors can have huge unnoted hours.

For the $500 difference I would buy new.
 
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One of the dock boys I was talking to at a lodge this year was telling me that in the 3 months they use their engines, they don't get flushed at all until they are put away for the year. They average 300 hours for the 3 month season, which seems short to me. Would make sense to be closer to 500 or 600 for 90 days at six hours a day = 540 hours. Again, a rough estimate on my part.
 
A few years ago, for the bigger motors, I found the deal wasn't good enough to entice me ... unless you know someone in the shop who owes you a favour. They save all the low hour best quality ones for their boat/motor combos or for VIPs....for Joe Public off the street it was a motor with 1000 hours on it for a 10-20% off. Not worth it, if that's half the motor's life (the good half!). The one that has 14 hours and is half price, ok, now you're talking!

The other issue was who runs the motors. If a self-guided lodge, you know they've been abused. For guided lodges, apparently the motors with computers get better treatment. Because the lodges review the reports and give the guides the business if they are abusing them -- like trolling on the main motor instead of the kicker.

I like a good bargain, but at the time it didn't entice me.
 
One of the dock boys I was talking to at a lodge this year was telling me that in the 3 months they use their engines, they don't get flushed at all until they are put away for the year. They average 300 hours for the 3 month season, which seems short to me. Would make sense to be closer to 500 or 600 for 90 days at six hours a day = 540 hours. Again, a rough estimate on my part.


That is the main motor though.....Look at the hours on the kicker. Neither of them flushed.
 
Port Boat house in Alberni has some good returns on 200 mercs, or they did anyways. They rebuild the powerhead just to be sure, offer warranty and sell them for about 10g less than retail of new with one season on them. At least they had a few this summer like that. Might be worth checking into.
 
You don't have to worry about flushing an engine if it is getting daily use. You really only need to flush if its going to sit long enough for the water trapped inside is going to evaporate and leave salt behind. All those engines have full warranty while the camps own them and are still on warranty when they are turned in for new models. The shops will fix all known problems before they sell them, with the manufacturer footing the bill. It is obviously better for the dealer to get them fixed at no cost and have a better product for resale.
 
I know a lot of guys that have 'em, no problems. As far as flushing, I have NEVER flushed a kicker that runs 6-10 hours a day 80-150 days a year, and have never had trouble. They will die from other things long before corrosion gets to them. Most kickers are run at half or less then half throttle, and make too little power to hurth themselves, the only thing that really kills them I find is time.
 
For the larger motors insist they include a print out of the computer. It will give you the hours spent at what speeds for referance, plus some additional worth while info. Also insist you get a history of all the warranty work done on the motor & repairs outside the motor warranty. If it's been reflashed to bury this info walk away. Another comment from a knowledgable dealer was to always look for the lower horse power engine in the series. As an example the Mer verado 4 cyl engine was produced in four horse power ratings 135, 150, 175 & 200. All horse power changes being made via a computer programming, blocks etc. all being the same. The theory being that a 135 Verados run flat out over it's life is taking 35% less abuse than the 200 run the same way.
 
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