On the hunt for a boat

[kaelc]

Loud and clear

Evinrudes and lots of old engines have depreciated basically to the cost of removing them or doing the next 400 hour maintenance. It’s interesting when you look at a survey what they figure the power is worth. The nice thing about a mechanical Suzuki or Yamaha or Merc they are easy to repower, with another set of mechanical engines from the same brand.

 

[seachicken]

Thanks for the input everyone.

What are people opinions on evinrude etecs these days? There has been a couple of boats of interest with etecs on the back. I know they have been discontinued and everything that comes with that. What are peoples current experience with parts and service in the lower mainland. Just wondering if they are still an option to look for in the right package or should be avoided completely

Seems to be a little hit and miss, some people love them however it seems hard to find good people to work on them. Our neighbor at our cabin had problems over and over with his until a year or two ago. Previous mechanic had used silicone gasket maker (maybe because no gaskets were available?) which broke away internally plugging passages causing overheating, then a tooth broke off the flywheel. Living full time on a small island with that level of boat reliability was pretty frustrating for them.

 

[brutus]

IMO stay away from etech,use to be quite a few here and they all gone now, Suzuky and yam are the most prevalent and merc trailing behind. They are not worth a lot of $ anymore, see lots for sale with price drops and people are still staying away

 

[Olde School]

I agree, but always interested in hearing first hand experiences. The general recommendation from people has been to go bigger right away if you can

There's a lot to be said for buying the minimum size that works for the majority of your needs. Bigger means harder to: fuel, maintain, tow, store, moor, launch, etc etc. Do not buy for the 1% of the time.

 

[Aquaholic]

There's a lot to be said for buying the minimum size that works for the majority of your needs. Bigger means harder to: fuel, maintain, tow, store, moor, launch, etc etc. Do not buy for the 1% of the time.

and insure.

 

[scott craven]

The nice thing about a mechanical Suzuki or Yamaha or Merc they are easy to repower, with another set of mechanical engines from the same brand.

I read this 3 times, still not sure what it means?

 

[kaelc]

I read this 3 times, still not sure what it means?

An evinrude can’t be repowered with a new one and use the same controls guages. Cost and time of switching controls increases the cost of repowering, if you have a 2011 Suzuki mechanical 115 and you repower with a 140 like someone we both know it’s cheaper and relatively quick. My advice is don’t buy evinrude. I feel like some brands older fly by wire, Merc for example are not compatible with their new fly by wire but I could be wrong. Merc changed their DTS system in 2021.

 

[Max123]

An Evinrude is only worth something to their current owner, because they know the engine and are comfortable with it. Lots are super reliable workhorses like the older Gen1 V4/V6 (specifically the V6 - 150hp model) where Bombardier figured out all the problems in the early 2000s and then kept pumping them out for over 10 years.

I bought my boat with a 2019 Etec (G1 V6 135HO) about 2 years ago, and likely overpaid because I didn't negotiate down hard based on the motor (and I really wanted that particular hull). Mentally, I budgeted a full repower in a few years - but honestly its been great - tons of power, fuel efficient, one minor issue easily resolved at Lordship (hell, its actually still under an extended warranty - which Evinrude still honors). The cost/ease of XD-100 easily beats annual oil changes (based on the relatively low hours I put on every year). Parts availability is totally fine. Haruna and Lordship still work on them and supply parts - and if you like to do it all yourself Crowley is like the Rock Auto of boat parts - complete with exploded diagrams for every model.

So where does that leave me? I'll keep the motor and run it till it dies / becomes unreliable, and then re-power - that could be in 1 year or 15 years. If I need to sell the boat, I know I won't get much for the motor - I'm fine with that. I realize its not worth anything to the market, but it provides value to me with 135 horses of reliable/low cost forward propulsion.