dont get an etec mate!!

just my opinion, but there are A LOT of better outboards available, and most are cheaper than the etec. go speak to the boat dealer (ex-etec dealer) in kelmscott. he showed me and my brother countless busted up gearboxes, motors, and parts from his etec dealing days. i'm sure there will be a lot on that topic as the post progresses....

40 knots is a rareity these days in wa mate. mine will do 34 knots flat out, but its only on the calmest of calm calm days. most of my travelling is done between 14 - 20 knots, and some just either side of that, depending on the weather. i think you will find the majority of boat owners around the same. the trick is to go as economically and as smooth as possible. last thing you want is to replace half your vertebrae at age 28, all because you wanted to get to the spot flat out.

E-tech have turned bad...

is there that MErcury Saltwater?

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our boat is 5.5m Ali and 135hp stern-drive 3ltr Mercruiser?

any ideas on flat out speed?

I don't really have a problem with etecs, none of the ones fitted to boats I've been on have ever been a problem.

Keep in mind that its waterline length thats really going to get you a good ride in more conditions, not necessarily just fitting more power to a smaller hull.

Perth is frequently bumpy, so you can't expect to just plane over it doing 25kn on a sub-6m hull.

hi guys , i have a near 8m glass centre console (seafox) and still on most days about 22/24 knots is a comfortable speed i think as long as you have enough grunt for those really rough days and getting through reef with swell ,a huge top speed isn"t really that important, my boat does 37knts flat out with twin 115 4 strokes but its a very rare day you can go that fast off perth. Interesting comments about e-tecs as everything i have heard is all good and the two guys i know with them think they are awesome.

I have heard nothing but good things about Etecs and know they are really good on fuel economy. I have been told that once they go past 115hp they are not recommended. Think it was something to do with finding a good balance between full throttle and planing.

I have an old Bertram 25 with a monster in it  yip 415 hp mercruiser... and my first tub was a 21 foot Trophy with a 225hp Mercuiser as well, both rigs can do 40knots!

So I can tell you, 25 knots is more than enough for 90% of your off shore work, and only on glassed offed days with no swell will you ever use over 30knots.

Yes I have come back from the FADs at 40knots, but it's like once or twice a year you can do that. Over Chrissie when the swell and chop was average, we found 22~24knots the sweat spot coming back and going to Rotto.

so I'd go for enough power to get you up to a max of 30knots, allowing your motor not to be stressed at 25knots most of the time.

My view is go Suzi 145hp, dam nice motor or if you got the extra go the 150 or 175hp Suzi.

Well i just have a 75hp Mercury havent had a problem and ive done 90% of the 400hrs on it in the past year. Runs well but would say go for the newer fuel efficient motors. Alot quieter etc. In terms of motor my choice def the newer hondas. Etecs are great, great for the usual service but when a big problem comes along it can get pricey. Suzi's are the most expensive followed by the verados to service. Johnsons have gone downhill and not too many newer boats run them.. That info coming from a guy that checked my boat out last week, when he gave me some advice when i looking for a new boat or just a motor.

Now info i can shed light on is speed. 4.75m ally with 75hp. Most days il cruise at 16-20knots. Does get to 34knots top speed but chews the fuel and only when glass off like you said. If its descent weather i find 23knots is a great top speed for fuel/time efficiency. Hope helps a little.

I too cruise around at 22/23 knots - depending on conditions. I have a Honda Four on a Haines Hunter CC.

If I was heading back east, I'd be trading in motors. Purely because most of my boating/fishing required me to cross bars where every bit of hole shot & HP was critical.

As for Perth waters, my setup is perfect. Simple economical cruising & able to do over 30kts on calm calm days.

When I was looking at the cruise crafts (os or ex 625 - 150-175hp was adequate). For the 575, I'd say 130/135hp would be ideal, but 150hp is also quite suitable.

400 HOURS

good going.

i'd go max size motor the hull is rated too. sometimes more fuel efficient than running a smaller motor that struggles.

 than the nearest pinger

I HAVE A 6M STACER WITH A 150HP YAMAHA VXM HPDI 2 STROKE THIS BOAT DOES A GENUINE 44 KNOTS, BUT AS PEOPLE SAY YOU CAN ONLY DO THAT ON GLASSOFF DAY.

i PURCHASED IT NEW AND HAVE DONE A 100 HOURS IN 12 MONTHS THE FUEL ECONOMY IS AS GOOD AS WHEN I HAD MY YAMAHA 225HP FOUR STROKE ON MY RAZERLINE.

i GENERALLY FISH OUT OF TWO ROCKS AND WILL ALWAYS AVERAGE A SPEED OF 22-32 KNOTS HOPE THIS HAS BEEN SOME HELP.

cHEERS COLIN

mate

just a couple of things...

the kelmscott guy is a total pocket boxer and i know from experiance, i would not even buy nuts and bolts from him!!!

definatly would never trust him to fit a motor to my boat.

dont do it!!

i have got a new 200etec and think its great, they also have less moving parts than other engines.

 we did alot of research before buying and yes they have had problems,

but we found more problems with other engines to be more common.

especially the mercs.

we brought our engine as a demo(20hrs)from a dealer in QLD and found out it had acttualy had done 490+hrs...

contacted brp about this and the end result was they replaced our engine with a brand new one at no cost to us at all, including the shipping and the removal/refitting.

how is that for warranty. it not always about the engine itself!

saying that....and weight is not an issuse(it was for us) i would buy the yammy 4stroke.. we had the 200yammy 2stroke before the etec which blew up on 370hrs(dropped a big end bearing) but until the was a good engine.

i would also go the biggest engine your boat is aloud to have, ours could of had a 225hp and that little bit extra would be nice for those glassy days when you can go full noise.

cheers ron

theres to etecs lost in carnarvon somewhere

A 130 or 150 hp should be just fine. the boat manufacturer should have a Min and MAX hp rating, so anywhere in the middle to max is great.

Have a chat to Troy at "The Boat Business" in Henderson.

I have found them to be very good to deal with over the last two / three years.

Tell him what you want out of the boat / motor and he'll certainly should be able to give you some info.

Whether you use it or not,  it's good to know I've got the power there and the boat is not screaming it's guts out at 25 knts flat out.

cheers

ive got a 445 bemuda tinny with a 2010 bf60 honda   will do 29knts on a semi glass day hoping for more when a glassier  day comes

but i mainly sit on 14 to 18knts

and down to 10 when rough

i tend to drive for comfort

ive heard lots of people say they can go 50knots but i thinks its mostly bs and would be  dangerous if they did

Haines 17r for me with 150 etec. Best Ive seen with a light boat is 46 knots but will do 40 loaded up to go fishing.

Cruise is around 25-28 knots.

Go a Suzuki 4 stroke. Suzuki have won the title for “The world’s best four stroke”.  Winning multiple awards for “Cutting edge design”, “Mechanical grunt”, and “Futuristic performance”, just ask the “water police”, “sea search & rescue” or “boat training centres”.
Boasting the record for Australia’s fastest growing Fourstroke. “SUZUKI”…”Think ahead”.

Ive got a 70hp suzuki on my 480 coast runner, great motor and has never missed a beat but is pretty expensive to service. Depending what the conditions are like obviously determins my speed, but i usualy only get around doing 10 to 15 knots because its usualy pretty bumpy whenever i head out and i like to be comfy and not bang around like crazy, but a bonus is at that speed i get great economy out of it, and its also a good speed to tow a few small skirts behind me ;) On a dead flat day i can get upto about 28 knots.

In metro water, not very fast, there are flat days, but they are few and far between and usually in winter.

For me the main criteria when choosing an outboard is not speed, but power to get you out of a tricky situation in big water.  Some boats with a fantastic top speed in calm water might struggle in lumpy water and wind.

I find that most of my cruising is between 19 - 28 knots, any faster and the donk gets thirsty and the ride sometimes suffers.

Yep have to agree, I'm running a  Suzi 4 stroke 90 hp on the 5.4m coastrunner. Beautiful motor very smooth and economical. As for speeds the avergae 2-2.5m swell witha bit of chop average 15 knots. As someone said you could go faster if you want to split the seams and a crushed vertabrae lol.

 with a 230 hp v6 mercruiser in it top speed 47 knots the beauty of getting that bigger motor is your only running it on quarter throttle thus giving you very good fuel economy whilst cruising but you have that power ans speed for thos days its flat and you wanna get somewhere quick!

the old boy has a 25 foot bertam with a 454 mercruiser in it! that sits on 42 knots 

 We normally travel out around 24 knots thereabouts, good for general economy and a good average speed, but we occasionally blow the cobwebs out on the way back in if the conditions allow and we get around 40 knots. At 24 knots we are burning around 24-28 litres p/h and at full noise, maybe 65litres p/h. 

Just for some info for ya Brads, I chauffer my girlfriend around a bit in her boat its running a 130hp Etec pushing 1400kg of ali, tops out at 32knots fuel economy is great once its on the plane runs at around 1.2 liters per NM through almost the full range of revs. Initially it chewed thru the oil for the first 20 hours or so as the motor was running itself in but has settled down now and oil top ups happen rarely now.

With regard to speed I'm always comfortable running my boats at around 10-16knts inshore even on the flattest days we just cruise around between dives taking in the sites and enjoying being on the water running down shags. another question tho if your going offshore then its as fast as the sea allows if you've gotta knock out 10-14 NM of flat boring ocean. also though a higher horse power motor will put you at the desired speed for alot less effort which will save you on fuel in the end so I guess bigger motor isn't always about top end speed.

Go the Suzi. I'm waiting for my Yamaha to die and then I'll fit one on mine. A mate has a 115 on his and it's cheap to run and wisper quiet.

I have a friend with a 140hp Suzuki on a Commodore 670, grossly underpowered and to be honest a little dangerous if you get caught out in a following sea. He will have problems selling it when the time comes.

I have a 6m glass boat with 200hp Yamaha 2 stroke. I love that I can do 45 knots plus on a flat day, but it is far more useful in biggish seas to power you out of trouble when it really matters. I also believe that lower revs at 25-33 knots is better for the longevity of the motor. I tend to cruise either 23-25 or 30-33 knots. The hull is not happy in the 25-30 knot range.

To summarise, do not underpower, you won't be happy.

Just an update. I ended up getting the 130 Etec at the end of January. Bloody good deal...but with the new baby and other committments have not even put her in the water yet. Just my luck...best Mackie run in years and I am stuck on land. Oh well.

I will post some speed and consumption figures when I get a chance to christen the new rig.

Cheers

Brad

 im currently breaking in my suzuki 140 that i have put on my fraser 590 all rounder,on the test run in pinjarra she hit close to 40 knots,but that was flat in the estuary,but when i took her out to rotto i was crusin between 20 to 30 in a little bit of chop and swell,but i had to very my revs while breaking her in

I have a 200hp Honda and would recomend them to anyone.I go as quick as weather permits,I normaly will be 20-40knot most the time with around 30 being the normal. 4200 rpm the moter is at its best .I wish I had gone the 300hp and I would still want more

Why is it we pay so much more for out boards in Australia than in the states? They are mostly made in Japan and shipped from there..So why? is it a tax thing or the dealer margins are a lot higher here..The price difference is quiet staggering.

Here we go again.....

from a fellow cruise craft owner (625 Oustider) i have 200hp on the back which is it's max (not getting into the 2-4 stroke debate). Top speed is 42knots according to the last owner, i've got 39knots so far but i haven't had that day to really test it out. I'm interested to see how the 130hp goes, personally i would have gone 150hp, since you have the etec you'll be looking to keep it below 4500rpm to be economical, my old etec (115hp High Output) loves sitting on 4000rpm and this is where i got my economy and good speed.

The speed is all relevent, all hulls are different but I'd say you'd want to be cruising at 20-25knots at around 4000rpm, you'll then have plenty of grunt to get over the following seas etc. My cruisecraft struggles to hold the plane at speeds lower than 15knots but thats fine i don't travel that slow if i can help it, 4200rpm sees me travelling along at 28knots using 34 litres per hours, thats just what i want if you ask me, this gives me a range of around 200NM.

My 575 cruise craft has a 115hp yammi 4 s max speed is 32 knots.

We cruise at 22 knots at 4500rpm. 

The rule of thumb is if you boat cruises at 20 knots you the power is fine. 

looks like the 130hp etec will be just fine then. fingers crossed you are one with no warranty issues.

would you want to do 40knts coming home from fishing, sit on a nice 20knots, not burning too much fuel.  40knots your just using far to much fuel and to me (non mechanic) slowing killing the out board. 

I have always believed big is best, reasons: 1. the motor dooesnt have to work hard so its life will be longer, 2. The days you need to get home quick you can, 3. price drifference once you get into the larger motors isnt that great between sizes 4. Moving at slower revs with a larger motor often means less fuel used.

But I maybe mad, have a 225hp merc behind a baron sportsman on a custom transom, works for me