ETec's v's Verado v's others ... facts rather than fiction please !!

[Fatenhappy]

Hey one and all ...

I know I know same old arguement ... which ones better?? Point is, 2 new engines aren't cheap and I want to get it right the first time.

As some would be aware, I am in the final throws of looking toward a repower of our 24' Shark Cat (very late 80's)

My total experience of power plants for the past 20 years both here and OS has been with the 4 strokes ... Hondas in particular .... swear by them, then Yamys and then with a strong inkling towards the current models of Suzis.

I would appreciate input particularly from ETec, Verado owners who have 150's or better on real facts and figures and why you recon they are so great vs the traditional 4's.

As suggested earlier I am in the final throws of looking to repower our cat. By any stretch, 2 new 150's or better is a lot of dosh to depart with, so I really would appreciate some honest input.

Cheers
Greg

[deadbeatloser]

gday greg good to see we got you thinking. thought is a great time waster.
do yourself a favour and go and see dealer and get a run on a boat with some etec's powering it. al from sea tech in caloundra makes cats and he has been in the game for over 20years that i know of and he loves his , maybe some one here on ausfish could take you for a squirt. good luck on your choice watever you buy
regards don

[Fatenhappy]

Thanks Don ...

Taking on board your comments .... Only a fool wouldn't think about what others might suggest, even though you think otherwise at the time.

.... Don't mean to sound too deep there,

Price, reliability, performance and functionality are what matters to me and not whether its a 2 stroke or 4.

Thanks again for your input !!!

Cheers
Greg

[bobp]

speak to the guy's at nossacat about the verado's as they have been fitting up a few boat with verado's for a wile now
i have a 200 l4 verado and i am rapted in it great power quite and smoth and as for fuel i am getting the same fuel reading as i was getting with my 175 opti that i had .
bob

[seren-y-mor]

Hi Greg
We have 5 verado's at work ranging from a 175hp on a haines ski boat, two 200hp on two 6.5 metre watertaxi's and twin 250hp on a 9 metre cat,
The first thing you notice is how quiet the engines are and there power is incredible when compared to the other moters we have had. Even when fully loaded (28 people) the cat still gets up and goes. the boats runs 24hours a day 7 days a week so we clock up a few hours. its hard to tell the amount of hours on the cat because we had replacement computers which reset the hours but its a lot! The only thing with them is they alarm all the time they reckon its over sensitive sensor's but all 5 of them do it, the little ski boat will cut out on you quite often and it feels like you have hit somthing or bottomed out the rev's just fall away very suddenly we have about 650 hours on that one, we have had people out to check it out but the moter knows its a mechanic and behave's...I just repowerd my own personal boat and i bought a suzi and i love it. Also my work mate has his own taxi and has repowerd with suzi as well. This is only because of the motor's alarming all the time..
I can get some facts and figures regarding fuel but it varies a lot depending on loads...

But bear in mind that these are commercial boats running all day every day If you use yours for private use only clocking up hours on the weekend they are an awesome motor. But i drive them all day and i didnt buy one...

e-tec heads like their motors my pro fisher mate has one he loves it but i think oil is dear but cant comment cose i dont have one!

I hope this helps
regards....

[russ81]

I got a 115 Etec and haven't looked back I had a few little problems early on but that was due to the installation the oil is a little pricey I bought 19L for around $260
In saying that though I have been though nearly 1000L of fuel and havent yet used 10L of oil so it does last a long time

[bobp]

Hi Greg
We have 5 verado's at work ranging from a 175hp on a haines ski boat, two 200hp on two 6.5 metre watertaxi's and twin 250hp on a 9 metre cat,
The first thing you notice is how quiet the engines are and there power is incredible when compared to the other moters we have had. Even when fully loaded (28 people) the cat still gets up and goes. the boats runs 24hours a day 7 days a week so we clock up a few hours. its hard to tell the amount of hours on the cat because we had replacement computers which reset the hours but its a lot! The only thing with them is they alarm all the time they reckon its over sensitive sensor's but all 5 of them do it, the little ski boat will cut out on you quite often and it feels like you have hit somthing or bottomed out the rev's just fall away very suddenly we have about 650 hours on that one, we have had people out to check it out but the moter knows its a mechanic and behave's...I just repowerd my own personal boat and i bought a suzi and i love it. Also my work mate has his own taxi and has repowerd with suzi as well. This is only because of the motor's alarming all the time..
I can get some facts and figures regarding fuel but it varies a lot depending on loads...

But bear in mind that these are commercial boats running all day every day If you use yours for private use only clocking up hours on the weekend they are an awesome motor. But i drive them all day and i didnt buy one...

e-tec heads like their motors my pro fisher mate has one he loves it but i think oil is dear but cant comment cose i dont have one!

I hope this helps
regards....

i think you will find that there was a reflash of the computer to fix this on the gen 1 verados (sensor recalibration )and is not a prob on the gen 2 that are out now
for more info have a look at the verado club's website
http://veradoclub.com/
and have a look at mercury US website

[Luke G]

The old man has twin 175's on his boat. I found them preaty loud at idle compared to the suzuki on my boat and his old boat but about the same as everything else when running. They have a heap of grunt, a fair bit more then the usual 4 strokes but his are the Gen1's and they use a little bit of fuel after 4400rpm, they use a combined flow of 50lts at this RPM, Gen 2's are ment to be better again. The smartcraft system is awsome with the power steering and electric throttles. He did 230 hours last year without a problem.

Cheers

[Jabba_]

I have a E-tec 250 bolted to 5.9 Seafarer Vermont (see avatar)
On my last blue-water outing. I covered 130klm, according to the GPS. I went from the Seaway down as far as broadbeach, out to the 50's, zig zagging to the reefs on the way out. Then hopped from 1 reef to the other on my way to North Stradbroke.. I ended about 1/4 of the way up N-Straddie. We then came in through the Pin and then belted it back home to Loaders creek.

all in all 130klm was covered and I used 78ltr ULP... And that not my best result as I was pushing hard doing over 4000rpm for most of the time. And was at WOT a fair bit on the way home.... Had I kept the rpm's below 3500 I would get about 1.7km per ltr

[seren-y-mor]

Thanks BoBp.
Thats a great web site, lots of information there...

[Fatenhappy]

hey guys ...

... more than a bit taken aback when I started ringing around for prices .... starting with the 135 at $19,500 odd, then back to normality with the 150 at $20,100 odd and the 175 at $20,900 odd .... with the last 2 that's more like it, but knocking on the door of 20 grand for a 135 is more than just a bit more than just up there ..... Obviously then, set up to get you into a 150 straight from the get go if you are that comitted?

Cheers
Greg S

[sempre]

I have had both the e-tec in a 40 hp , the DI Evinrude in 200hp , they both ran great with no probs of major concern.
Although i have just ripped the 200 off last month and changed to twin 115 susi's .
The fuel consumption of the twins is great , much better than the single .
Either way go , modern motors are all good , barring the minority that have probs .
Guess its a matter of what colour engine you want and how gooder deal you get.

Sam...

[Ron173]

I know, not quite in your horsepower range but I have 90 etec, ski and biscuit all time on a 4.8mtr, run it like we stole it, it has two speeds, idle and just back off full throttle.

Got well over 100hrs on it, not a problem with engine, had tilt trim replaced on warranty but that really an auxiliary component.

I have mate with 150 etec who bought boat after test run against V8 inboards, he flogs guts out it, gets good fuel eco too.

Etecs are now proven over time, they are light with good power to weight ratio and good fuel eco, IMO outweigh the advantages of a 4 stroke, thats IMO so lets not start a debate.

just my 10c

[Fatenhappy]

It was interesting when I hopped onto the Verado site to have a look at the 150 and the like the other day, that braud as daylight there on the side of the spec sheet. Verado gave comparison graphs agains ETec, Yami and I think it was Suzi from memory and canned them all by comparison.

They must be pretty confident if they are going to boast like that ..

Cheers
Greg

[Jabba_]

It was interesting when I hopped onto the Verado site to have a look at the 150 and the like the other day, that braud as daylight there on the side of the spec sheet, Verado gave comparison graphs agains ETec, Yami and I think it was Suzi from memory and canned them all by comparison.

They must be pretty confident if they are going to boast like that ..

Cheers
Greg

A lot of outboard manufatures do that... It's just marketing, They set up a sernario so that it will be there brand that wins.... Overall, if you get all the major brand outboards. Fit them up to Identical boats, and prop them all correctly. There would be less then 5% differancee between them all.....

Personaly, my pick if 2 stroke is the E-Tec, because they are a very low maintaince engine, The back up for Evinrudes on the Gold Coast is second to none, and in my case, it's as, if not more economcal as a 4 stroke, and I have the power to belt to 62+mph....

In the 4 strokes, I like the Verardo. But it is common knowledge that the more stuff you stick on a motor the more can go wrong.. I also have a back ground with Turbos and Superchargers, and from experiance, if you force more air into the combustion chamber you are going to shorten the life off that motor. Now that applys all motors, factory and modified, there are no exceptions....

My pick in the 4 strokes is the Suzuki. I nearly had this motor on the back off my boat.. However it turned out being 30kg heaver then what my transom was rated too.. What I like about the Suzuki is, in comparrasin to 4 strokes the Suzuki was the lightest and most compact off them all. And in power, it was the closest to 2 stroke performance.... Referring to 250HP

But as I said in an earlier post. The main importance for you (Because off your location) is find a dealer that will best look after you with after-sales service.