Repower Question

[LuckyGia]

I have never re powered a boat before so forgive me if I sound stupid.

I was looking at a boat this weekend.

A 1999 Ranger r 91 with a 200 hp 2 stroke Evinrude.

Of course I was concerned about a 16 year old motor.

He had a couple of newer rebuilt engines to put on other boats I was looking at, but not Evinrude.

He said he could not put the Mercury on the Ranger as it is rigged for the Evinrude.

I guess I was confused and never even gave it a thought.

So the boat can only run a Evinrude now ?

Does that mean if I want to repower my Smokercraft with a Yamaha,

I need to replace it with another Yamaha only because of the controls ?

[Bassin Bob]

Evinrude motors require a different type of throttle box.  For example, with my Evinrude you cannot advance the throttle went starting, it has a "fast idle" lever that automatically advances the throttle for you.  You can run an Evinrude on the boat, but you will have to change out the throttle box as well.  But, I have a 23 year old 'Rude that still runs great.  With proper maintenance, a 16 year old outboard should be fine.

[Al Wolbach]

You can repower with any outboard however you must change the controls. This is expensive and labor intensive. He probably did not want to change the engine because of the expense........AL

[Way2slow]

A 1999 Evinrude is a Ficht.  Most likely a motor you want to run as far as you can from.  However, saying that, I have a 1999 Ficht and love, but, I sent my ECM of and had all the updates done on it about 5 years ago, that cost approx. $1,000 today.  If that motor is still running the original ECM, and has not been replaced in the last seven or eight years, it's ticking time bomb. 

 

Also, don't fall for the line that the motor has had all the factory updates.  That means nothing for the ECM.   The only factory update was mandated by the Coast Guard to install keepers on the fuel lines going into the injectors so they didn't back out, leak, and blow the motor up.  Not internal, like a bomb from leaking gas and fumes inside the cover and creating one big fireball.  The factory has never done any type of updates on any ECM after it was sold on the motor.  As the problems arose, they redesigned the current production models to cure those problems but never did anything to fix known problems after it left the factory.   It took BRP a few years to get all the bugs worked out so by 2004, they were pretty good ECU's.  However, the only way to get anything prior to then updated was to buy a new one, or send it off to some place DFI Technologies and have it done.  At the time DFI did mine, there were 49 known problems they updated.  Without the updated ECM, that 1999 is way to subject to cause major problems and high dollar failures.  You read all the time where people repower their old Fichts because they got tired of replacing power heads or paying for those expensive repairs.

 

As for repowering, to a different manufactures motor, it's done all the time.  Don't let them say you have to stick with that make.  As mentioned, it's a little more work and if they don't have the control head, a little more expensive.  IF they shift gears in the same direction, you used to could buy cables that will adapt OMC/BRP to Merc and vise versa.

 

Now, is a dealer going to want to take that Ficht off and put something else on, not no but h**l no, not if anyway possible to get out of it, even if it means lying his a** off.  First off, he does not want to be stuck with that motor, and second, he does not want to spend the extra time and money into swapping them.