I must be getting old... Engine question

[Geography 101]

I can officially say I feel old. Back in my day, I would spend Saturday morning watching Jimmy Houston, Bill Dance, and Roland Martin. Don't know why but I had a thought. I can only remember Mercury, Evinrude, and maybe a Johnson commercial. Now I see Yamaha,  Honda, Suzuki, Tohatsu whitch I have never heard of, ect... 4 stroke, 2 stroke, feeling a bit overwhelmed. 

Question is, what do you run and why?

 

[A-Jay]

The late version of a Mercury Optimax (2016) 200 hp 2-stroke was decent and virtually bullet proof for me.  But it was loud, adding oil all the time and the exhaust fumes were not all that great.

Re-powered to the (2018) V-8 4 stroke 200 hp ProXS.

Comes with all the performance and none of the 'negatives' noted above.

I was a staunch 2-stroke dude for a long time.

Not any more. 

https://youtu.be/T7LO6RQA7yY

A-Jay

[MN Fisher]

1973 Evinrude 25hp electric start tiller. Solid, dependable, easy to maintain. It's an era match to the 1972 Alumacraft F-9 Lake Master it's mounted on.

 

Note that a number of Mercury engine models are made by Tohatsu.

[Geography 101]

6 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

The late version of a Mercury Optimax (2016) 200 hp 2-stroke was decent and virtually bullet proof for me.  But it was loud, adding oil all the time and the exhaust fumes were not all that great.

Re-powered to the (2018) V-8 4 stroke 200 hp ProXS.

Comes with all the performance and none of the 'negatives' noted above.

I was a staunch 2-stroke dude for a long time.

Not any more. 

https://youtu.be/T7LO6RQA7yY

A-Jay

Wow, that is a quiet startup? The thoughts of a 2stroke are a bit intimidating with the oil mixing and all.

[MN Fisher]

On 11/13/2022 at 7:31 AM, Geography 101 said:

The thoughts of a 2stroke are a bit intimidating with the oil mixing and all.

Heck, that's easy. My 2-stroke want's a 50:1 mix. 6 gallon portable tank, put in 1 pt oil, fill the rest with non-oxy gas...done.

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, Geography 101 said:

I can officially say I feel old. Back in my day, I would spend Saturday morning watching Jimmy Houston, Bill Dance, and Roland Martin. Don't know why but I had a thought. I can only remember Mercury, Evinrude, and maybe a Johnson commercial. Now I see Yamaha,  Honda, Suzuki, Tohatsu whitch I have never heard of, ect... 4 stroke, 2 stroke, feeling a bit overwhelmed. 

Question is, what do you run and why?

 

How is this even possible? Even with dial up InterWeb?!

Yamaha has been the outboard leader for decades, and the Japanese engines (Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, Tohatsu) have been demonstrably better for much longer. As someone mentioned, they have been making Mercs too. Johnson/Evinrude has been bounced around from parent company to parent company, and are now all but defunct. I wouldn't buy a Merc with someone else's money. 

[BigAngus752]

I drive an hour+ to take my boat to the most highly respected boat guy in the south half of our state.  He's a factory repair center for numerous brands.  He had two things to say about outboards:

1.  He's a factory Mercury repair center and Mercury keeps things consistent in their engineering year after year so his techs know Mercury's backwards and forwards.  He considers them to be highly reliable, parts are readily available, and parts are cheap.  (I run a Merc 4 stroke)

2.  He's a Honda factory repair center.  He's thinking about dropping that.  He pays a lot of money to Honda every year to be a service center for their brand but he almost never sees a Honda outboard because they never break.  As a result, his techs move slower on the Hondas because they never see them.  He's not working on enough of them to make up the cost of being a service center.  

 

Mercury and Honda are his highest rated outboards.  His opinion holds tremendous weight with me.  It's a long wait to get your boat in to his shop for work.  

[JackstrawIII]

Good post, BigAngus. I’m hoping to be a boat owner soon, and this helps me a lot. 

[Motoboss]

But it does say something about the Honda motors, does it not.

[BigAngus752]

6 minutes ago, Motoboss said:

But it does say something about the Honda motors, does it not.

Yes it sure does.  

[Way2slow]

MN Fisher, I hope you are not putting 1 Qt per 6 gallons of gas.  6 gallons uses 16 ounces, (1 pint) 

 

Also, for those that have never heard of some of those Japanese brands.  For many years, when you bought a lot of those "American name brands" you were actually buying a rebranded Japanese motor.  

[MN Fisher]

13 minutes ago, Way2slow said:

MN Fisher, I hope you are not putting 1 Qt per 6 gallons of gas.  6 gallons uses 16 ounces, (1 pint)

Right...my Oops

 

I'm so use to dropping quarts into the Silverado I misspoke....1 pint of 2 cycle oil in a 6 gallon tank

[gim]

I use a 2015 Mercury 4-stroke 75 hp on my Ranger RT178.  I love it.  Its extremely quiet and fuel efficient.  I only use ethanol-free premium gasoline in it and I get it professionally winterized every October.  I buy gasoline for it about twice all season.

 

Prior to owning my own boat now, my family had a 4-stroke Yamaha since 2001.  I would never even consider going back to a 2-stroke outboard anymore.

[volzfan59]

I've owned about every brand o/b over the years except Honda and *Suzuki. Even had a Force o/b. Never have had an issue from any of them but I keep up with the preventative maintenance.

 

My latest (probably last) boat has a 40 h/p 2 stroke Tohatsu and I love it. If it dies, I'll replace it with a 4 stroke Tohatsu.

 

*Tohatsu makes Suzuki o/b's, same parts same thing just different colors/decals to my knowledge.

[Geography 101]

20 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I use a 2015 Mercury 4-stroke 75 hp on my Ranger RT178.  I love it.  Its extremely quiet and fuel efficient.  I only use ethanol-free premium gasoline in it and I get it professionally winterized every October.  I buy gasoline for it about twice all season.

 

Prior to owning my own boat now, my family had a 4-stroke Yamaha since 2001.  I would never even consider going back to a 2-stroke outboard anymore.

The plan is to not let mine sit for more than a week or so at a time. If it will be above freezing then I will fe wetting line once a week hopefully.

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

Right...my Oops

 

I'm so use to dropping quarts into the Silverado I misspoke....1 pint of 2 cycle oil in a 6 gallon tank

Smoking problem solved...  

[WRB]

By 2035 it may be difficult to buy gasoline. 

My guess is 2 cycle engines of all types and sizes will be outlawed before 2035 the way things headed.

The 24:1 ratio oil to gasoline 2 cycle engines have been replaced by 100:1. 2 cycle outboard engines are oil injected now.

Johnson and Evinrude back in day was dealer vs non dealer retailers, Johnson was the dealer brand same OMC engine. 

Johnson brand was shelved, Evinrude was kept until OMC was sold, now neither exists.

Yamaha OB’s has been around for decades. We put the Japanese in the US outboard engine business by off loading Mercury engines with Mariner brand and 40 hp and under being made for Mercury by Tohstsu. Honda OB’s by entering the 4 stroke engine market.

Time moves on and we old farts tend to forget that.

Tom

[Woody B]

I don't miss mixing gas and oil.  I also don't miss the plumes of smoke and fouled spark plugs.  My old boat (that I sold in 1992) had a Mariner 20 hp tiller engine.   A friend has an oil injected 2 stroke 40 Merc.  The oil injection quit working so he mixes oil and gas now.   It's temperamental but that's probably as much of a carburetor thing as a 2 stroke thing.   

 

My current 4 stroke 50 horse mercury starts easy and runs great.  I don't run any kind of special gas or run any additives.  I would run some type of fuel stabilizer but it never sits long enough to need it.   

[Big Hands]

I have owned and been around 2 stroke outboards all of my life, from 15 hp to 200 hp. I'm pretty comfortable with them and mixing gas is not a huge deal for me. 

 

But I have to say that my current motor (2017 Mercury 40 hp four stroke) has been outstanding to own and operate. I change the oil and filter once per year (30 to 40 hours) and I'll have the impeller on a every other year schedule. Takes about two seconds to start. No choke or special throttle procedure. Reach down and turn the key for two seconds at most. Let it idle while I park the tow vehicle. I go often enough that I feel no need to run it out of gas. 

 

The best part is that it practically makes it's own fuel. I use 1 to 1.5 gallons per trip. It uses less fuel than the 15 hp 2 stroke it replaced.

 

I bought the motor for what it retailed for new with two hours (according to VesselView) on a four year old motor (hadn't even been broken in yet), so you could say I overpaid for the motor. But, it came with a free 2017 Tracker Grizzly 1648 MVX, a trailer, a Minn Kota 24v Trolling motor, 3 batteries and gas tank.

[slonezp]

On 11/13/2022 at 8:03 AM, BigAngus752 said:

I drive an hour+ to take my boat to the most highly respected boat guy in the south half of our state.  He's a factory repair center for numerous brands.  He had two things to say about outboards:

1.  He's a factory Mercury repair center and Mercury keeps things consistent in their engineering year after year so his techs know Mercury's backwards and forwards.  He considers them to be highly reliable, parts are readily available, and parts are cheap.  (I run a Merc 4 stroke)

2.  He's a Honda factory repair center.  He's thinking about dropping that.  He pays a lot of money to Honda every year to be a service center for their brand but he almost never sees a Honda outboard because they never break.  As a result, his techs move slower on the Hondas because they never see them.  He's not working on enough of them to make up the cost of being a service center.  

 

Mercury and Honda are his highest rated outboards.  His opinion holds tremendous weight with me.  It's a long wait to get your boat in to his shop for work.  

I do believe the Honda outboard uses the same block as their automobile V6

 

Last 2 big outboards I ran were Mercury 2 strokes(225 Optimax and 90 ELPTO) Ran both for 10 years problem free. 

 

Next big boat will have a Mercury or a Yammie. I'm intrigued with the Yammie technology paired up with Garmin. 

 

In the mean time, my pull start Evinrude suits me fine.

[Goldstar225]

I'm running a 115 HP Merc Pro XS 4S.  Five years of use and not a single problem with it.

 

On my prior boat I had a Yamaha 70 HP 2S.  A 1986 model.  After 30 years the only issue I had was that I had to replace the oil tank twice due the seam splitting.  The engine and other components seemed to be bullet proof.

[GreenPig]

05 Mercury 2 stroke. If I have to pull it twice to start it it's because I forgot to squeeze the primer bulb. I can't imagine the hours I've put on in almost 18 years. I choose it due to hp limit on my boat and primary lake.

[Shimano_1]

I've had 3 Johnson/ evinrudes, all 89-95 models, and 3 mercs 08-19 models. Have never had much of an issue from any. My current rig is a 98 bullet with a 2017 pro xs 2 stroke.  I'm running it cause I bought it for an unbelievable price. Had a 2019 115 pro xs 4 stroke on my rig before this one. The 4 stroke was fantastic in every way. I don't think a man can go wrong with most of the yamaha, merc, Suzuki, or Honda motors. I would be more concerned with who and how I would get one serviced locally.  

[Geography 101]

6 hours ago, Shimano_1 said:

I would be more concerned with who and how I would get one serviced locally.  

As I have found out with age, all things in life are better with good maintenance and upkeep ?

[TnRiver46]

9 hours ago, GreenPig said:

05 Mercury 2 stroke. If I have to pull it twice to start it it's because I forgot to squeeze the primer bulb. I can't imagine the hours I've put on in almost 18 years. I choose it due to hp limit on my boat and primary lake.

No wonder you’re still rocking when you drive home! I used to have a 14 ft alumacraft that I took on a windy mountain lake in the dead of winter several times , I know the feeling 

 

do you get Netflix on that TV?