E-TEC vs Four Stroke

[PipeDreamsMarine]

A 32 blackfin @ 60 + mph ??? The 14 or 15,000 lbs Blackfin boat with 12 foot beam?...got to be a different boat. The boat almost draws 3 feet of water !!!

Scott.. yeah its true.. The 25 and the 32 are being built by Salt Shaker. I was talking with Jon Maggio (Joe's son ,who owns SS) and he said the same things. Take out the motors and struts and change the lay up with new hi-tech stuff and she pushes real easy.. I haven seen one with E-tecs just Yammie's.. here the link to the web site http://www.saltshakerboats.com/home.html
Some real nice shots of the 32. THey made it look like the 27 that was built in the 90's that was a walk around

[Skiblet]

I have been running twin 250 hp etecs on a 32 weelcraft for 1 yr and 2 months. We ran it hard right out of the box fishing the FLW kingfish tour. Have over 450 hrs on them and only thing done so far were one set of plugs and lower unit oil at the 320 hrs.

As far as other people having problems I think you will always have mechanical products that break. All brands have some issues. But i think most of the Etec issues can be attributed to mechanic or dealer error.

These engines need to be set up by mechanics who really know the product. I have a friend who bought a new Sea Vee with twin Etecs. After running them for a bit and having problems. He kept taking it to a dealer that said thay couldn't find anything wrong. He was telling everyone that maybe the Etecs were the wrong choice. Soon after he took it to a diferent dealer, the mechanic there knows the insides and outs of the Etecs and problem was diagnosed and fix. Now he hasn't had any more problems and loves the motors saying they do what they were hyped to do. It all begins with the set-up procedure.

Sorry for the lengthy post.

[riprunner]

First off I don't own an E-Tec but will certainly consider one. One the the biggest advantages to an e-tec over a four stroke is repowering an older boat. Many new boats today were designed for four stroke power, but not older boats. The extra weight of four strokes can change the ride characteristics in many boats as well as put the scuppers too low in the water.

One example is the 26 Regulator pre-2002. The brackets weren't made to hold 4 strokes and to intall 4 strokes properly the old bracket needs to be replaced with the new model version. Another example on a smaller boat would be the 22 Edgewater notched transom,they wouldn't hold the weight of the 225 Yamama or Honda(they were the first big 4 strokes to come out) without the scuppers going under water. Edgewater re-designed the boat to hold the heavier motors.

Both the E-Tec and 4 stroke have their pluses and minuses, you need to decide which factors are important to you. Etec's you have to buy and add oil, but you don't have to do oil changes, or have as much dealer scheduled maintenence.

Now for the Blackfins, the original 32 with 300 HP Detroits weighs 18,000 pounds dry and cruises at 20-23 knots. Put in 370 Cummins and the cruise moves up to 24-27 knots. Add 420 Yanmars and the cruise stays about the same as the Cummins, she just doesn't want to cruise more than that. Changing to outboards will shed A-LOT of weight, no shaft angle/drag etc.... but 62 MPH with twin 250's is very very hard to believe. a 31 Fountain CC with 225 Opti's will only do 60-62MPH that's with a pad transom and half the weight of the Blackfin.

[mjquatt]

Thanks for all of the great information. It sounds like it is a matter of weighing out all of the options. Now let me throw a little curve in here. In 1999 OMC introduced the infamous FITCH engines. From what I understand the fuel delivery system was cutting edge but the computers were crap causing lots of problems and a bad name for OMC. In 2001 OMC reintroduced the system as the RAM FITCH. Pretty much the same delivery system but with new computer software or whatever? What this means for some of us bargin hunters out there is that because of the trouble with the first series of FITCHs the resale value on these motors is fairly low compared to a Yamaha or a Mercury. My question is are these later model RAM FITCHs worth looking at or did they have the same problems as the originals?

[Jon G]

You can get the olders fichts "new" on ebay cheap! no one wants to take a chance on getting one of the bad ones. The rule on those was if you got over 100hrs on it you were all set, if not it blew up and you had a chance of getting a "good" powerhead. What is the weight differance between between the two? if I remember the 150 e tec is close to suzi 140? Its the carbed engines that are nice and light.

[riprunner]

The new ficht motors are excellent and have a good reputation of bein reliable, I would look at 2002 or newer. Your right the main issue in many of the newer technology 2 strokes has been with the computer. The Optimax, or Optibomb as they were once called are now very good motors as well. The nice thing is you almost can't go wrong with any of the new motors out today!

[Hooper]

Couple points here as I was in a similar situation a couple years ago....

I repowered my 1983 SeaCraft with a 2003 Evinrude 225 by Bombardier. I paid particular attention to the weight of the engine, the Yammie and Honda 4 bangers had way more weight than I was comfortable hanging on the back of an old SeaCraft.

That's #1, Number 2, be sure if you decide to buy an older Evinrude Ficht, that it is built under the Bombardier ownership. From my understanding there were a lot of things at the factory that were way out of tolerance builting engines that were way out of tolerance. They went through everything and now are building a fine engine. I have 500 hours on mine and it's treated me right.

[eggsuckindog]

Couple points here as I was in a similar situation a couple years ago....

I repowered my 1983 SeaCraft with a 2003 Evinrude 225 by Bombardier. I paid particular attention to the weight of the engine, the Yammie and Honda 4 bangers had way more weight than I was comfortable hanging on the back of an old SeaCraft.

That's #1, Number 2, be sure if you decide to buy an older Evinrude Ficht, that it is built under the Bombardier ownership. From my understanding there were a lot of things at the factory that were way out of tolerance builting engines that were way out of tolerance. They went through everything and now are building a fine engine. I have 500 hours on mine and it's treated me right.

As a note to you repower guys, my guy has 2 of these in the box which he locked the 7yr warrenty on a 225 and a 250 and they are much cheaper than the ETEC's but very close on technoligy and excellent motors.

[joema]

just put 250 4 stroke on new wood transom does not handle differnt ,escept it put your eyeballs back in head.23 septer

[Captainkass]

greetings this i can tell you if you just want power out of the whole e-tec -- if you want fuel savings e-tec, if you want a engine thats all around e-tec the bottom line is the new etes really does it all,