What brand of outboard?

[Dutch]

I’m just curious.  I’ve seen a lot of posts about them and repairs on this site over the years.  I’m wondering what you guys run and your experience with them.  I personally am a Mercury fan.  I ran a 225 Optimax for 14 trouble free years.  I am now running a 250 Verado that is in its 6th year.  All it has had is oil, filter, and fuel changes along with lower unit service and this year spark plugs.  I have owned 4 Evinrudes and one Johnson.  I blew 3 of the Rudes and the Johnson.   My wife had a 150 Yamaha that was trouble free.

[Terrierman]

Yamaha

[snagged in outlet 3]

I think you have a good one no matter the brand might be better to stick with it than buy a new one that might not be.   Some give years of trouble free service and some are lemons.   Even the same model and year.  Just my thoughts on it.  

[netboy]

I had great luck with a 140 Suzuki four stroke.

Here is a link to a thread about four stroke life expectancy from a website in a saltwater environment. 

 

 Life Expectancy of 4 stroke outboards - SaltwaterCentral.Com

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I don’t think I’ll ever get thousands of hours.   Typical 4-5 hour trip might have a half hour run time.  Now my trolling motor would be the rest of the time.  

[fishinwrench]

I've had and used them all at one time or another, and wore their hats proudly when I did.   But after alot of years in the business of dealing with all of them intimately, I choose the late '80s - early 90's Evinrudes for my personal boat pushers.    They are just my favorite for a number of reasons.   

I like a bunch of the Mercury motors, as far as design and function goes.... but the issue with them is always PARTS AVAILABILITY (and price) when something does go wrong.   

Yamaha's across the HP range are wicked good. 

Suzuki......there you go with the parts availability thing again. 

Nissan/Tohatsu: No complaints at all.....until it comes to aquiring parts.

Honda.... hands down the worst. Never EVER. I won't even attempt to work on them. Love their dirt bikes though.

[Devan S.]

I've got a 2004 or 2005 optimax 115. 

I'm not partial to anything specific....I'm likely never going to buy new so any sort of brand loyalty significantly reduces my options and likely increases my purchase price. I'm not into buying and re-powering to get a specific boat/motor combo. 

The reality is I'm fishing for fun so I pick my launch and put the miles on my truck. I like to fish the dark and the cold(i.e. when the pleasure boats are gone) so less time running and more time fishing is more important. 

I don't often run wide open....try not to go from zero to mach 2 in zero seconds.....and just cruise at a comfortable speed.....no hot foot so minimal adjustments to engine RPM. 

I literally treat it like I treat my tractor....except I don't just let it sit and idle. 

[nomolites]

I’ve had them all.  I think much has to do with setup and care.  Don’t under HP your rig, don’t set up to max out the RPMs, don’t run WFO(or idle for that matter) all the time-try to run mid-range, and take care of the equipment.  When I’ve done that, my stuff lasts…when not, it comes apart.

Mike

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6 minutes ago, nomolites said:

I’ve had them all.  I think much has to do with setup and care.  Don’t under HP your rig, don’t set up to max out the RPMs, don’t run WFO(or idle for that matter) all the time-try to run mid-range, and take care of the equipment.  When I’ve done that, my stuff lasts…when not, it comes apart.

Mike

I only run a couple miles per hour slower at 4500 rpm than I do at 5100.   Get on plane and back off the throttle.  Never hurts to have a little reserve power to help steer a river jet either.  

[fishinwrench]

56 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

I only run a couple miles per hour slower at 4500 rpm than I do at 5100.   Get on plane and back off the throttle.  Never hurts to have a little reserve power to help steer a river jet either.  

The old school of thought with mechanical carbureted 2-strokes (and it has some merit) was that after 1/2 throttle the ignition was already fully advanced....so you might as well pour as much fuel/oil into the cylinders as possible.  That's where the old saying "2-strokes are designed to run full-throttle" came from.    Better to run 5500 RPM for 30 minutes, get there sooner and shut her down,.....than to run 4200 RPM for an hour and get there later. 

After tearing down, inspecting, and rebuilding a shitload of them.....I truly can't tell you which method is best for engine life. 

But one fact is constant.....a huge majority of catastrophic powerhead failures happen at mid-range throttle settings, even with today's computer controlled ignition and fuel metering systems.  The faster a piston moves/the less time is available for something to go wrong.

 

If weight weren't such a huge factor then 4S outboards that would last FOREVER could easily be designed.   But engine weight is a giant issue when your dealing with things that have to perform....and still float.   A 20hp push mower that cuts a 4' swath would be great....but you couldn't push it up a hill.