[a_bozzy]

I am thinking of buying a boat with the above engine, does anyone know how good or bad these are? I would be using the boat for mainly basing which obviously means a lot of hours use on the engine and therefor how much two stroke and also fuel economy etc as it's my first boat I am dying to get one but do not wanna rush in and buy for the sake of it lol would I better waiting for something with a four stroke ? Thanks in advance

 

[ETEC]

I am thinking of buying a boat with the above engine, does anyone know how good or bad these are? I would be using the boat for mainly basing which obviously means a lot of hours use on the engine and therefor how much two stroke and also fuel economy etc as it's my first boat I am dying to get one but do not wanna rush in and buy for the sake of it lol would I better waiting for something with a four stroke ? Thanks in advance

What size, make of boat is it on as that will be crucial to determine how much fuel and oil will be used.

ETEC

 

[Clinker]

No need to worry about fuel economy with an Optimax - I've not seen any figures for the 90, but other models of Optimax fare very well in tests - slightly better than even an Etec which is generally about half way up the table of the new fourstroke models - but you're only talking about 10% difference between the best and the worst anyway. They're not quite as economical on oil as an Etec, but you won't be spending much more on oil than you would with a four stroke (people always seem to forget four strokes use oil, which also needs a filter change, when comparing a Di two stroke).

Downsides of Optimax at 90 is that it is a big engine for a 90 and they are noisier than Etecs and four strokes.

Older Optimax can suffer from corrosion in the compressor which can be a costly fix - but I think this only effects the very early ones - by 2004 they had supposedly got this fixed.

Bear in mind that not all four strokes are that economical too - the older (2006 ish and earlier) are generally carburettor engines - it's the newer efi engines that are economical - the two stroke Di engines (Mercury or Mariner Optimax, Evinrude Etec and Tohasu TLDI) offer better economy than the carb four stroke engines and as I said, they are right up there with the newest Efi Four Strokes.

If the boat has been fitted with 'Smartcraft' then this is a big plus - tells you everything you ever wanted to know about an engine and stuff you never reaslised you needed to know! But part of the system is a fuel flow meter and you can use this to reduce your fuel costs by maybe 10% or more.

I was in the same boat as you a couple of years ago - the right boat but it had an Optimax which I was unsure about - I previously had an Etec so I was thinking the Opitmax being an older design might not be as good - but I've actually been very pleasantly surprised with it in all regards and learned to love it!

 

[a_bozzy]

Sorry an 18ft dory but unsure of make, the engine is fitted to a pod don't know whether it would make a difference though thanks

 

[ETEC]

Sorry an 18ft dory but unsure of make, the engine is fitted to a pod don't know whether it would make a difference though thanks

It should be as good as anything else on an 18' dory, what I was looking for is would it be straining as you do see some on QS 640's and they are well underpowered and even 115 optis on such heavy boats are not that good on fuel, but on the right boat they are great.

No need to worry about fuel economy with an Optimax

As said above if it was on a boat like a 640qs then there could of been an issue but on the quoted boat it should fly and be very economical.



ETEC

 

[ospreyman]

I ran an opti 90 on a raider wheelhouse for four years, great engine woudnt hesitate to have another

 

[Smccullough]

Have a 115 opti, love the fuel usage and on a 18fter it's almost ideal.

 

[a_bozzy]

also the current owner has no record of engine hours how can I if possible find out when going to view the boat?

 

[Clinker]

Ask him to have a Mercury or Mariner tech visit the engine and hook up his lap top - a good idea anyway as it will give you an overall health report.

I wouldn't get too hung up on hours though - it's the way it's looked after that is important - I would rather for instance a 7 year old engine with 350-400 hours that looks well looked after and has been fully serviced. If on the other hand that 7 year old engine had just 50-70 hours, then to me it says the owner hardly uses the boat - not the sign of an enthusiastic owner who will attened to all maintenance and servicing as he should.

 

[Tim_B]

I have one on my QS580 and have found it to be a good engine, albeit a little noisy. I also have the smartcraft gauges, without fuel flow. Its definitely worth have the engineer hook up their laptop - they can give you a printout with lots of info on.

cheers
Tim

 

[LilBrit]

Had a 115 Opti for a short while on my QS620 and it was great! :sad2:

It was stolen so soon after I fitted it that I've still got an unopened 10 litre bottle of Opti oil in the garage that needs a new home.

 

[dicky]

we have a opti 75 on our sea champion but have only been out on it once because of this bloody weather. Can't really comment much but happy enough so far.
Makes me laugh when people say they're a bit noisy. compared to our last boat (evinrude 1996 2 stroke 70hp) it's positively silent. When i turn the key i have to check the pee pipe to check it's running lol.

 

[gibberfish]

I have an opti 90 on Predator . It's a great engine that returns 1litre to the mile at 2 thirds throttle.
Check that the coils are not the ones that were subject to a manufacturers recall.
They will be changed for free but if you miss it you can expect about £3000 worth of fried coils and ECU! I speak from experience. A dealer will be able to tell you if they need doing or have been done.

 

[higgy246]

Many thanks for the reply will do some investigating to see if the coil has been changed Chris

 

[cfish]

What type of bassing are you doing??? If its slowly trolling along for fairly long periods then the plugs may oil up on bigger two strokes,might of been bad maintenance on the occasions ive witnessed

 

[gibberfish]

What type of bassing are you doing??? If its slowly trolling along for fairly long periods then the plugs may oil up on bigger two strokes,might of been bad maintenance on the occasions ive witnessed

Mine is fine idling for long periods. It's direct oil injection with a variable rate depending on load. I've had no problem with the plugs oiling.
The Opti is a very sophisticated bit of kit, quite unlike older 2 strokes.

 

[gibberfish]

Many thanks for the reply will do some investigating to see if the coil has been changed Chris

There are three coils. You will need the serial number from the engine to see if it was ones of the affected batch.

 

[cfish]

Mine is fine idling for long periods. It's direct oil injection with a variable rate depending on load. I've had no problem with the plugs oiling.
The Opti is a very sophisticated bit of kit, quite unlike older 2 strokes.

Aghh i misunderstood,the oiling up engines ive seen were out of the ark pre mixers.

 

[higgy246]

Can't thank ya enough mate better knowing now than to late !!!

 

[Clinker]

Aghh i misunderstood,the oiling up engines ive seen were out of the ark pre mixers.

If your only experience of two strokes is the old carb models you won't believe the difference - the new generation of Di two strokes start first time every time, idle smoothly and quietly (not quite to Honda or Suzuki standards though), and will troll all day long. As far as the oil goes, you fill a tank and that's it (apart from keeping an eye on the level of course) - the mix ratio varies with what the engine needs and with no waste fuel finding its way into the crankcase, as well as using a lot less fuel, they don't smoke and smell either.