[mikesands]

A few months ago I was on the point of trading in my 60hp Mariner Bigfoot 2 stroke for a 70hp Suzuki 4 stroke - at a net cost of about £4k fitted. To be fair this was a good price from Warrior and I was very tempted but I've been doing the sums.
Since I bought the boat about a year ago I've done 100 hours and I think I'm getting about 4 miles to the gallon at my chosen cruise of 20 knots. If I take the most optimistic figures I have seen for the suzuki that seems to be about 7 mpg.
So cost per year at the moment is about 500 gallons (probably much less as many of the hours will have been spent tootling around). I guess that's a total cost of about £2k (jeeez!!). But the suzuki would still have cost me about £1200, so it would have taken 5 years to recoup the cost of the upgrade.
Another salient point is that the local Mariner dealer charges only £70 for the annual service whereas the Suzuki dealer wants a lot more.
And the Mariner has phenomenal acceleration and is almost a whole person lighter than the Suzuki.
And I don't find the Mariner noisy. But I do find its tootling perfomance very poor (a bitch sometimes to restart).
Mike

 

[MarieK]

What price do you put on the extra reliability of a newer engine? I have my mariner 75 4 stroke 5 years now. I plan to take this season and then buy brand new. Really just for that extra piece of mind when pushing offshore etc.

Ryan

 

[mikesands]

Good point Ryan .... but how 'old' is an engine really. Mine was 5 years old when I bought it but was barely run in at 150 hours total. Admittedly if I run it for another 5 years it likely will have done 600 hours. But is even that a lot for a modern(ish) engine. I guess it equates to 12000 miles at my normal cruising speed. My little 600cc Rotax twin 2 stroke on my microlight shows very little sign of ageing and it's done 400 hours - about 24000 miles.
Mike

 

[TomBettle]

I agre with Ryan Mike.

We've had the argument (2s V 4s) whcih we don't need to revist, but from your previous posts, I know you like a spot of tootling around tight in.
The quietness at tickover and the reliability of new would probably push me over the edge to change for the 4s for what you tend to do.

 

[MarieK]

The engine will no doubt run for many many more hours but it will probably need a good bit more TLC as the years progress. I dont want to waste fishing time messing around with the outboard!

 

[blueskip]

As Cpl Jones would say "they dont like it tootling Mr Mainwaring"! thats why I "tootle" with my 8hp auxillary, its threequarters throttle with that, which saves me fuel, & eliminates the need to call the main engine an "illegitamate child" which is what happens when I try to "tootle" with it!:g:
blueskip

 

[mikesands]

As Cpl Jones would say "they dont like it tootling Mr Mainwaring"! thats why I "tootle" with my 8hp auxillary, its threequarters throttle with that, which saves me fuel, & eliminates the need to call the main engine an "illegitamate child" which is what happens when I try to "tootle" with it!:g:
blueskip

Yes it is a pain to tootle with the Mariner 60, and I do have a Suzuki 4hp (which is really a 6hp) 4 stroke. The big plus is that I can troll at 1 knot with this if I want. The big minus is that I have it tightened down pretty hard to drive straightahead and use the wheel and main engine to steer. Unfortunately this means throttle control is about 8 feet away. Also I don't think the suzi 4 is as quiet as one would expect.
Tom - don't get me wrong if I was going for a new boat today, I'd almost certainly fit the 70hp suzuki. It's just that upgrading purely to save money on fuel consumption would take 4 years of payback.
Mike

 

[blueskip]

. The big minus is that I have it tightened down pretty hard to drive straightahead and use the wheel and main engine to steer. Unfortunately this means throttle control is about 8 feet away. .
Mike

An 8ft length of 1.5" plastic waste pipe, (maybe with a saw cut in the end to make it fit), slipped over the twist throttle, & "hey presto" throttle control over the auxillary from 8ft, whilst using the steering wheel!:yeah:
blueskip

 

[TomBettle]

Damn fine solution Blueskip. The only issue I can see is trying to step over, round or under it whilst attempting to grab the rod as it disappears over the transom as yet another 10lb bass heads south (....proper rod holders may help).

4 strokes are funny little (big compared to 2s)blighters.

The bigger the HP the more lovely they sound. The 250 V6 Suzuki is an absolute dream at tick over. You have to actually check for the tell tale water jet to see if it is running, whereas the little 4Hp does sound a bit like a little 50cc moped being thrased to within an inch of its life...

 

[mikesands]

An 8ft length of 1.5" plastic waste pipe, (maybe with a saw cut in the end to make it fit), slipped over the twist throttle, & "hey presto" throttle control over the auxillary from 8ft, whilst using the steering wheel!:yeah:
blueskip

.... unfortunately I would need to be 8 or 9 ft tall to use this method, as my aux is mounted down in the well, and the restricted space means the throttle arm has to point up at quite an angle. You've got me thinking though ... it may be possible to rig up another caliper that runs from the top of the carb to near the main engine throttle control

 

[David N]

A few months ago I was on the point of trading in my 60hp Mariner Bigfoot 2 stroke for a 70hp Suzuki 4 stroke - at a net cost of about £4k fitted. To be fair this was a good price from Warrior and I was very tempted but I've been doing the sums.
Since I bought the boat about a year ago I've done 100 hours and I think I'm getting about 4 miles to the gallon at my chosen cruise of 20 knots. If I take the most optimistic figures I have seen for the suzuki that seems to be about 7 mpg.
So cost per year at the moment is about 500 gallons (probably much less as many of the hours will have been spent tootling around). I guess that's a total cost of about £2k (jeeez!!). But the suzuki would still have cost me about £1200, so it would have taken 5 years to recoup the cost of the upgrade.
Another salient point is that the local Mariner dealer charges only £70 for the annual service whereas the Suzuki dealer wants a lot more.
And the Mariner has phenomenal acceleration and is almost a whole person lighter than the Suzuki.
And I don't find the Mariner noisy. But I do find its tootling perfomance very poor (a bitch sometimes to restart).
Mike

Hi I do agree with your dilemma on the costings. It's a difficult set of sums to justify in costs. I would though suggest you work the figures out on the least optimistice figures to get a realistic costing.

I use my 4hp Yamaha for trolling in my boat. Main motor is an old 93 Evinrude 50 2 stroke. I don't have any problems running or starting it at low speed that you do but I do prefer to use the little Yam for trolling as it can go at very slow speeds that you can't with the Evinrude.

I moved the Yam much closer to the main engine to be as near the centreline as possible and connected the tiller to the Evinrude steering arm with a piece of alluminium tubing and a couple of made up clips.
I can now use the steeering control for the Evinrude to control the Yam direction.

I also have a longer piece of plastic pipe push fit attached to the tiller of the Yam so I don't need to be at the back of the boat for steering and throttle control.

The next little project though is to do away with that and run a cable control to the Yam engine carb and do away with the tiller throttle. So I can run it from a control lever alongside the Evinrude throttle lever at the Steering wheel consul.

 

[mikesands]

These are great ideas ... and I think important if you are working close in to the shore, as you don't want to be running backwards and forwards to the back of the boat. Please keep me informed of the progress on the remote throttle idea - PM me if you like. How do you connect the two engines when you have to be able to lower the auxiliary?

I have bought one of these rod holders ( http://www.tacklebargains.co.uk/acatalog/Rod_Accessories.htmlthrid item down) and discovered at the weekend that it fits beautifully on the cuddy gantry, allowing me to put a rod our nearly horizontally, and keep an eye on it while trolling. I have to say that I haven't caught anything yet trolling so if anyone has got any tips (speeds, lures, depths, species to target, safety issues to watch out for etc) ... I'd be grateful

Mike

 

[David N]

These are great ideas ... and I think important if you are working close in to the shore, as you don't want to be running backwards and forwards to the back of the boat. Please keep me informed of the progress on the remote throttle idea - PM me if you like. How do you connect the two engines when you have to be able to lower the auxiliary?

I have bought one of these rod holders ( http://www.tacklebargains.co.uk/acatalog/Rod_Accessories.htmlthrid item down) and discovered at the weekend that it fits beautifully on the cuddy gantry, allowing me to put a rod our nearly horizontally, and keep an eye on it while trolling. I have to say that I haven't caught anything yet trolling so if anyone has got any tips (speeds, lures, depths, species to target, safety issues to watch out for etc) ... I'd be grateful

Mike

Hi It is very simple really.
All it is just a piece of alloy tube with an alloy insert epoxied in both ends. Them a clip like a jubilee clip but a different design and is quicker release. (sorry don't know the name I robbed them of a scrap car) is drilled and fixed to both ends with a biggish strong self tap screw. You could drill and tap it to do a better job.

I leave it connected to the Evinrude and just undo the clip to the Yam when the Yam is up and connect it back up when it is needed when down.

Pollack have been my main taget so far. Off any rocky headland or island etc. Using the sounder and watching the depth. Slow or fast as needed to keep the lure down deep.
I use a similar techique for Salmon trolling on the Lochs here in Scotland.

Those mounts look handy.

 

[Shropfisher]

A few months ago I was on the point of trading in my 60hp Mariner Bigfoot 2 stroke for a 70hp Suzuki 4 stroke - at a net cost of about £4k fitted. To be fair this was a good price from Warrior and I was very tempted but I've been doing the sums.
Since I bought the boat about a year ago I've done 100 hours and I think I'm getting about 4 miles to the gallon at my chosen cruise of 20 knots. If I take the most optimistic figures I have seen for the suzuki that seems to be about 7 mpg.
So cost per year at the moment is about 500 gallons (probably much less as many of the hours will have been spent tootling around). I guess that's a total cost of about £2k (jeeez!!). But the suzuki would still have cost me about £1200, so it would have taken 5 years to recoup the cost of the upgrade.
Another salient point is that the local Mariner dealer charges only £70 for the annual service whereas the Suzuki dealer wants a lot more.
And the Mariner has phenomenal acceleration and is almost a whole person lighter than the Suzuki.
And I don't find the Mariner noisy. But I do find its tootling perfomance very poor (a bitch sometimes to restart).
Mike

Question - if it takes 5 years to recoup on running costs, and by the sound of it you would upgrade again in 5 years, you are at zero cost, with an engine that is very sellable !! Say you only get £1500 for it, ( thats almost next years Fuel bill paid ) Plus you have had the quiter smoother engine that will "tootle" about as much as you like.
From a straight business point of view it's a no brainer.
5 years to cover cost
Quiter running
New warrenty
lower tick over etc.
higher resale.
So the answer is in the heart not the wallet, otherwise you would just do it.