Tom,
I've been liking everything I hear about the E-tec except for one thing. I
can't get over how much the cost of the oil affects the cost to operate.
If it burns oil at a 100:1 ratio, and you pay $30/gallon for the oil, that
adds 30 cents to every gallon of fuel you burn.
So when the four-stroke guys are buying gas at $2.50/gallon, you're paying
$2.80/gallon after you add in the cost of the oil.
For a guy like me who probably goes through 2000 gallons of gas each year,
that's an extra $600 in oil costs. If the oil burn rate is closer to 50:1,
then the oil costs jump to a whopping $1200 extra per year!
If you do your own oil changes on the four strokes, your cost to maintain
those four-strokes will run about $150/year.
If you're paying a dealer to maintain the engines, then it's a whole 'nuther
story. You'll pay about $500/year to maintain them, and you'll have the
hassle of being without the boat three times as often as the E-tec due to
the recommended service schedule. To me, this is the only true advantage.
The weight difference between my Suzuki DF250 and an E-Tec 250 is
practically negligible. And the Suzuki's 16" prop and lower gearing makes
up for any perceived low-end grunt deficit common to four-strokes.
I'd buy the one with the cheaper price tag and better dealer support.
"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
news
On 4 Dec 2005 17:49:07 -0800,
wrote:
Guys,
am thinking about getting a different boat. Most likely an outbaord
150 HP.
I want a motor that:
- is somewhat light
- is as Quiet as possible
- Robust
Have been reading about Etec and it sounds like the machine to get ...
too good to be true though ..
It 's all true.
Is an Etec 150 quieter as a Yamaha 150 4 stroke? How about fuel use? I
guess is the same.
Not only is it quieter, it burns cleaner and is more fuel efficient by
about 20/30%.
How much oil doies the Etec burn with TCW3 and XD100 oil?
Don't even bother wtih XD-50 although it will burn it, it burns about
the same rate as the FICHT. To tell you the truth, I don't know what
we burned this year in total as we haven't done the year end figures
yet, but last year we used two and a half to three gallons total over
the summer. I'll get back to you later today.
Can an ETec be rebuilt?
Any engine can be rebuilt. Are you asking if you could rebuild it?
Whats your experience with Etec?
I couldn't ask for better engines. I have two on a 32 foot Contender
Fisharound and their quiet efficiency is just shy of spectacular. I
have had no service issues and after two years of experience with
them, I fully expect to have more problem free years in the future.
They are quieter, cleaner, quicker, burn less fuel and oil. The
acceleration you get is quite amazing. My friend who uses my
Contender for his own small charter business has converted two Yamaha
users to E-TEC and several guys at the marina where the boat is stored
are buying E-TECs over the winter to retrofit their Gradys' - one from
Yamaha and one from Suzuki.
As I said, I don't have the figures right at hand, but I think our
fuel consumption was significantly lower again this year than when I
had the previous Contender 32 with 225 FICHTs. I want to say it's
like 40% less, but I'll look that up and get back to you.
What do you hear from the other guys?
Guys with the bigger bass boats that have E-TECs are slowly converting
the cowering masses back to this two stroke technology. I've chatted
with a few who have smaller E-TECS, 90s mostly, couple 50s, and they
swear by them. I have yet to meet an E-TEC owner who has a bad thing
to say about E-TEC. I can introduce you to a bunch of Yamaha 4 stroke
owners who would just love to change technology now that they've owned
them for a few years, but are so deep into them in terms of money,
that they can't get out.
I know a guy who had a Merc Verado on a Ranger Z-22 who damn near
murdered his dealer for recommending the Verado. He's now got an
E-TEC on the back of his boat and is happier than the proverbial pig
in swill pit.
Having said all this, E-TEC is the engine technology of the future for
marine use. I occasionally work as a fill in Captain for a Sea//Tow
franchise operator down south of me and I convinced him to go with
E-TECs on his new 28 foot rigid hull "inflatable" service boat. If he
has said to me once this past summer, he's said it a dozen times -
he's glad he switched because his gas bill is half what it was last
year and he's had zero, that is a big goose egg, in maintenance.
At the moment, I'm half thinking about converting my 20' Ranger bay
boat over to E-TEC, but I have a 200 FICHT on it and I'm perfectly
happy with it. It has low hours, runs like a top and is a perfect fit
for the boat. I'm not going to change it over right yet. I may get a
new 24' Ranger bay boat and I'll put an E-TEC on that.
One word of warning. There is a denizen who haunts this newsgroup who
has a thing about this technology and will probably surface to attempt
to dissuade you. Be aware that this individual has never owned a
FICHT, never owned E-TEC, distorts and twists the stats and only
attempts to gainsay others about everything because of jealousy and
spite. It's a very typical reaction of somebody who has nothing,
wants everything and is insanely jealous of those who do have what
they can't.
If you want to ask more complex details, go to
http://www.swsports.org, follow the email instructions and we'll chat
about E-TEC.
Good luck - hope this helps you a little.
Later,
Tom