Hi DB,

It would really depend on the condition and price of this used boat and then
how much fuel you will actually be running through it.

I did not see where the new highly efficient 2 strokes were under 150hp yet
but I just looked at a few web sites.

The 115HP FI 4 strokes @ ~400# ~$10,000US (Yamaha, Suzuki/OMC, Mercury)
are pretty popular in that size range and get better fuel economy than
carbureted 2 strokes.

--
Bill Kiene

Kiene's Fly Shop
Sacramento, CA
www.kiene.com

"djb" wrote in message
.. .

Hello all......I need help, the boat I am going to buy has a 1997 Evinrude
115 h.p., non EFI outboard engine on it.
The boat and engine are lovely and I wanna buy and keep this boat for
many
years.
Should I wait t'till I can afford a boat w/ a EFI engine or buy the thing
and pay the little more for the gas that I am going to consume since it's
old-tech engine.
I need help, what are the big difference between EFI and NON-EFI
engines?????
Please help!!
DB

There are several big differences between carb and EFI engines (not talking
about direct fuel injection which I would not go with). The carb engine
requires you to choke, use cold start throttle, and some experience with
that engine to crank when cold. The EFI is just like your car. Turn the
key and it cranks.
The EFI will get about double the fuel economy of the carb engine assuming
your not running it above 4000 rpms all day long.

Now, if you have found a boat and engine that you really like, is in good
shape, and is priced right; then I would buy it. Otherwise I would prefer
the EFI engine in either a 2 stroke or 4 stroke.

Now some will say that the EFI is more complex and more expensive to
maintain. This could be true if you let old gas gum up the injectors, have
loose electrical connections that short out components, or don't maintain
the engine w/ good fuel, oil, plugs, etc...
However given good maintenance, you should not have any problems. Look at
cars that now run for over 100,000 miles without anything done to the
engine.
I rarely every have an engine problem with my boats because I maintain them
properly.

--
Tony
my boats and autos - http://t.thomas.home.mchsi.com


"djb" wrote in message
.. .
Hello all......I need help, the boat I am going to buy has a 1997 Evinrude
115 h.p., non EFI outboard engine on it.
The boat and engine are lovely and I wanna buy and keep this boat for
many
years.
Should I wait t'till I can afford a boat w/ a EFI engine or buy the thing
and pay the little more for the gas that I am going to consume since it's
old-tech engine.
I need help, what are the big difference between EFI and NON-EFI
engines?????
Please help!!
DB

The EFI will get about double the fuel economy of the carb engine assuming
your not running it above 4000 rpms all day long.

Huh? Tony, you lost me there.

I have a carbureted Merc 115, and the motor runs great, but it's tough on the
wife when she is trying to get the boat off the trailer in the morning. The
engine doesn't like to stay lit unless you know exactly what you are doing. If
I could change one thing, it would be carbs to EFI.

I wouldn't pass up a great boat with a carb motor, but I do really prefer EFI.


-- Rich Stern
www.nitroowners.com - The Nitro and Tracker Owners Web Site
www.mypontoon.com - The Pontoon Boat Web Site
www.fishingreportdatabase.com - The Fishing Report Database
www.mysporttrac.com - The Sport Trac Web Site

Based on my experience w/ carb and EFI engines, the EFI will get basically
double the fuel mileage given your not running it wide open all the time.

For example - My Baker w/ a 2.5 carb 240 hp engine would get about 2 mpg on
any given day of riding and playing. My Mirage w/ a 2.5 efi 280 hp engine
would get about 4 mpg on any given day of riding and playing. And it was 4
mph faster.

Seen similar results on pontoons I have had.

--
Tony
My boats and autos - http://t.thomas.home.mchsi.com



"Rich Stern" wrote in message
...
The EFI will get about double the fuel economy of the carb engine
assuming
your not running it above 4000 rpms all day long.

Huh? Tony, you lost me there.

I have a carbureted Merc 115, and the motor runs great, but it's tough on
the
wife when she is trying to get the boat off the trailer in the morning.
The
engine doesn't like to stay lit unless you know exactly what you are
doing. If
I could change one thing, it would be carbs to EFI.

I wouldn't pass up a great boat with a carb motor, but I do really prefer
EFI.


-- Rich Stern
www.nitroowners.com - The Nitro and Tracker Owners Web Site
www.mypontoon.com - The Pontoon Boat Web Site
www.fishingreportdatabase.com - The Fishing Report Database
www.mysporttrac.com - The Sport Trac Web Site

Based on my experience w/ carb and EFI engines, the EFI will get basically
double the fuel mileage given your not running it wide open all the time.

For example - My Baker w/ a 2.5 carb 240 hp engine would get about 2 mpg on
any given day of riding and playing. My Mirage w/ a 2.5 efi 280 hp engine
would get about 4 mpg on any given day of riding and playing. And it was 4
mph faster.

Seen similar results on pontoons I have had.

--
Tony
My boats and autos - http://t.thomas.home.mchsi.com



OK, that answers the question: Differents hulls. Different weight. Different
balance. Different prop. Not a reliable benchmark, IMHO.


-- Rich Stern
www.nitroowners.com - The Nitro and Tracker Owners Web Site
www.mypontoon.com - The Pontoon Boat Web Site
www.fishingreportdatabase.com - The Fishing Report Database
www.mysporttrac.com - The Sport Trac Web Site

"Tony Thomas" wrote in message news:zRE9b.476401$uu5.82385@sccrnsc04...
There are several big differences between carb and EFI engines (not talking
about direct fuel injection which I would not go with). The carb engine
requires you to choke, use cold start throttle, and some experience with
that engine to crank when cold. The EFI is just like your car. Turn the
key and it cranks.
The EFI will get about double the fuel economy of the carb engine assuming
your not running it above 4000 rpms all day long.


Tony's right on the cold start thing, but its not rocket science.
He's dead wrong on the fuel burn. EFI's and Carbs burn almost the
same amount of fuel. DFI's burn 30-40 perecent less, and 4 strokes
slightly better, w/ no oil. Don't let the fuel burn drive your
decision. EFI & Carb pros/cons even out in the big picture of looking
at a used boat.

FishFan

Based on my experience w/ carb and EFI engines, the EFI will get basically
double the fuel mileage given your not running it wide open all the time.

For example - My Baker w/ a 2.5 carb 240 hp engine would get about 2 mpg on
any given day of riding and playing. My Mirage w/ a 2.5 efi 280 hp engine
would get about 4 mpg on any given day of riding and playing. And it was 4
mph faster.

Seen similar results on pontoons I have had.

--
Tony
My boats and autos - http://t.thomas.home.mchsi.com



OK, that answers the question: Differents hulls. Different weight.
Different
balance. Different prop. Not a reliable benchmark, IMHO.


-- Rich Stern




Ok, my 21 ft, deep V with 200 hp Johnson got a little over one mile a gallon on
long trips. Same boat with new HPDI Yamaha gets between 2 and 3 miles a gallon.
Same hull, same weight and same prop.

Barry

Ok, my 21 ft, deep V with 200 hp Johnson got a little over one mile a gallon
on
long trips. Same boat with new HPDI Yamaha gets between 2 and 3 miles a
gallon.
Same hull, same weight and same prop.

Barry


Barry, that's a bit more understandable. A Yamaha HPDI and a carbed Johnson
are entirely different beasts. In this discussion, the comparison is plain
'ole EFI vs. carb motors.

1 mpg on a 200hp 21' outboard boat? Um, that pretty well sucks. Running with
the anchor down?


-- Rich Stern
www.nitroowners.com - The Nitro and Tracker Owners Web Site
www.mypontoon.com - The Pontoon Boat Web Site
www.fishingreportdatabase.com - The Fishing Report Database
www.mysporttrac.com - The Sport Trac Web Site

(Rich Stern) wrote in message ...
Based on my experience w/ carb and EFI engines, the EFI will get basically
double the fuel mileage given your not running it wide open all the time.

For example - My Baker w/ a 2.5 carb 240 hp engine would get about 2 mpg on
any given day of riding and playing. My Mirage w/ a 2.5 efi 280 hp engine
would get about 4 mpg on any given day of riding and playing. And it was 4
mph faster.

Seen similar results on pontoons I have had.

--
Tony
My boats and autos - http://t.thomas.home.mchsi.com



OK, that answers the question: Differents hulls. Different weight. Different
balance. Different prop. Not a reliable benchmark, IMHO.

-- Rich Stern


Different motors, too.

240 or 280 hp is a lot from 2.5 liters in a "standard" outboard and I
didn't recall any standard outboards matching that description. So I
checked mercurymarine.com and found the 2.5 EFI 280 is a race motor
that burns 92 octane fuel premixed with oil @ 32:1. The biggest 2.5
carb motor for 2003 is 200 hp and not a race motor. I suspect that the
carbed 240 in question was a race motor in earlier years and that
there have been improvements beyond the simple addition of EFI to make
280 hp.

Based on the experiences of others that I have read about in
apples-to-apples comparisons, where they took the same "standard"
motor in carb and EFI versions, the overall imporvment in MPG for the
EFI was slight, not major.

%mod%

The question boils down to: How long will it take to recoup the
difference between the two?

Most people only use their boats 30 to 50 hours per year, unless they
keep them in the water.

Newer-more expensive outboards - with EFI are easier to start, but a
well maintained carb job starts just as easy. EFI will save 10 to 15
percent on fuel. Also a new engine has a warranty along with a hefty
price tag.

You may want to investigate Suzuki's line of 4 stroke units. They are
VERY quiet and priced about the same as some other manufacturer's 2
stroke units. The local commercial fisherman and crabbers use them a lot
and the local dealer (Advance Marine) tells me he has seen the 70, 90
and 115 hp engines with over 20,000 hours on them and still running
well. The 90 sips fuel with an eyedropper.

On a recent trip to Silver Glen Springs, I took my cruiser and had 2
other boats running with me. One, a 21' Pro-line CC w/ Merc 115 2 stroke
and the other, a Crest "Superfish" 26' pontoon boat with a Suzuki 90.

At the fuel stop, The Pro-line took on 35 gallons, the pontoon boat 24
gallons. Me, well..My Formula PC gulped down 85 gallons. But the other 2
boats don't have air-conditioning and a hot water shower grin

That is an answer you will have to determine for yourself. Good luck.

Capt. Frank

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~aartworks



djb wrote:

Hello all......I need help, the boat I am going to buy has a 1997 Evinrude
115 h.p., non EFI outboard engine on it.
The boat and engine are lovely and I wanna buy and keep this boat for many
years.
Should I wait t'till I can afford a boat w/ a EFI engine or buy the thing
and pay the little more for the gas that I am going to consume since it's
old-tech engine.
I need help, what are the big difference between EFI and NON-EFI
engines?????
Please help!!
DB