New Boat

My buddy is going to get a new Tracker Targa with a 115HP Mercury. He has a choice of either the 2 or 4 stroke motor. The 4 stroke is more money but not enough to make a difference. I have been reading the pros and cons between the two motors and am curious as to what others here think. Some of the concerns are the new EPA requirements, fuel efficiency and the cost of two stroke oil.

Love to hear from you on this subject.

Thanks

Re: New Boat

Cost of two stroke oil: Have you considered that four strokes need to have oil and filter changes? and that oil and filter needs to be disposed of.

Fuel Economy: Have you actually looked at fuel consumption for these two motors? You might be surprised to find that a 115 HP motor burns about 10 - 11 gallons of fuel per hour at wide open throttle whether it is a two stroke or four.

Performance: Did youj also check performance data for the two motors. The two stroke will likely eat the four stroke for lunch in both top end and hole shot.

Maintenance: Did you consider that four strokes require periodic valve clearance checks and adjustments and that is not a five minute job.

I'm not promoting either design, but just informing you that it pays to actually analyze this data to make sure the motor that's chosen actually fits what you expect from it.

Re: New Boat

and if you get a brand new motor there are a lot of money not for the motor alone but also for dealer maintaince for the break in period and if you don't get those maintence done every so much hours the warranty if voided. why don't you look at the evinrude etecs

Re: New Boat

Mercury has motor tests on their web site. The 2 stroke is quicker out of the hole and actually gets better MPG......If it was me I would opt for the 2 stroke. The newer two stokes are good.......and have much lower maintenance requirements.

As far as the EPA it is a crap shoot on what will happen.

Re: New Boat

smallboatlover said:

and if you get a brand new motor there are a lot of money not for the motor alone but also for dealer maintaince for the break in period and if you don't get those maintence done every so much hours the warranty if voided. why don't you look at the evinrude etecs

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HOLY COW, ever hear of proof-reading? One period in that whole post, i don't even understand most of the post. Anyways, although the etec is a good motor, Tracker only offers Mercury motors on their boats, it's a contract deal.

Re: New Boat

smallboatlover said:

and if you get a brand new motor there are a lot of money not for the motor alone but also for dealer maintaince for the break in period and if you don't get those maintence done every so much hours the warranty if voided. why don't you look at the evinrude etecs

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1979checkmate said:

HOLY COW, ever hear of proof-reading? One period in that whole post, i don't even understand most of the post. Anyways, although the etec is a good motor, Tracker only offers Mercury motors on their boats, it's a contract deal.

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On behalf of that young man's defense. There are two periods in his post and one is even spelled out!

Re: New Boat

^^^ hahaha i stand corrected!

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can you buy the boat with out the outboard? also stop criticizes my grammar, it's annoying. you don't need periods and commas to under stand what i'm saying period.........

Re: New Boat

smallboatlover said:

and if you get a brand new motor there are a lot of money not for the motor alone but also for dealer maintaince for the break in period and if you don't get those maintence done every so much hours the warranty if voided. why don't you look at the evinrude etecs

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Do you mean more money for "dealer maintenance for the break in period" or for dealer maintenance AND the break in period? The warrantee IF voided? "There are a lot of money." What the heck is a "there are?" Spelling and punctuation are CRUCIAL to get the correct point across. Using grammar like that in the professional world will get you fired, fast.

Finally, i doubt if a company as large as tracker that has a contract with a motor manufacturer will sell a boat without a motor. Mercury may not allow them to. Also, it would be considerably more expensive to buy a boat and outboard separately.

Re: New Boat

1979checkmate said:

Finally, i doubt if a company as large as tracker that has a contract with a motor manufacturer will sell a boat without a motor. Mercury may not allow them to. Also, it would be considerably more expensive to buy a boat and outboard separately.

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That may not be true. Mercury could care less since they are selling motors (in this case). But Tracker might not like one of their boats running around with an E-tec or Yammy. I've bought Alumacrafts with no motor and bought the motor I wanted from another dealer. While it may cost a tad more, it is not significant and you end up with the combination YOU want -- not what the boat manufacturer wants you to have. The problem is that many dealers no longer sell what they call "loose engines". They don't want to get stuck with them at the end of the model year.

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Unless I am wrong Mercurys parent company, can't recall their name, Brunswick maybe, owns Tracker and several other boat companies so all their boats come with Mercs period.

That is actually what killed OMC, they bought a bunch of boat companies to sell more engines but they bought too many to fast and the market crashed shortly after they did it which led to the bankrupcy, they also dropped huge amount of money on buying the FICHT system which of coarse crapped out that and some fairly incompetent management but we won't go there.

Re: New Boat

Buy the four cycle Merc. Part throttle ecomomy will be better, there is no 2 cycle smoke, and those motors run pretty quiet. Also, much better for water quality.

Changing the oil is no big deal. Boat on trailer, pop out drain plug on midection, and let oil drain, just like gearcase. Remove oil fiter and spin a new one on. Refill with some FC-W motor oil. You may have to adjust valves and replace timing belt, but they should be pretty easy on an Outboard, where you can get at everything.

Re: New Boat

Thanks for the replies. I will forward this to him. Personally I would go for the two stroke.

As far as I know these boat packages from Tracker only come with Mercury motors. Do you think the E-tec is superior to the Mercury?
In my experience with older outboards I would much rather work on a Johnny/Rude than a Mercury.

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I don't think there is a single motor by a major manufacturer right now that is a bad motor, they are all just good in their different ways. The Evinrude is a great motor.. but so are the Merc opti's and the 4-strokes. I'm with you on sticking with a 2 stroke as well. In my area, the merc's are the most popular motor on boats. One of the main reasons is that pretty much every shop in my area are mercury specialists, there are some evinrude, yamaha, etc shops; but the overwhelming majority is Mercury.

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As I mentioned above....read the reviews on the Merc web site. Very good testing reviews.

I would not hesitate to own a new Opti-Max ....... very nice motors.

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I was at the boat show in Houston in January. I was talking to one of the dealers and ask about the 2stroke vs 4 stroke. He sold both but recommended the 2 stroke because of the lighter weight.
RW

Re: New Boat

R Willis said:

I was at the boat show in Houston in January. I was talking to one of the dealers and ask about the 2stroke vs 4 stroke. He sold both but recommended the 2 stroke because of the lighter weight.
RW

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About a 26 lb difference

Re: New Boat

I'll throw my 2 cents in here. I went through this exact analysis on the Mercury outboards last year. (200HP) Hole shot on the 2 stroke is much better than the 4. Fuel economy is marginally better at WOT on the 4 stroke, but in the cruising range or where I spend 70-80+ % of my time, the 2 stroke/4 stroke discussion was a wash. The Opti Oil is expensive, but if you've got the $$ to drop on the motor new and run it, that's part of having the toy. Smoke is essentially non-existent or hardly noticeable. 2 stroke is a little louder than the 4 stroke but out on the open water running that Tracker, you can't talk with either on the back.

The winner (as I deemed the fuel economy a wash) was the 2 stroke for several reasons. One was the cost (it was almost $2k less). Two, I reviewed the typical repair costs/parts for the 2 vs 4 stroke and the 2 stroke was on average less expensive (price the cost of the parts of the supercharger on a 4 stroke, which is what they've done to try to equalize the low end 'torque' of a comparable 2 stroke). Lastly, the deciding factor is one of my wife's relatives works at a place that uses Mercury Optimax outboards. Over a dozen engines, 8 years old, running avg of 350 hours per engine/year. All that has been done is routine maintenance and impellers.

Hope that helps.