Re: Why go with an I/O?
It looks like this thread mainly leans towards I/O's but my 2cents worth is I have had 4 boats, all I/Os and everytime I break down I swear I will never own another I/O. I 100% agree with the poster's that said women hate OBs, every time I was ready to buy a boat, I was with a woman that said OBs were ugly, and where are they supposed to tan, etc etc. This time I am buying for myself. I have never owned an OB, and maybe in a few more years I'll be cussing OBs and going back to I/O's, but below are the problems I have run into:
1) Whatever you do, never forget to take the drain cap out once you have your boat on the trailer. In my 8yrs of boating I forgot once on two different boats. You might as well replace the starter, and trim electronics the same day, because they will fail within a few months. What happens is the boat fills with water when it rains and the starter and trim motor go underwater; ruins them every time. OBs do not have this problem since the entire engine is out of the boat.
2) I/O's make really poor shallow water fishing boats. I can never get into the flats to catch bait fish with my I/O. This makes sense since it is not a fishing boat, so its my own fault for using it for something it wasn't meant for. OBs can be purchased with jack plates which let you float in almost anything (depending on the size of the boat of course).
3) The one thing I love about my I/O is that I can get all of the engine parts from any car store, pay half the price of their marine equivalents, and use their lifetime warranty to keep replacing them as they break. Good luck doing that with an OB.
4) The gas tank size seems to suck for an I/O vs an OB. Once again, I want to go offshore fishing but only have a 50 gal tank, equivalent OBs seem to have 150 gal tanks.
5) I/O's are very inefficient at power transfer. due to the drivetrain having to handle two 90 degree bends, you get much higher drivetrain losses out of an I/O than a OB. So a 260HP rated I/O will probably put out less than 170HP at the prop vs a 260HP OB which is probably closer to 210HP at the prop; this also explains why OBs with less HP are usually faster than I/O's with more HP.
6) You will get what initially appears to be a lot more boat and a lot more engine with an I/O but you learn over time you get what you pay for. You aren't actually getting a lot more engine see problem number 5 above. And you also aren't actually getting a lot more boat; most I/Os are mated to boats that are meant to look good not last long. I've had windshields come lose, handles break off, cuddy's come lose, and everything else you can imagine when hitting the waves in an I/O powered boat. Sure I got more feet for my $$, but who cares about footage and how many cushions your boat has, if the boat breaks apart on the way back? Give me a few less feet, a few less cushions, an OB mated to a quality boat maker and I'll head out 50 miles offshore to catch that big grouper.
7) I don't know about maintenance for an OB yet, but for an I/O in saltwater you have to change the risers and elbows every 2yrs / 100hrs. That's a $2K job if you let a mechanic do it. I tried going just 40hrs too long, and the boat overheated, broke down, and had to be towed in. And I flush my boat religiously after running it, still did not matter.
Conclusion: I boat in FL saltwater and trailer my boat so its out of the water when I'm not using it. My main focus (from now on) will be fishing. Based on my own personal yrs of observation down here in FL, I've concluded that for here in FL OBs are better for fishing, they are all that people here use when their lives and jobs depend on it (USCG small boats are all OB, so are all the cops boats, and so are all the TowBoatUS boats, not one that I've seen has an I/O), but I/Os are all you see along the beaches when impressing the ladies is more important.
