New member, want to re-motor a 1984 14' Livingston

GWD

Cadet
Joined
Feb 11, 2018
Messages
6
I have a 14' Livingson with a 25HP 1985 Johnson outboard. The motor runs great, starts in one or two pulls, and planes the boat well despite the three batteries used with the trolling motor. The boat runs at about 25 mph (GPS). So why a new motor?

I'm getting up in age and my balance and strength makes it difficult to pull start the motor that has great compression. I am looking for a T&T with electric start. The 2018 Evinrude e-tech 30 HP has caught my eye for $5K. (This is $2K over what the new boat, motor, and trailer was back in 1984.)

And now the problem and where guidance is needed:

The Evinrude dealer says the e-tech won't work well on the Livingston due to the little center keel down the center. He recommended a 25 HP Yamaha. He said:


I installed one last year on a Livingston and it sprayed water up to much. The little center keel coming down in front of the motor was narrower than the motor giving motor bad water flo. We tried everything and could not get it to work. Had to go with YAMAHA and the smaller gearcase.

An Internet search turned up nothing of the sort and photos showed many different motors mounted with no complaints about bad water flow.

What are the experts on here opinions and recommendations?
 

Attachments

  • photo284862.jpg
    photo284862.jpg
    563.7 KB · Views: 1
  • photo284863.jpg
    photo284863.jpg
    560.6 KB · Views: 1
  • photo284864.jpg
    photo284864.jpg
    560.8 KB · Views: 1
Last edited:

Chris1956

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 25, 2004
Messages
27,030
Gee, I would expect the business end of the e-TEC to be very similar to the motor you have now. Unfortunately I have had boat dealers and car dealers say some pretty outrageous things to me, to control the sale.

A car dealer once said" we have to load up the cars with accessories to keep them on the lot". I responded that "i thought you were trying to sell the cars". He replied that "they cannot keep cars on the lot to show people, unless they load them with every accessory".

I also doubt he has direct experience repowering your exact boat. It is not like it is a popular brand like SeaRay.

JMO
 

GWD

Cadet
Joined
Feb 11, 2018
Messages
6
OOPs. Looks like I posted in the wrong forum. I'll leave it for now or until a moderator moves it.

BTW, this dealer was a Livingston dealer and he dropped the line because of the problem with getting a motor to work on the boat. Or so he said.....

He claims the gearcase is the problem. The 25 HP Yamaha has a 3" diameter gearbox. The 25 Johnson on the boat now has a 3 1/4" gearbox. Maybe the whale tail on the e-tec motor would make a difference.
 
Last edited:

JimS123

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Jul 27, 2007
Messages
7,952
That's the strangest hull design I ever saw. Looks like you have a long shaft motor on a short shaft transom.
 

Maclin

Admiral
Joined
May 27, 2007
Messages
6,761
I don't know about dissing the dealer's comments. Seems like they may have very relevant firsthand experience with that hull. Kinda looks like a Catamaran-ish style, where motor height and torpedo size impact the performance more than a single vee style. Your boat already had to address that with placement of the speedo pickups and transducers it appears.
 

GWD

Cadet
Joined
Feb 11, 2018
Messages
6
Jim: Yes, it is a unique hull design to make it extremely stable. They are used as lifeboats on a Puget Sound ferry from what I've heard. But it does call for a 20" shaft. Shorter models have a dip in the transom for short shaft motors.

Maclin: I agree about the relevance of being a Livingston dealer and powering the particular boat. My search was for some confirmation before making a big $5K purchase...especially if it didn't work well. I'm going to email him and see if he tried a whaletail to deal with the "water sprayed up too much" problem.

There is not much advantage for the Yamaha f25 over what I currently have except that it can have electric start - but no T&T in the tiller model. It is 4-stroke and pretty much the same price as the Evinrude E30DTSL with electric start and T&T included.

Since the gearcase is the sticking point, here is a blurb from Evinrude on the E30's gearcase:

Get even more extra miles per hour with the Straight Leading
Edge gearcase . The Evinrude SLE gearcase features high-efficiency water pickups and a
weed-slicing shape up front, for a cooler-running engine and ultimate durability and
reliability in the long run.



Decisions, decisions.

The transducer and speed pick up do require some location decisions. Since I'm selling my current 25HP on Craigslist, I searched and found another Livingston with exactly the same electronics set-up. I must have guessed correctly.
 

NYBo

Admiral
Joined
Oct 23, 2008
Messages
7,107
Sounds to me he's got some Yamahas he wants to move.
 
Top