I enjoy OBs. Will I regret switching to sterndrives?

[89retta]

Where did you get it at ?

 

[Joolz]

Seller lives in Fort Mac but we met just north of Edmonton.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Congrats on the new boat!

 

[JimS123]

Looks like a nice boat. You did good. Now just take her out and make a lot of good memories.

 

[jkust]

Congrats on the purchase. Looks like a nice boat. Bet it flies with that engine.

 

[Joolz]

Finally sunny and warm next week. Just now had to stop my long cleanup due to rain - that's turning to snow overnight. 5cm of the white stuff piled up atop the boat's cover by morning. Yep, been that kind of week.

Anyway not long ago I was planning on making a pro & con list of OB vs. sterndrive. For my amusement and a way to help me decide which way to go. In that list I couldn't think of too many cons by going with an OB and funny enough these don't even apply to this boat I just got.

Cons relating to OB that had me concerned:

1- Lack of a swim platform. Not the case here! It does have a swim platform, two actually - beside the motor. Small but plenty good for kids to jump off of.

2- Having to rely on a VRO. I simply do not trust these as any mechanical device could fail, possibly causing catastrophic damage to the engine. This 120HP Mercury Force doesn't have a VRO, instead you add the premix directly to the internal gas tank. I didn't even know this was an option. I see this as a huge bonus.

3- Fairly narrow beam. K, so a wide beam has nothing to do with either drive system, it's mostly a symptom of newer boats. But something that had me worried. My old boat had only a 6' beam. Yes, it was tight in there. Most of the boats I looked at (all OB) had beams of 7'2" all the way to nearly 8'. This Starcraft has a beam of 6-10", which offers plenty of interior room but isn't overly wide, meaning I can still keep my other boat in the same car port, having both trailers angled. Tight but it works, as I have no other place to park the boats.

I am really pleased with this find. And I haven't even hit the water yet.

 

[theBrownskull]

I had to same boat but it had a 4.3 in it. It was a great boat. I could whip the kids on the tube really well. Never had any problems with it. Congrats on the purchase.

 

[Scott Danforth]

2- Having to rely on a VRO. I simply do not trust these as any mechanical device could fail, possibly causing catastrophic damage to the engine. This 120HP Mercury Force doesn't have a VRO, instead you add the premix directly to the internal gas tank. I didn't even know this was an option. I see this as a huge bonus.

your fear on VRO is unfounded. however if you see pre-mix as a bonus, good for you. me, I personally like the variable oiling you get with oil injection as it reduces fouling if you idle for a long time.

 

[roscoe]

That motor will treat you well if you do the preventative maintenance.
All the bugs from older models were gone.

One word of advice.
Don't put too much oil in the gas.
Measure it and stick with 50:1, 2.6 ounces per gallon of gas.

 

[Lou C]

Given the additional complexity brought on by the addition of EFI and cat converters (here required post 2008) will make me choose outboards only. In salt water having to replace cat converter exhaust (have to do it every 5-7 years in the salt) is a major deal breaker as the parts are much more expensive than the non cat exhaust. I'm done with I/Os. The only advantage is the cheaper up front price sometimes and cheaper repower if you have an older one with a carb and no cat exhaust. Other than that, to me there are no advantages of the I/O. Safety, winterizing, routine maintenance are all better on the OB.

 

[Joolz]

That motor will treat you well if you do the preventative maintenance.
All the bugs from older models were gone.

Ahh, good to know the 1997 Force is post the "questionable" era of this design. I nearly walked away from this purchase due to the motor. But seller insisted it has zero issues and runs strong. I plan to run a compression test later today once the rain eases off and it warms up a bit.

What preventative maintenance should I perform on these? The 115HP Johnson that was in the boat I replaced with this one didn't require much, other than replacing the leg oil at the end of the season (as a bit of water would make its way through the seals and thus creating a possible freezing concern). FYI this motor has never seen ethanol, PO always run premium (which is alcohol free). And of course, I plan to keep it that way. For winterizing all he did was remove the nut atop the thermostat and pour a bit of RV antifreeze in it, till it came out the bottom, as simple way to ensure no water was left inside that could freeze and cause issues. Other than this and ensuring the spark plugs are looking good, anything else I should be doing to ensure this guy continues to run like a top?

 

[roscoe]

Well, water pump impeller, gear oil, grease the prop shaft, pretty much covers it.
Maybe a new inline fuel filter.

I like to rebuild the fuel pumps, the diaphragms don't last forever.
They can cause all kinds of symptoms when they fail.
Its cheap ( $25 ) and easy with a Mercury factory kit.

Congrats on the boat.

 

[Joolz]

Did a compression test today, after warming up the engine. Man, that thing sounds good. Said it before, will say it again: the sound of a 2 stroke motor is pure music. Add the smell of premix and right there is reason not to consider a stern drive and miss out on all the fun. Due to impending rain I had to rush things along but managed to ground all the plug wires. What I forgot to do was move the remote to WOT. Not sure if this matters that much. Not looking for precise measurements here, mostly an idea of what the compression is like. So I got these numbers:

Cyl 1 (top) 140 psi
Cyl 2 140
Cyl 3 148
Cyl 4 155

All within 10% which put a big smile on my face. Have to say, it's been just over a week and waited this long to get the test done. What a relief. That motor is gold.

However a question on the spark plugs. The manual says to use Champion L76V. The plugs currently in the engine are Campion UL77V. Anyone knows if these are safe to run or should I look at replacing them? Plugs themselves look good.

Another question about the pisser: is it normal for the motor to take around 20 seconds before water from the garden hose starts squirting off the side at the top? This seems like an awful long time for the motor to run before water starts to circulate. The stream seems healthy enough but is the impeller weak for it to take this long? My old Johnson 115 pissed right away.

 

[Watermann]

Nice to have a healthy motor, keep it that way and do a complete water pump kit replacement on it. I would replace the plugs with the ones called for and personally I would go to NGK over the Champs.

 

[Joolz]

Forgot to mention: clock on the dashboard shows this engine has run 494 hours. Think I read here somewhere that problems due to age usually starts at around 800 hours. That leaves me with some 20 years of free enjoyment :drum:

And yes, I do plan to follow the lubricating guideline from the owners manual. I agree that this is key. And looking at the steering arm, it is due for a lube job.