? about buying a boat with a carb instead of fuel injection.

[vetplus40]

Greetings. I have located a very nice 2011 21 foot Bryant with a 4.3 Merc that has a carb instead of being fuel injected. To be honest, I was surprised to see a non fuel injected motor on a 2011 boat. I assumed that by 201 everything was fuel injected.The seller says that the boat runs fine, but also said that a couple of interested buyers "bailed" when they learned the motor was not fuel injected.
Outside of a little loss in horsepower over a fuel injected motor, and possibly temperamental,would this carb be a "non starter" for you folks? I have never owned a non fuel injected marine engine before, so I wanted to get some input. I am reasonably mechanical, so carb cleaning and such isn't a big deal to me. Thanks

 

[joeanna]

I love carb engines, I'm a tinkerer besides. A good thing is sometimes you can keep the engine running enough to get home with just a paper clip, (wired my throttle plates open due to broken shaft...) in a fuel injected system you most likely need a computer wizard to fix it.....just my 2 cents though.

 

[Alumarine]

It would not be a problem for me at all.
Carb's have worked fine for many years.

 

[jbuote]

Yup...
Still a newbie really, but a carb engine is NOT a "Non Starter" in my mind.
Heck, I find them easier to work on. No computer to worry about, which is $$$ if it fries.. LOL

There may be other things to consider about the engine, I don't really know. I've only had outboards so far, but having a carb vs injection wouldn't be a deal breaker for me anyway..

$0.02

 

[Maclin]

Carbs are ok, and a plus in some areas. In my mind, even though I ended up with fuel injected, it was the other way around for me. I tended to "bail" on the fuel injected ones over carbed ones when looking the last time.

A 21 footer with a 4.3 may be underpowered though, Bryants are heavy. Be sure to test drive it.

 

[tpenfield]

Fuel injected engine run great until they don't. then there is all mighty hell to pay.

EFI (TBI) I would consider to be a poor mans' fuel injection and not all that much better than a carburetor engine. MPI would be what is really preferred.

I think a 4.3 engine is fine with a carb. . . go for it

 

[Scott Danforth]

Carbs actually make more power than EFI on non variable camshaft motors. I prefer a carb on a boat over EFI.

 

[vetplus40]

Thanks for the input. The 4.3 engine size does worry me a little with Bryants because of the weight, but a test drive should answer that question. That said, that size motor seems to be very common in Bryants 21 feet or less.

 

[SkiGuy1980]

Outside of a little loss in horsepower over a fuel injected motor, and possibly temperamental,would this carb be a "non starter" for you folks? I have never owned a non fuel injected marine engine before, so I wanted to get some input. I am reasonably mechanical, so carb cleaning and such isn't a big deal to me. Thanks

If you know how to keep the carb in tune and can make it reliable for you, I'd say no problem. Going to Fuel Injected was my primary reason for starting my latest boat search. My carburated 4.3 was finnicky... difficult to start cold... and a bigger problem later when you'd try to restart after a brief stop. I am not a mechanic, but I had it worked on several times and the problems were the same over all the years I owned the boat. I will mention that mine was a great deal older than the one you are looking at.. so you may not have any of those issues.

 

[MTboatguy]

An engine with a carb would be no problem for me, I grew in the 60's and 70's and can rebuild most of them in my sleep and tune them by ear, there is nothing to be afraid of by a carb over FI. I actually like a fully manual engine over a computer controlled engine that way I can tune to the conditions I will be doing most of my running in. Now that said, if you want a fuel injection system after you run it for a while, they are available as an aftermarket upgrade or you can find a bad engine with the factory system on it and swap it out. But I would not shy away because it has a carb if the rest of the boat is in good shape.

 

[jimmbo]

Carb engines are a heck of a lot easier to troubleshoot than EFI. plus in a lot of cases it is easy to hop up a carbed engine with a bigger carb, intakes, camshaft, and timing curve changes than trying to get more power out of an EFI engine.
As mentioned earlier, when the EFI works it's nice. I guess the nicest thing is instant start, beats shifting to neutral setting the choke and counting to 5 while cranking. But... when dies a royal pain to troubleshoot. No different than an EFI auto, piles of parts get changed unnecessarily because the techs really are clueless about how it really works, so wholesale parts changing happens and hopefully one of the parts changed was bad

 

[JoLin]

I've had both, like both. I'm on the fifth season with my current boat and the carbs have worked flawlessly. Neither would make me hesitate.

My .02

 

[Sea Rider]

For me carbs all the way, if counting with a EFI engine would need to coiunt with a PC running a costly installed software, attend a tech course to know how to use it to diagnose engine properly or put myself in the hands of some wise mechanic who wants to bleed me with the bulging account that will charge.

I die of laughter every time I see an Etec tech scan the notor of a member of my boating club and the face of amazement and transformation that he puts when the scan is showing many defective and expensive parts that will need to be changed along with the high bill. That scenario won't happen with carbs..

To take the max out of your engine, just prop it right to rev middle to max wot rpm range factory stated for your given load and will run safe and happy.

Happy Boating

 

[ahicks]

If you know how to keep the carb in tune and can make it reliable for you, I'd say no problem. Going to Fuel Injected was my primary reason for starting my latest boat search. My carburated 4.3 was finnicky... difficult to start cold... and a bigger problem later when you'd try to restart after a brief stop. I am not a mechanic, but I had it worked on several times and the problems were the same over all the years I owned the boat. I will mention that mine was a great deal older than the one you are looking at.. so you may not have any of those issues.

I think that might be the number one reason fuelies are as popular as they are. The wives can start them, or start them easier, with less fuss.

After that, the more work you do yourself, the better you like carbs.

And I like the comment that "fuelies work great - until they don't". That pretty much sums up my own viewpoint.

 

[briangcc]

I'll be a dissenting voice...it'd be a non-starter for me. I'd be walking/running away. Boating season is short and I like the luxury of being able to hop into my boat, turn the key, and it starts - no muss/no fuss. No messing with throttle position to get it started or keep it running. Extra horsepower to boot.

I grew up in the 70's so I remember carb'd cars very well. Mom had to stuff a snow brush down the carb of our family station wagon on cold winter mornings to get the car to start. I rebuilt the Quadrajet in my 78 Trans Am so I'm no stranger to working on them and this car is every bit temperamental to the point where I am ready to drop $2k to convert to EFI.

 

[H20Rat]

Carb engines are a heck of a lot easier to troubleshoot than EFI. plus in a lot of cases it is easy to hop up a carbed engine with a bigger carb, intakes, camshaft, and timing curve changes than trying to get more power out of an EFI engine.

Just depends on your experience and background... I can change the timing, fuel & boost in my car in seconds, on the fly. Pretty sure I can't do that with any carbed engine. I can flip between an e85 tune and 91 octane tune in seconds. Not going to happen with a carb. (and e85 produces A LOT of horsepower on a turbo engine that is tuned for it)

(disclaimer, the boating world has a long ways to go for ECU tuning compared to what can be done in the automotive realm, but it is coming)


OP: don't let the carb scare you away. Even with what I said above, I've only owned one fuel injected engine (new 4 stroke merc outboard) The rest were carbs, and they have been bulletproof.


This is my 'screwdriver'. Its actually a simple and highly accurate way to change almost anything in the engine.

 

[Lou C]

I prefer carbs. I don’t think EFI is as reliable in boats as it is in cars and then when the boat gets older like 10-15 years certain EFI parts magically become NLA, rendering the owner SOL....

 

[roffey]

My motor is carbureted and its a 2014, TKS. Just turn the key and it starts every time even after winter hibernation.

 

[Leardriver]

FI only. I live at altitude, and FI meters fuel better, starts, run, purrs. I don't care what it costs. I have never had a FI system malfunction, though.

 

[Scott06]

Don't let the carb scare you. For me because I hate having stuff fixed by others carb is only way to go. Sure I'll have to clean and rebuild it probably 2 times over the life of the boat, but I can do that and enjoy it. Nothing worse than missing a month of the short season while you're waiting fir your mechanic to get to it.