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07-10-2020, 01:44 PM
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#1
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Guru
City: Inside Passage Summer/Columbia River Winter
Vessel Name: Alaskan Sea-Duction
Vessel Model: 1988 M/Y Camargue YachtFisher
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 8,046
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Sad Day The End of an Era
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07-10-2020, 02:17 PM
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#2
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Guru
City: Los Angeles
Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 1,487
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My very first paid job was as a helper to an Evinrude dealer along the Fox River in IL.
He knew the motors inside and out and I spent hours by his side soaking it all up.
(I should have been paying him the $1.25 an hour I made!)
We knew for a fact that Evinrudes were the best outboards ever made in those days.
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07-12-2020, 09:51 AM
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#3
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Guru
City: San Diego
Vessel Name: North Star
Vessel Model: Lindell 36
Join Date: Jun 2020
Posts: 523
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I don' think OMC ever fully recovered from the Fitch injection failure years.
Really too bad since I think Johnson/Evinrude 2-stroke engines from the 70's thru 90's were some of the best engines made. We used them in a rental fleet and they were very reliable, especially the 6, 15 and 25hp models. A look on Craigslist will show these motors still available and going strong even from the 70's. You don't see many Merc engines still around from that era.
I'm actively looking to replace my Yamaha 4-stroke 2.5hp with a Johnson 8hp 2-stroke. The constant carb issues with modern 4-strokes is simply a pain and you can't beat the power to weight ratio of those older 2-strokes.
Hopefully they continue to keep the parts for these older engines available.
__________________
North Star
Lindell 36, Twin 370hp Cummins
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07-12-2020, 11:10 AM
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#4
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Guru
City: Oconto, WI
Vessel Name: Best Alternative
Vessel Model: 36 Albin Aft Cabin
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 3,145
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I really think that the Evinrude group made an error in not embracing the four stroke concept, instead going the e-tech route with two strokes.
pete
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07-12-2020, 04:50 PM
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#5
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Guru
City: La Conner Wa.
Vessel Name: Sea Fever
Vessel Model: Defever 49 RPH
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 877
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lwarden
I don' think OMC ever fully recovered from the Fitch injection failure years.
Really too bad since I think Johnson/Evinrude 2-stroke engines from the 70's thru 90's were some of the best engines made. We used them in a rental fleet and they were very reliable, especially the 6, 15 and 25hp models. A look on Craigslist will show these motors still available and going strong even from the 70's. You don't see many Merc engines still around from that era.
I'm actively looking to replace my Yamaha 4-stroke 2.5hp with a Johnson 8hp 2-stroke. The constant carb issues with modern 4-strokes is simply a pain and you can't beat the power to weight ratio of those older 2-strokes.
Hopefully they continue to keep the parts for these older engines available.
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You can get a Suzuki 9 hp. four stroke with fuel injection. I have one and a 60 hp also.
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07-12-2020, 05:29 PM
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#6
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Guru
City: Cape May, NJ
Vessel Name: Irish Lady
Vessel Model: Monk 36
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,947
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My current dinghy engine is a 1973 6 hp fishermen. Starts cold 2nd pull. Warm 1st half pull. It is much smoother than the single cylinder 4s. I have bought and sold two tohatsu 5 hp four stroke engines. I have a 3rd one as a backup in my shed now for 3 years. It buzzes my arm numb and the low speed jet clogs every 20 hrs or so.
__________________
Archie
Irish Lady
1984 Monk 36 Hull #46
Currently in Cape May, NJ
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07-12-2020, 06:19 PM
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#7
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Guru
City: Fort Lauderdale. Florida, USA
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 21,449
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Don't know who it's saddest for, the owners seeking warranty service and other help, or the dealers sitting with inventories of motors they'll have to sell at drastically reduced prices and left without a line of outboards to carry. Many dealers had been more loyal than deserved and worked hard to be successful with Evinrude, then got the rug pulled out with no warning.
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07-12-2020, 06:39 PM
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#8
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Scraping Paint
City: Coral Gables
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 66
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BandB
Don't know who it's saddest for, the owners seeking warranty service and other help, or the dealers sitting with inventories of motors they'll have to sell at drastically reduced prices and left without a line of outboards to carry. Many dealers had been more loyal than deserved and worked hard to be successful with Evinrude, then got the rug pulled out with no warning.
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That’s what big Corporations do. Look what Brunswick did to all their Bayliner Dealers when Meridian came out. They had just signed up (you had to buy inventory up front)a dealer in St.Petersburg right before they pulled the rug out from under them, then they gave the Meridians to the Sea Ray dealers, sometimes right across the street.
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07-12-2020, 09:26 PM
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#9
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Guru
City: Gig Harbor
Vessel Name: Sandpiper
Vessel Model: Bluewater 40 Pilothouse Trawler
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 2,315
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Sad day indeed! I remember the Evinrude engines of the 60's to 90's.
Had an air cooled Evinrude 1 or 2 hp outboard on a 14' aluminum row boat and my wife and I took it across Puget Sound from Maury Island Island to Redondo, WA, down to Browns Point and back across to Vashon Island when we were in our 20's. No VHF, cell phone, flares. What were we thinking? Later a 3 hp water cooled Evinrude on a Star and Lightning sailboats.
We had an 110 hp, oil injected, power trim/tilt Evinrude outboard and a 6 hp Evinrude Saildrive trolling motor on my 17 foot Glasply fish boat when we were in our 30's. I chased salmon from Point Defiance to Seiku and Neah Bay, plus Westport and Illwaco on the Pacific. Tuna fishing for tuna out in the Pacific. That Evinrude took us up the Columbia/Snake river from Astoria to Lewiston Idaho and back, Wenatchee to Steheiken on Lake Chelan, Lake Roosevelt, Banks Lake.
When we got into big boat boating, we had an Evinrude 8 hp pull start outboard on a Livingston 9 foot tender carried on the back of our Mainship 34 for 15 years and on Sandpipers boat deck for about 10 years. That outboard weighed like 70 pounds and stowed in the lazarette of both boats. I could trouble shoot and repair the simple 2 stroke outboard and kept it running for 25 years.
Great memories.
Really sad to see another historic American manufacturer whose founder invented the outboard go dark.
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07-12-2020, 10:01 PM
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#10
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Guru
City: Concrete Washington State
Vessel Name: Willy
Vessel Model: Willard Nomad 30'
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 18,738
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I presently have;
2hp Yamaha single cyl two stroke .. 28lbs
4Hp Evinrude Twin (Like the 3 and 3 1/2 hp) w the angled down prop shaft “angle-matic drive” .. 33 lbs
6hp Johnson two stroke twin .. 60lbs
8hp Yamaha two stroke twin about 60lbs.
First gen Susuki 60hp four stroke 4 cyl. .. heavy.
As for hairy old two stroke stuff the natives usta run in to False Pass on Unimak Is. .. 20 miles of open ocean (Pacific). Usually for a bottle.15 to 18’ plywood flat bottomed skiff.Never heard of anybody in distress out there. I would have heard about it soon as I was the radioman. KWF27 False Pass. Still remember the call.
High Wire what brand is your “6hp fisherman”. I have a Johnson 6hp but I have no knowledge of it’s being called a “fisherman”.
__________________
Eric
North Western Washington State USA
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07-12-2020, 10:44 PM
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#11
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Guru
City: San Diego
Vessel Name: North Star
Vessel Model: Lindell 36
Join Date: Jun 2020
Posts: 523
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Russell Clifton
You can get a Suzuki 9 hp. four stroke with fuel injection. I have one and a 60 hp also.
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Yes, I know, but what does it weigh? Do you think it will still be running in 30 years?
__________________
North Star
Lindell 36, Twin 370hp Cummins
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07-13-2020, 11:37 AM
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#12
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Guru
City: Inside Passage Summer/Columbia River Winter
Vessel Name: Alaskan Sea-Duction
Vessel Model: 1988 M/Y Camargue YachtFisher
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 8,046
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete Meisinger
I really think that the Evinrude group made an error in not embracing the four stroke concept, instead going the e-tech route with two strokes.
pete
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The newer 2-strokes actually produced less pollutants than some 4-strokes. The 2-strokes were lighter, faster out of the hole and were great jet boat engines when a pump was installed. Just sold my riverboat with a Evinrude 250hp with a jet pump. Good skinny water boat.
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07-13-2020, 12:38 PM
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#13
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Guru
City: Jacksonville Beach, FL
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 1,248
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Some of my flats fishing friends, including professional guides, prefer the E-Tech over four-strokes on account of the favorable power-to weight ratio. Inspired by their loyalty, last year before re-powering my own flats boat, I shopped the E-Tech line and had such a hard time connecting with a dealer that I gave up and stuck with four-stroke technology.
It is sad to see another American legacy manufacturer close up shop, but I guess the market has spoken.
__________________
"Less judgment than wit is more sail than ballast. Yet it must be confessed that wit give an edge to sense, and recommends it extremely." ~ William Penn
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07-13-2020, 01:21 PM
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#14
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Guru
City: Southport, FL near Panama City
Vessel Name: FROLIC
Vessel Model: Mainship 30 Pilot II since 2015. GB-42 1986-2015. Former Unlimited Tonnage Master
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 4,977
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lwarden
I'm actively looking to replace my Yamaha 4-stroke 2.5hp with a Johnson 8hp 2-stroke. The constant carb issues with modern 4-strokes is simply a pain and you can't beat the power to weight ratio of those older 2-strokes.
Hopefully they continue to keep the parts for these older engines available.
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I get the weight issue in 2-cycle versus 4, but I have had carb issues with my two-stroke. What's the issue with four-stroke carbs you cite? Just curious.
__________________
Rich Gano
FROLIC (2005 MainShip 30 Pilot II)
Panama City area
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07-13-2020, 01:35 PM
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#15
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Guru
City: Birch bay wa
Vessel Name: Rogue
Vessel Model: North Pacific 42
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 648
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Carb problems on most outboards 2 or 4 strokes, almost always is related to crap or water in gas. Newer 4 strokes have such small primary jets, it does not take much to clog them. Water collecting in float bowels will start to rust from inside and create same problem. Drain them when they are out of service and filter the gas going to them and they normally give great service.
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07-13-2020, 04:14 PM
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#16
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Guru
City: Cape May, NJ
Vessel Name: Irish Lady
Vessel Model: Monk 36
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,947
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nomad Willy
High Wire what brand is your “6hp fisherman”. I have a Johnson 6hp but I have no knowledge of it’s being called a “fisherman”.
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Evinrude. Same engine, different paint job.
__________________
Archie
Irish Lady
1984 Monk 36 Hull #46
Currently in Cape May, NJ
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07-13-2020, 05:30 PM
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#17
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Guru
City: Oconto, WI
Vessel Name: Best Alternative
Vessel Model: 36 Albin Aft Cabin
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 3,145
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I agree that some two strokes are as good as better than some four strokes, but..
Four strokes are all the rage right now.
pete
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07-13-2020, 05:55 PM
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#18
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Guru
City: Guelph
Vessel Name: Escapade
Vessel Model: 50` US Navy Utility trawler conversion
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 2,432
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I grew up with OMC outboards, with a few Chryslers thrown in for comparison. Made the OMCs look good :-)
I remember when I was about 12 doing donuts in my buddy's tinny with a 3 hp. No gears, just start and go. It fell off the transom at WOT and I watched it do a couple of quick spirals as it sank before it sucked water. We fished it back out and carried on :-)
Is there a big OMC museum in Waukegan? I went through the collection at Clayton NY and it brought back lots of memories. Well worth a visit if you like old outboards and boats.
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07-13-2020, 11:22 PM
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#19
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Guru
City: Port Townsend Washington
Vessel Name: " OTTER "
Vessel Model: Ocean Alexander Europa 40
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 2,378
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For a small dinghy motor(-30hp) there is no way you could give me a new 4 stroke.. I have seen too many issues from the 4 strokes that are not field repairable. One of the Nordhavn's I delivered a few years back had a 40hp new 4 stroke that was plagued with problems. I worked on that damn motor from California all the way to the BVI, when the boat got to Florida the owner got rid of it and bought a legacy 2 stroke. I get that some hate the smell of a 2 stroke.. if it is smoky your not going fast enough.
HOLLYWOOD
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07-13-2020, 11:25 PM
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#20
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Guru
City: Sydney
Vessel Name: Sojourn
Vessel Model: Integrity 386
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 13,293
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Is there any USA located outboard manufacturer now?
__________________
BruceK
2005 Integrity 386 "Sojourn"
Sydney Australia
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