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Ideal outboard

arko

New member
Hi. I have a Plancraft Sabre MK3 built around 1985/86. It came with a Mariner 2 stroke 75hp outboard. I have been reading that this beauty guzzles a load of fuel. I would ideally like to race around the bay at throttle for more than 10 minutes and also like to slow-boat at times. Ideally the boat should be on the water for around 2 hours at a time. What would be the best recommended size motor for this situation? Attached are pics of my boat.

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What is the length and weight of that boat?if you are not under powered and the motor is in top shape then you can expect to use about 7.5 gallons an hour at wot..you will get more than that by backing off to the 4k rpm range..of you are satisfied with the performance then any up grade will probable cost you more than its worth...the rule of thumb is you will use a gallon of gas per hour for every 10 hp at wot...thats on any outboard that in good shape and matches the boat with a normal load....
if you talk to a dealer and he starts telling you how good a 4 stroke is on mileage just walk away...he is lying..
 
The rule of thumb I have always heard and abide by is that you get an engine that closely matches the maximum rated horsepower of the boat. You can find that on the manufacturer's plate, typically attached inside the gunnel.

Papyson and I have very different opinions on 2-stroke vs. 4-stroke outboards. My experience is that the fuel-injected 4-strokes give substantially better mileage (with the exception of the Evinrude ETec, which also gets great efficiency.) The 2-strokes are typically easier to maintain and are a bit more forgiving of lax maintenance, but they tend to be louder, smelly, and are dependent on a fuel/oil mixture. A a well-maintained four-stroke will give many, many hours of efficient, quiet, reliable service. I have 1600 hours on my Honda BF 225, and it still runs as good as new.
 
no problem on difference of opinions CHawk....live and learn is my motto on that...i fish a couple spots that in the spring and fall that i run to every day...there and back..there and back...no movement either place once i get to the location except with trolling motor....i went from a evinrude 90hp 2 stroke to 60 hp merc bigfoot efi in 2011...at wot the 60 uses more gas than the 90 did...backing off to 4k rpm of course makes a big difference in the 60...on the 90 i always run about 4500 except for the last mile or so to check performance on the day i was pulling it out...there are two things that may hurt my gas usage on the 60...its a bigfoot which drops mileage some...the other is the boat is rated for a 100 hp..stepping down did hurt my top end speed but i knew that when i bought the 60...speed is not that important to me...i just want enough power to be able to handle rough water if i run into it..all my boats have been and are well maintained....the grass and honey do's come 2nd to that...just ask my wife..btw..i am very satisfied with the 4 stroke..
 
Papyson - Yep, you are correct about the 4-strokes eating fuel at WOT. I'm pushing a 6000 boat around with a Honda BF 225. At WOT she eats right around 20 GPH. But when I back down to 4800, it's 10 GPH, and at 4400 (good cruising speed) it's 8.3 GPH.
 
That Honda 225 has been great once they corrected a manufacturing error in the block at 150 hours. I'm running it on a 1991 C-Hawk 25 DLX which is almost a duplicate of the Parker 2520 with modified V hull. If the fuel tank is more than half empty she hits 40 mph at WOT, at 4400 rpm she makes 28 MPH. I'm religious about the maintenance. Hope to get at least 3000 hours from the engine.
 
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