Evenrude 115 hp

TimMcC · 05 February 2007, 09:55

Hi

Any opinions on the Evenrude 2 strove v4 optical ignition 115 hp (1997 vintage) .
Reliable , economical ect .

Thanks

Tim

BogMonster · 05 February 2007, 10:17

I guess this is the same basic engine as my Johnson FastStrike V4 115 but with a different name on the lid?

If so then I now have about 60 hours with mine since I bought my boat, and apart from it conking out once (which may have been my fault - I restarted it while warm and I MIGHT have pushed the key in and given it choke by accident - it ran briefly then stalled and left me drifting in to a beach, but the aux paid for itself) its been pretty good.

Economical it is not, though I don't have any litres per mile type figures - must try and work that out some day. Up to 20kt it is not too bad but every extra 5kt above that seems to more or less double the rate at which the fuel disappears, its a little better since I fitted a 19" prop to replace the original 17, and now cruises better at about 28-30kt whereas before that it was revving a lot when cruising. 4000rpm now gives me 30kt which is about where I want to be.

Mine doesn't idle well, it doesn't run cleanly till about 2000rpm and if left idling for a few minutes the smoke level will increase and it will sometimes stall, not a problem for coming in to a pontoon but it wouldn't be good if you were sitting for a long time in neutral, watching something as a safety boat for example. When you open it up from the "lumpy idle" condition it takes about 2 seconds to clear before it runs smoothly and then you're off, and once a few revs are on it, it runs perfectly, and apart from being a bit thirsty I'm very pleased with it.

No reliability problems, some people here gave me doom and gloom when I bought it about water pumps etc but the repair kit is still in the garage and apart from a new set of spark plugs, I've done nothing to it - got to change the gear oil some time though!

I don't know if the "characteristics" of mine are typical of the breed and I don't have any experience worth mentioning of any other outboards, just my 2p after the best part of a year of ownership though.

Wish I could say the boat it is bolted to had been as reliable!

TimMcC · 05 February 2007, 11:54

Thanks Stephen

Not mad on this outboard either but quite like the boat its attched to .
Its not easy to get the whole package right .

Regards

Tim

BogMonster · 05 February 2007, 20:34

Just to clarify when I said "here" above I meant Falklands - all the advice on RIBnet has been spot on

jyasaki · 05 February 2007, 23:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by BogMonster

If so then I now have about 60 hours with mine since I bought my boat, and apart from it conking out once (which may have been my fault - I restarted it while warm and I MIGHT have pushed the key in and given it choke by accident - it ran briefly then stalled and left me drifting in to a beach, but the aux paid for itself) its been pretty good.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't pushing the key in give it choke only if the motor is cold? I believe there is some sort of heat-activated choke turner-offer thing, so hitting the key while warm should have no effect?

That's the way I've always thought it worked, anyway.

jky

BogMonster · 06 February 2007, 10:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyasaki

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't pushing the key in give it choke only if the motor is cold? I believe there is some sort of heat-activated choke turner-offer thing, so hitting the key while warm should have no effect?

That's the way I've always thought it worked, anyway.

jky

I don't know - you might be right. I just thought it may have flooded because it normally starts instantly when hot, it did, and then stopped again and would not start for anything, hence the sudden urgent requirement for the aux! After about 5 min it was ok again and once restarted was fine.

I also don't know how quickly outboards cool off, it had been sitting for about 10 min while I put the trailer in the water when I restarted it.

None of this would have been interesting had I not cast off the lines before I started the engine because "I knew it would start", an error I will not be repeating in a hurry

Chris · 06 February 2007, 12:31

I have a Johnson 90HP V4 1996, which I think may be very similar, that I have just bought, I took the boat out last w/e with Rogue Wave and he was very impressed with the engine, it performed really well and I have had a lot of people tell me that although a little thirsty these are a really good engine. I noticed no lumpiness at idle and the pickup was very clean, it is on the back of a 5.25 metre Osprey and seem to perform really well.

I have done quite a lot of work on the engine myself including replacing some bits on the ignition such as the optical sensor and have been very impressed with the availability of parts and the ease of working on the engine.

Chris

TimMcC · 06 February 2007, 13:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris1573

I have a Johnson 90HP V4 1996, which I think may be very similar, that I have just bought, I took the boat out last w/e with Rogue Wave and he was very impressed with the engine, it performed really well and I have had a lot of people tell me that although a little thirsty these are a really good engine. I noticed no lumpiness at idle and the pickup was very clean, it is on the back of a 5.25 metre Osprey and seem to perform really well.

I have done quite a lot of work on the engine myself including replacing some bits on the ignition such as the optical sensor and have been very impressed with the availability of parts and the ease of working on the engine.

Chris

Hi Chris

Saw one on the back of a 585 but reckoned that it could be thirsty alright .
I live near an Evenrude dealer so the option of trading up to an E-Tec is there down the road if it didn't work out but don't want to down that road for a while

.

Thanks Tim

Chris · 06 February 2007, 14:49

Tim,

If like me you fancy yourself as a bit handy with a spanner then the benefit of a slightly older engine is that there is a lot you can do yourself without having to have a Laptop with all the necessary Evinrude Software on and a degree in engineering to boot.

Ultimately if its a good engine like mine is and has relatively low hours you have to weigh up how much fuel you can buy for the £6500 the new engine will cost you. For me that much fuel represents 135 tanks of fuel or 406 hours of use (at 20 litres and hour). This is at least a couple of years of boating for me.

However having said all that if I could afford to buy one I am pretty sure I would ;-)

jyasaki · 06 February 2007, 17:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by BogMonster

I also don't know how quickly outboards cool off, it had been sitting for about 10 min while I put the trailer in the water when I restarted it.

Well, I used to run a Honda 40 4-stroke on my little boat. In the morning after towing to Monterey, it would run like crap 'til it warmed up (usually a couple of minutes - fired up while choked, and almost immediate choke off, and wait 'til it would run at idle, instead of partial throttle.)

After diving (usually a span of about an hour) or after getting lunch at the dock (usually an hour and a half to a couple/few hours), it would fire up and idle fine with no application of the choke. Overnight was a different story, though. Three or four hours seemed to be the magic number.

My current Yam 115 seems to be about the same, but it's got the same push-key-to-choke, so maybe I just don't see exactly what's going on.

jky

jky

603doug · 06 February 2007, 20:31

I have a v4 115 1995 on my rib, starts alittle hard in the cold (40 f) but once warmed up it is great. New plugs went from 37mph to 40.