Outboard total cost of ownership for information and comparison

[Hugh Jardon]

Outboard Engine Total Cost of ownership

I was thinking it would be helpful if folks posted some of their data on their engines, performance, economy, faults, servicing costs, oil consumption etc, This might help folks make a judgement on which engine to go for, or at least have some data to help their decision.

I purchased my opti 200 new in December 05.

Servicing
It had a 20 hour service, leg oil was changed, prop greased etc and this cost £ 122.90 inc parts, oil vat etc

It has just had a 100 hour service, spark plugs were like new, impellor was like new, fuel filter was changed, oils etc etc, cost of this service was £208 inc parts oil vat etc

On the servicing it is a piece of mind to have the engine checked over once a year and leg oil changed out. Apparently impellors should be good for 300 hours and sparks for 200 plus hours

Warranty claims
I have claimed against one item, this was a solenoid where from new the threads were a bit grollied by mercury when the engine was assembled, it has not been an issue and the part was replaced at 100 hours under warranty

Everyone said to me that you can not get better than mercury/barrus for warranty support when I was looking for a new engine

Engine performance
The engine has always performed perfectly, never missed a beat, never even given a twitch of anything. It has always started easily and first time, I use two 120ah batteries and use only one for starting and they are only charged by the boat, boat top speed is around 47-50 knots depending on conditions. It has never shown any alarms except when it was new there was a little air in the engine oil tank, lifted the lid so it bled then all fixed(was down to the guy who pdi’d it goofing up). Apparently the 200 opti actually puts out 217hp, but have only got this from one source.

Acceleration
I think that optis are up there with the best when it comes to acceleration for their hp rating, no complaints.

Props
Solas titan 21p
Quicksilver lazer 2 23p
Would like to try a mirage plus

Fuel consumption
I reckon on averaging around 1litre per mile as my overall average on trips out, smartcraft is showing an average of 4.4 miles per us gallon, when i fill up it seems to match this figure

Oil consumption
To be honest I am not sure as I have not measured this, but will try to going forwards, for some reason I think I may have used 5-6 gallons in 85 hours but not sure at all.

Noise levels
Optis are not the quietest engines out there but I love the noise, I had a dead quiet engine for years so having a nice v6 2 stroke is great, they have a sort of presence and many folks comment on the great noise they make. If travelling at 8 knots the noise of a 4 stroke might be nicer for long times but at cruise I find the wind noise the issue and at standstill I turn it off anyway. My advice is to go out for a spin in boats with optis and see if the noise is for you, that is want I did on a few occasions and I fell in love with em. If you want a quiet engine for trolling up the river thames then don’t get an opti Merc.

Smoke
I never notice any form of smoke from the engine, on startup once or twice a year ago during the run in period I have noticed a little bit, but it was gone in a flash, otherwise not noticed or smelt anything.

Would I buy again
Yes without a shadow of a doubt

Would I recommend
Yes but make sure the noise levels are for you.

I hope that has been helpful and happy to answer any questions etc, just pm me

[matt h]

Thanks for all the info,. just bought a new Opti 115 ,and cant wait to hear it, !!

[Roy Smith]

Well here go,s
Yamaha 250 F/Stroke
Service costs so far 10 hour F.O.C as we used our boat to prop test
50 hour £275 inc
100 hour £300 inc
Fuel. heavy use approx 1.5 to 2 lt a mile
light use approx 1 to 1.25
To date never missed a beat. so silent you have to be careful not to try and start it as its already running
we are using a 23" 14 1/4 inch Yamaha pro plus S/S
top speed 3 up showing just under half tank fuel 49 knts
full tank of fuel 380 lts 4 up W.O.T 45 knts
Never had a warranty claim
the people at either BHG or Lansdown marine have both given fantastic service
Would i buy another Yes but i would like to try some thing different
as Yamaha are premium priced you could almost buy 2 Etecs for the same price

[DJL]

Yamaha F150 - Purchased April 2006

Servicing

All services have been carried out by BHG on site at Cobbs Quay Marina in Poole - hence, due to travel, service prices are higher than normal .

20hrs - May 2006 - £196 (Gear Lube)
100hrs - Sept 2006 - £431 (Oil, Anode, Fuel Filter, gear and engine oil)
200hrs - Jun 2007 - £402.32 (normal bits + water pump housing)

Warranty claims
9 months warranty left - no claims yet - was going to push for the water pump to be replaced under warranty at the 200hrs service as it showed signes of overheating, but it was only £17.

Engine performance
Very subjective. Never had any problems with the engine - 100% reliable so far. Performance wise I'm very happy - top speed (2 up - 180ltr fuel) = 45kts / (4 up - 180ltr fuel) = 35kts

Acceleration is good - loads of power available when you need it in rough seas.

Fuel consumption
Average - 1.12nm per ltr

Oil consumption
None its a fourstroke!

Noise levels
Very quite - I constantly have to stop students from trying to start it when its running.

Would I buy again/Would I recommend
Sure would and have done.

[codprawn]

Suzuki DT225 efi twin spark.

Cost of purchase - approx £6,000 NEW!!! Thats about 1/2 price - instant £6,000 saving.........

Initial setup - £200

1 Service so far £100.

Oil used - don't really notice the costs as it uses very little and it costs £2.20 per litre - bought a drum of the stuff - will last years!!!

Fuel consumption - about 4mpg or just over 1L per mile - not bad for an old 2 stroke....

Engine is awesome - weighs only 225kgs. Very noisy and lumpy at idle - sounds lovely but can be tiring. On the move you barely hear the engine though. Acceleration is out of this world!!!

[9D280]

Johnsorude 25 - 1972 vintage. (Project engine - leg changes from Johns to Ev colours halfway down!)

Purchase price - £50. Repalcement geartrain from Scrap engine - £25 + new Fuel pump gasket & spark plugs ~25 Grand total - £100

Servicing
About 20 mins of my time once a year!

Warranty claims
Errr that expired a few years before I bought the engine.

Engine performance
Not bad all things considered! Accel phenomanal on 11' Dory , tends to "let go" on corners somewhat more readily then my "new" Suz, but the cav plate is tiny, as is the prop....

Fuel consumption
Very approx. 4l/hr at WOT with a 13" prop. 10 gallons/ mile with the original prop used to push a canal barge along!

Oil consumption


Noise levels
Sorry? I can't hear you above the engine noise! (they hadn't brought thru' prop exhaust to anything less than the 60 when this was made!) It's asomewhat antisocial engine in that respect.

Would I buy again/Would I recommend
As a project rebuild it was fun. It comes out occasionally justy to prove it still works, but no, I'd suggest something at least 15 years younger.

[Biggles]

Suzuki DF 140 Purchased Second hand on boat.

Just done 200 Hour Service including Impellor change, fuel filter and prop regrind ?. Cost £287.

Warranty - Nil.

Good Point ++++ Polishes up lovely because its black.

This engine has really impressed me with its car like qualities. Its quiet, smooth and reasonably frugal. Averageing about 1.2 NM per litre. Thats taking hard/fast days in. Even on the run to Dorset where I seemed to be stuck at 5000 revs to keep up with Hugh and his 200 Opti it didn't get too thirsty.

[Biggles]

I'm suprised this thread has just died !

[Hugh Jardon]

Originally Posted by Biggles

I'm suprised this thread has just died !

i think it is better that folks take a bit of time to pull relevant info together, that way the thread will be more informative to others.

[IBWET]

Suzuki DF150 new November 07


Servicing Cost
First service (20 hours)£169 Floetree Dumbarton (very good service)
The engine oil looked like it had had a hard life (the dealer was surprised)
Nothing else needed done.
Second Service (50 Hours)£30 I changed oil /oil filter myself.

Consumption
After initially frightening the life out myself by doing the calculation at WOT is - 0.8 litres at 3,000 rpm per Nm mile so more than acceptable.
However if huge jar is getting 1 litre per nm (200) maybe 2 stroke was a better bet. 30%more horses for20%more fuel?

Issues
Don't tilt the engine fully up with first setting the over tilt switch, I did, the result was we think, oil getting to places it should not, the result was lots of white smoke and running like a sore arse until it cleared (which took removing plugs ETC.

Noise
Very car like would highly recommend the engine, it sounds boring on the water though; even on the muffs it's still very quite. However if that’s what you want (you have to make sure people do try starting a running engine)
It's great.

It's a relatively small boat for the engine so my prop info may not be that useful to the majority but:

Started with a 21" the acceleration was impressive but wrong prop
Moved to a 23" 45knots but 6,100 which is too high
Now to a 25" 46Knots at 5,800 so happy to a point
There appears to be a period on pickup when the boat catches up to the engine so I’m now looking at 4 bladers

Smoke
There is none.

Oil

Not used enough to top up.

Bottom line.. would I buy another, yes.

[9D280]

Having finally managed to total up all my juice drinking data for the year, here's the resuilts:

ENGINE: Suzuki DT25, approx 1993.

Purchase price - Came with the boat. Subrtracting the cost of what I sold the hull for, call it £400 as a round number + a few spares.

Servicing
About 20 mins of my time once a year + a day or so on the water fiddling with it to tune it for "real world" operation.

Warranty claims
None, but it expired years ago anyhow

Engine performance
Not bad all things considered! One thing I will say is that it has always got me home. Not necessarily at a nice cruising speed, but it has never totally refused to go. Lots of low end grunt, always useful when you have a water ballast to dispose of!

Fuel consumption
Very approx. 0.7l/Knautical mile average with a 13" prop. Includes some long sustained WOT cruising (oh, for a bigger engine!) and a fair bit of sitting around idling waiting for other people to capsise.
One cruise where the water was less than flat and so the entire run was done at 3/4 throttle it was nearer 0.5l/mile, with next to no time (relatively) spent at idle.

Oil consumption
Average 60.6:1 Nominally 50:1 at WOT, supposedly 200:1 at idle. Looks like I've not been idling too much then!

Noise levels
Not the worst 2- stroke I've heard by any stetch of the imagination. Can talk (loudly) above it at WOT. Once tuned it's remarkably smooth. Not sure what the noise is like in a following boat tho'.....

Would I buy again/Would I recommend?
Yes - if you can find a decent one secondhand! The overall size is tall & thin, so plenty of room on the transom for an Aux, even on a small rib.


Two small moans - access to service the carbs (not a problem if you throw it at your local dealer) - they are attatched by an annoying "sandwich" between the inlet and air box, the whole lot being through bolted, meaning you can't just take one carb out - you have no option but to disturb all three gaskets or not to touch. Sideline to that is that it's generally quite tightly packed under the lid, so a tad fiddly for servicing certiain items.

Other moan is the shallow water drive is pretty useless - it doesn't bring the engine out to a point where it would be worth leaving it down (or bringing it up to SW drive pos'n) - any beach landings have involved paddles from relatively far out from the beach. If you chose your cruise destinations with a little care this isn't really a problem.


So, that was the Suz. Hopefully soon I'll have a nice shiny "new" yam to appraise, but more on that anon.........

[kwil]

Purchase Price - came with boat but had only 16 hrs on it.

Servicing non as only every 300 hrs, but I have changed gear box oil and external fuel/water seperator filter. £20.00

Warranty claims - Non still 21 months left.

Fuel consumption - Not sure of mpg but averaged 12.6 ltr/hr over last 50 hrs mixed use.

Oil - Using XD100 3.785Ltr over same 50Hrs, the reason for such precise measurement is that is the size container it comes in.

Issues - Non with the engine but the fuel flow meter took a lot of playing with to calibrate so my figures come from what I have actually put in the tank.

Noise - very quiet only marginally noisier than an equivalent 4 stroke, but sounds good when you open the throttle.

Have run mainly with a Viper 13 7/8 x 17 S/S prop which gave a max with 2 up and half a tank (80 litres) of 39 Knots at 6000.
Changed to Solas Titan 13 1/4 x 19 S/S prop, same load 42 Knots at 5700, slightly less acceleration but much faster in the mid range 2500-4500.

Would I buy again - yes.

[9D280]

Wow. Old thread, new-ish info not so much a reawakening as a complete rezerection! .

ENGINE
Merc clamshell 60Hp. Assorted bits of engine between 197x & 1989 Transom mount autolube disposed of.

PURCHASE PRICE: £200 (rebuild price £1500)

Servicing price - Call it an impeller & 20 mins of my time! (ignoring the rebuild!)

Warranty:

Fuel Consumption: 0.82L/kn mile, 0.84@ 25:1 running in

Oil consumption- 1/50th of 0.82L/mile.

Issues. - Total rebuild after it destroyerd itself. Solved (I hope) by rebuilding to latest build spec.

Noise

It's a museum. But my transom is rated (apparently) to 110kG, it ticked a lot of boxes. Early versions were prone to self destruction. Whether all the improvements work or not, you may need to wait another 4 years to find out....

[HUMBER P4VWL]

Originally Posted by matt h

Thanks for all the info,. just bought a new Opti 115 ,and cant wait to hear it, !!

90 75 115 and 125 are all a 1.5L block, 3cylinder, not V6. These are as quiet as a four stroke. 135 upwards are a 2.5L V6 and grrrrrowl

[jezza2011]

Mariner 1991 75hp ELPTO 3 Carb woned from new.

Servicing

1st service £200
2nd Service @100 hrs ish £270
3rd service @200 hrs ish £300

Had a stator coil at 17 years old with a full service and going over that cost me E700( euroes)
2 impellers ( i know but the water pressure is fine and no issues with cooling )

Engine alarm module off ebay £40 ( still didnt fix the allarm in the remote going off for no reason)

plastic oil lines £6 for them.

new sets of plugs every year.

Needs a new set of throttle and gear cables when I get round to it.

plenty of WD40.

Warranty claims
None

Engine performance
Not to shabby at all. can do arround the 36knt mark and good on fuel/oil really.
Acceleration is good nice and smooth and there when you need it.

Fuel consumption
Average - 1.2 nm per ltr depending on what your doing and how heavy your hand is on the throttle .

Oil consumption
Far too good. Had to check it was working sometimes! but it defo is.

Noise levels
ACE sound. its a 2 stroke. nice and smooth with the ussuall 2 stroke whine at wot.

Would I buy again/Would I recommend
Sure would and have done. I would get another if they stil made them.


So overall this engine has been awsome. no issues as such and the stator . well I was told the origional ones only had a life span of about 5 years and had a known problem with breaking down so I did really well TBH.

And considering the total rig cost in 1991 was £10500 for boat engine and trailer I think I am doing really well.!!!

[Sea Witch]

Mariner 1987 75hp 3 cyl

New stator 2 years ago - 400 euros
Cdi 2nd - 150 euros
Voltage reg - 200 euros

This won't give up !!! Compression 120 psi in all 3 cyl , bullet proof engine !