Sea Trials for new Evinrude E-Tec

Got my boat back today, repowered with a 90HP Evinrude E-Tec. Here are the
results of the "get acquainted" ride of about an hour.

Boat: 1997 Smoker 161 ProMag, 16.5-foot aluminum v-hull walleye boat, loaded
full of fuel, 3 batteries, PinPoint bow mount, usual "stuff", and driver. Gross
weight, probably around 1350-1400 pounds estimate.

Old motor: 1996 Johnson 90HP V4
New motor: 2005 Evinrude 90HP I3 E-Tec

First impression: "Are you sure that's a 90HP? It sure looks awful small."
Interestingly it weighs 9-pounds MORE than the old V4 (310# vs 301#). Nice
streamlined package. Lower unit looks beefier than the old V4, but otherwise
seems much more compact.

Second impression: (Turned the key for just a second.) "Is this thing running?
Yep, the tach shows 650 RPMs." At idle the thing is dead quiet. All you here is
a slight sound of mechnical "hum", and the splash of the cooling water
'tell-tale'.

Ease away from the dock --- yes, it must be running because we're moving. Still
whisper quiet at around 1200 RPMs.

OK, let's cruise.... throttled up to around 3500 RPMs. The boat pops up on plane
smoothly/effortlessly and trims out solidly on a moderate chop. "C'mon, are you
sure this isn't a four-stroke? Where's the roar?" The sound level is incredibly
subdued, a nice solid low pitch throb, but it seems so far away!
OK, lets HIT IT! (Yes, no break-in recommended!).

On the old motor (even when it was new) you scratched and clawed for speed,
topping out around 37.5MPH after about 4-5 minutes on a flat-water downwind run,
constantly tweaking the trim to avoid porpoising.

As the old guys says on TV "Everyone Loves Raymond" if fond of exclaiming ----
"HOLY CRAP" ---- The E-Tec ramped smoothly from 3500 to 5500 RPMs in seconds,
and the GPS clocked at 45 MPH. "But where's that famous Evinrude howl?" Even
wound up to 5500+ RPM, the engine is just a solid "thrum" at a db level that you
can easily hold a conversation over.

Acceleration from any speed is smooth and strong without even a hint of
hesitation or stumble. Prop is a 13-7/8 X 19P Viper stainless steel. It's
amazingly insensitive to over trim, holding the bow nicely up until you overtrim
to blowout.

All the above on a modestly windy lake with a confused/irregular chop. I can
hardly wait for a nice flat lake to put it through its paces.

Suddenly I'm glad I couldn't afford the four-stroke I wanted!

Hans/MN
--
"Walk softly and carry a big fish."

.."KØHB" wrote in message
ink.net...

All the above on a modestly windy lake with a confused/irregular chop. I
can hardly wait for a nice flat lake to put it through its paces.


Actually you probably will pull better speed on that light chop than on a
glass smooth surface. Everything else I have heard jives with your
description of the E-Tec from noise to performance.

I wish I could afford one for my boat. I'll just have to wait until I can
afford a whole new boat.

Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com

K0HB DE NOTXW

One question I've got. The infomercials for the eTec that run on Sat am
here in St Paul (you have been up to watch 'em right? hihi) mention
better gas mileage. How does the new 90 compare to the old in that
regard Or maybe you've not run it enough to burn thru enough gas to
tell?

73 de N0TXW
en34
Dave

Hi Dave,

I've only had it on Lake Minnetonka for about an hour yesterday, so no chance to
measure fuel consumption. (Anything has to be better than my old 90-degree V4!)

I've talked to some T-Tec owners with similar boats, and they claim 40-60%
better than carburated 2-strokers like my old one, roughly competitive with
similar HP 4-strokers.

73, de Hans, K0HB



wrote in message
oups.com...
K0HB DE NOTXW

One question I've got. The infomercials for the eTec that run on Sat am
here in St Paul (you have been up to watch 'em right? hihi) mention
better gas mileage. How does the new 90 compare to the old in that
regard Or maybe you've not run it enough to burn thru enough gas to
tell?

73 de N0TXW
en34
Dave

I've talked to some T-Tec owners with similar boats, and they claim
40-60% better than carburated 2-strokers like my old one, roughly
competitive with similar HP 4-strokers

interesting. I've only seen a bit of the infomercial, but these really
look good. Seems they're larger HP engines, wonder if they've any plans
to extend the eTec line down into the smaller HP. While my old 87 9.9
hums along nicely on the 14' fishin' boat, sooner or later it'll need a
replacement

Keep us posted. better to read real info on thing related to fishing
and boating here rather than yet another diatriabe about Bush, et al.
Not that I'm agin that sort of thing, but we've already got other fora
for that!

73 de Dave
N0TXW

On 14 Apr 2005 10:32:52 -0700, " wrote:
[snipped]
Keep us posted. better to read real info on thing related to fishing
and boating here rather than yet another diatriabe about Bush, et al.
Not that I'm agin that sort of thing, but we've already got other fora
for that!

Not nearly enough of them, though...

Not nearly enough of them, though

But not any less or more OT than any other NG's I'm on, at least the
non-moderated ones. Easy enough to ignore what you don't wanna read,
assuming they don't try to foll ya with a topic related title for the
posting and then bait & switch ya!

(pun intended, this is rof after all!

Dave

wrote in message
ups.com...

Seems they're larger HP engines, wonder if they've any plans
to extend the eTec line down into the smaller HP.

Currently the smallest in the line seems to be a 2-cylinder 40HP, but my
understanding is that they'll extend the technology all the way down to "kicker
sized" motors.

73, Hans, K0HB