posted 02-25-2007 09:15 AM ET (US)        

This motor is as quiet and smooth as I had hoped for. At idle you can hardly tell it is running, and it is as smooth as a new car at any throttle setting.

You can feel the additional 100-lbs of weight back there, versus the 370-lb Johnson 150 two-stroke this motor replaced. The boat handles it fine, but at "mushing" speeds the stern sits a little deeper and throws a slightly larger wake. It sits about 2-inches lower in the stern at rest, as I thought it would. But overall the weight is not a problem. The motor is big, much bigger than the two-stroke, but I'm getting used to how that looks on the boat. I'll try to post pics at some point.

After two hours of running no faster than 3,000-RPM, on a very windy, cold day on the water, I was able to make one WOT run with the wind. I didn't measure GPS speed yet, but the boat is significantly faster than with the Johnson. That may be the motor, the 2.50:1 gearing, or the propeller, but it was screaming fast. I am running a Suzuki stainless 15-1/2 X 19-inch pitch prop, and with full tanks, two adults and two kids on the boat, the motor hit its 6,000-RPM redline, but did not go over, and the rev limiter did not come into play. I think I may need a bigger pitch propeller, since I may pick up a few RPM once it is broken in.

The dealer who installed it took the boat out last Tuesday, idled it for 20 minutes, and did one speed run to determine what prop to use. He was using a 16 X 21.5-inch pitch prop, and the boat hit 5,600 to 5,800-RPM with empty tanks (running off of a small portable tank) and two people on board. He clocked 47.5-MPH with that propeller. We felt that prop might have been too much, given that tanks were empty, but perhaps I should go back to that, or perhaps a 21-inch pitch on a smaller diameter propeller? Any suggestions as to what prop to try?

Overall I'm very pleased. This is more motor than the boat needs in my opinion, but I think it will be a great rig.

posted 02-25-2007 10:33 AM ET (US)            

If the weather cooperates, I hope to have more data on speeds, etc after next weekend. No fuel data yet, but I'm sure the fuel economy will be fantastic...after 2 hours' running time yesterday, the fuel guage on the 17.5 gallon starboard tank hasn't moved off of a full tank reading!

posted 03-03-2007 03:53 PM ET (US)            

I got the boat out today for some speed tests. Getting accurate readings on my very old Garmin handheld GPS was difficult, as the readings jumped around some, but here is what I think the speeds looked like, based on averaged runs with & against the wind & current. FYI, there was a 10 kt wind and smooth conditions. Full tanks, average gear, with just me on the boat. Prop is a Suzuki SS 3x15.25x19 pitch.

RPM MPH
1000 4.6
2000 8.6
3000 18.8
3500 24.3
4000 29.0
4500 32.8
5000 36.5
5500 40.5
6000 43.7

At 6000 rpm, I still had throttle left when the rev limiter tripped. I think I could get at least 100-200 more rpm if not for the rev limiter. Fastest speed with the wind was 45.2 @6000rpm, with throttle left to go. The motor seems to be mounted fairly high, as I get some ventilation in turns, and sometimes when jumping on plane, unless I trim the motor under slightly.

Clearly I can use more prop on this rig. I can swap props from the dealer for free, but since the dealer I bought from is out of town, it involves shipping costs & hassle, so I probably won't try lots of props if I can help it. I would appreciate input on what prop to try. Note in my previous comments the results with a 3x16x21.5 prop.

My suzuki prop choices that might work are: 3x15x21, 3x16x20, or 4x15x20. Or I could try the 3x16x21.5 again.
I'm leaning to trying the 4 blade, since I don't care much about top end speed, and I would like to be able to jump on plane quickly. Any advice on props is appreciated.

Thanks,

posted 03-22-2007 11:19 AM ET (US)            

If you are going to stay with a Suzuki prop, the obvious propeller to try next would be their three blade 15" x 21".

I actually think a very good propeller outside the Suzuki line to try would be a Mercury Mirage Plus in the 15-1/4" x 21". While Suzuki's gearing generally means most other brands of propellers are not really applicable to Suzuki outboards, in this case, given the light weight of your boat and the apparent performance and speed it is capable of, I really think the Mirage Plus will be an excellent choice. It will fit using the Flo-Torq hub kit and the Suzuki thrust washer you already have.

posted 03-25-2007 12:26 PM ET (US)            

Full fuel (35 gallons), just me in the boat, about 6 hours on the motor, bimini top was down. All values approx, based on averaged runs & an old, slow GPS:

RPM MPH
3000 22.0
3500 27.0
4000 30.8
4500 35.4
5000 39.5
5500 45.5

Later I averaged 46.1 mph with slightly less fuel, at 5600 (bimini top down).

Later in the day, I ran with wife & 2 kids, full tanks, and bimini top up, and could only get 5300 rpm's.

This morning I had me & my 7 year old boy, half a tank of fuel, bimini top up, and I hit 5600.

Is this too much prop? I'm thinking I may pick up rpm's as the motor gets broken in, but I don't want to overload the engine & shorten its life due to too much prop. Operating range is 5000-6000 @ WOT, with light load, according to the owner's manual. Do I need to be getting in the upper hald of that range?

posted 03-27-2007 04:07 PM ET (US)            

Here is the boat being repowered:

http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/JohnPW/repower/?action=view& current=DSC00091.jpg

Here are pic's after repower:

http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/JohnPW/repower/?action=view& current=DSC00094.jpg
http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/JohnPW/repower/?action=view& current=DSC00158.jpg
http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/JohnPW/repower/?action=view& current=DSC00156.jpg
http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/JohnPW/repower/?action=view& current=DSC00160.jpg
http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/JohnPW/repower/?action=view& current=DSC00161.jpg

As to the prop: I spoke with the dealer, and the 20" pitch is the smallest Suzuki makes in a 4 blade...so if this is too much prop, I would have to go back to a 3 blade, or have an inch of pitch taken out of this prop ($$$). The dealer said it was OK as long as I was getting 5000-6000 @ WOT, but I'm not convinced that is what I should keep this prop. Any prop help is appreciated.

posted 03-27-2007 07:58 PM ET (US)            

That motor does not look big at all.

posted 03-30-2007 07:46 AM ET (US)            

Bowman: yes, my boat has been painted; it was sprayed with 2 part linear polyurethane. I spent over a year restoring the boat, 2004-05.

As to your prop, some more info would be helpful. you mentioned a 19" pitch prop, is this the 16" diameter prop, or the 15.25" diameter 19" pitch prop that I tried? Did you have a lot of gear on board? Were tanks full? What is your tank capacity? Do you have a bimini or a hardtop adding to wind resistance?

I would expect your revenge to be a few mph slower than my outrage since your boat is heavier, so I don't think 42 mph is out of line...but if you're using the 15.25" diameter prop, I'm surprised you're not getting more rpm's.

posted 03-30-2007 08:37 AM ET (US)            

I think the boat looks great! Love what you did with the console and I agree with others - I don't think the engine looks too big or out of line. Great job.

posted 03-30-2007 10:07 AM ET (US)            

Thanks for the kind words on my boat. The seating arangement on mine is the original "Outrage I" seating arrangement that came on the 1970-72 Outrages. Another pic of this seat is shown on Cetacea p36 on this website: http://www.continuouswave.com/whaler/cetacea/cetaceaPage36.html

The Outrage I seat consists of an insulated fiberglass cooler seat base, a hinged teak seat mount, and an odd, removeable teak "drop leaf" table/seat arrangementat the back edge of the seat base. On top of all of this is mounted a marine vinyl bench seat as shown in my pic's. The original vinyl was shot on mine, so I had a new seat made using the original as a template. The seat is very comfortable to sit on or as a leaning post. The base was painted with the rest of the boat, and I chose to varnish the teak parts, which origianlly were bare (oiled) teak.

Finding a seat like this would usually be pretty much impossible, since so few were made, but as it happens, Larry Goltz aka "lhg" or "blackmax" on this site has had one of sale. He replaced his seat on his 1972 Outrage with a reversible "RPS" syle seat. I sent him an e-mail on your interest in the seat, he may respond here or e-mail you directly if he still has the seat for sale.

posted 03-31-2007 06:22 AM ET (US)            

If you don't remember me - I'm the one you & JayR helped out a lot in my 1971 outrage restoration. I still have the prop from the old Suzuki 150 that I removed.

posted 04-09-2007 01:32 PM ET (US)            

Thanks for the offer on the prop...but the new 4 stroke Suzuki motors have lower gearing & use larger diameter props than the old Suzuki 2 strokes, so the prop you have wouldn't work for me.

I'm thinking that I will keep this prop, and if I need to I'll have an inch of pitch taken out. Best speed was with the 16" 3 blade prop, but I much prefer the handling of this 4 blade propeller.

Thanks again,

posted 04-10-2007 09:08 PM ET (US)            

There's been no change in how mine trailers with the new motor. I wouldn't think an extra 100lb would make much difference...you probably had marginal tongue weight to begin with. Moving the boat forward on the trailer should help. If you pull your boat with a high-bumper truck, then another way to improve balance & increase tongue weight is to get one of those drop-down trailer hitch recievers, so the trailer ball is lower to the road.

Good luck with it, I'm sure you'll get it figured out.