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Author Topic:   E-TEC Fuel Usage

obx posted 12-17-2006 04:51 PM ET (US)
I am in the process of replacing my 2000 Ficht 175 with an E-TEC 175. I have over 1,000 trouble-free hours and want to stay with this engine. I have talked to several people with who replaced Fichts with E-TECs. They say the E-TEC uses more fuel. I got a piece of literature from an Evinrude dealer called "Media Review". In it there is an article from Bass and Walleye showing test results for a 225 E-TEC on a 201 Stratos. It shows 3.6-GPH at 1,500-RPM and 5.3-GPH at 2,000-RPM. This works out to about 1.5-MPG for a bass boat at a fast idle. I hope the is a misreading. My offshore days are 120 miles and would work out to 52-gallons. My Ficht burns 26 gallons. My old carburetor 225 used 50-gallons. The 1998 Ficht literature showed 1.4-GPH at 2,000-RPM, which I have confirmed over the last 1,000-hours. Anyone able to comment on E-TEC trolling fuel consumption? I wouldn't buy an engine that uses that much gas. I hope this isn't the case!
Teak Oil posted 12-17-2006 07:39 PM ET (US)
I doubt you will be trolling at 2000 rpms, thats when the boat is plowing and you are going about 10-12 mph. Every boat and motor combination gets its worst economy at this speed.
Check the fuel usage numbers at about 1000-1200 rpms and you will find they are much higher. I dont know what speed you troll at, but at 1200 rpms you are probably going at least 6mph.
Sal DiMercurio posted 12-17-2006 07:40 PM ET (US)
That has to be a miss print.
Hell, my 2000 - 200 hp FICHT takes 3 hours & 20 minutes to burn "ONE GALLON" of fuel at salmon troll speed,...2.8 mph or 850 rpms.
The e-tech is a Ficht engine with tighter tolerances & a few more changes.
Sal
Peter posted 12-17-2006 08:11 PM ET (US)
I don't think its a misprint. If that report is the same as the one available on-line at www.e-tecinfonet.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/ e-tec225ho-stratos201pro_xl.pdf I think one has to take into account that the motor on that bass boat is turning a 28 inch pitch propeller capable of propelling the boat to over 73 MPH. The table of data shows that at 1500 RPM the Stratos is getting right in the peak of the inefficient boat speed zone where its trying to climb over its bow wave and hasn't yet popped up on plane. As a result, its fuel usage at 1500 to 2000 RPM (7 to 8 MPH) is going to be relatively high because it's turning such a tall propeller. Any other motor strapped on that boat's transom that is capable of pushing it to 73 MPH will be inefficient at that boat speed too. See www.yamaha-motor.com/assets/products/otb/bulletins/ bulletin_2stroke_vmaxhpdi_vmax_str-201proxl-vz250tlr.pdf for example where the HPDI 250 is burning at least as much fuel as the 225 HO at 7 to 8 MPH. I think that is the nature of a bass boat climbing over its bow wave to get on-plane.
Compare those two datapoints to the other E-TEC data on non-bass boat hulls that get onto plane more progressively than a bass boat. They burn less fuel at 1500 RPM, for example, because they aren't trying to climb over a bow wave with a 28 inch pitch propeller.
While they don't have any 175 data over at www.e-tecinfonet.org, the E-TEC 150 or the E-TEC 150HO reports are probably a close substitute to figure fuel burn for the 175. Just pick a hull type that is close to your hull type, if not a bass boat.

fourdfish posted 12-17-2006 09:18 PM ET (US)
My 200hp ETEC starts and idles at 450rpms! I troll at around 600-700rpms which gives me 2.5mph! The engine burns only 1/3 of a gallon of gas per hour at idle and you can barely hear it.(quieter than FICHT) I do not even use 1/2 of a gallon of gas per hour trolling.
Like Peter says those readings are misleading. Teak Oil is correct in saying you would be moving very fast at those rpms. Assuming you have the right prop, I'm am sure that the ETEC fuel burn will be better or very close to the FICHT.
obx posted 12-18-2006 11:32 AM ET (US)
My offshore trolling is done between 1500RPM and 2000RPM. It is 6MPH to 10mph depending on wave direction. The prop is 15 by 17" . This was the RPM range Evinrude told me the Ficht should not be run (after I bought the engine). Since thats how you fish in the ocean, I had no choice and have run it for many hours at this speed. My ficht still runs great. I am concerned about the amount of fuel going thru the test engine at 1500 to 2000RPM. 5.7GPH is a lot. In this range my boat is on and off plane all day depending whether going up or down a wave. I'm sure this is the worst condition but the old Ficht uses less than 2GPH. I hope they have not fixed the old problem with this RPM range with a higher fuel burn. This is the range I use the most. I have talked to people, including 2 dealers, who switched from Ficht to Etec and they all saw a loss in economy. They said it was small but I would like to find out where this loss is. Are there any reports out with a 22 offshore boat with a 175Hp Etec or something close? Thanks, this forum seems to have better answers than the rest.
fourdfish posted 12-18-2006 01:16 PM ET (US)
It would seem that your 22ft is a lot heavier than mine as 1800rpms puts mine right up on plane. Those are the transition
rpms at which the engine runs at full fuel charge injection. The torque on my engine goes way up at those rpms. I do not know exactly how much fuel it burns at those rpms as I don't stay in that range long. My 200hp and the new 175hp engines do not have the same block nor the same map. Sorry, I wish I could help. I am sure that others at different sites can help.

lordswork2007 posted 12-18-2006 01:16 PM ET (US)
Fuel burn is related to power produced and is the product of RPM and manifold pressure (corrected for air density) times a constant.
You don't typically measure manifold pressure in marine applications. It is related to throttle setting. The throttle necessary to maintain any given RPM is in turn related to the load on the engine, which is related to the propeller and the boat.
So you can't just talk about RPM. I have seen boating magazines fall into this error, too.
Peter posted 12-18-2006 01:24 PM ET (US)
What boat is your 175 Ficht on? If its turning a 17 inch pitch, then its top speed isn't going to be much better than about 45 MPH.
So, just for fun, take a look at the report for the E-TEC 150 on a Hydrasports 212cc www.e-tecinfonet.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/ e-tec150-hydra_sports212cc.pdf . The 175 E-TEC is probably not going to be that much different. At 1500 RPM, the boat is going 5.7 MPH with a 1.77 GPH burn and 7.8 MPH with a 3.02 GPH burn at 2000 RPM. Quite a bit different than the E-TEC 225 HO turning a 28 inch pitch propeller on the Stratos bass boat.
obx posted 12-18-2006 02:02 PM ET (US)
Thanks the Hydra-Sport data is a close match. My boat is a 228 Mako with trim tabs. Off shore fishing is off and on plane at the same throttle setting (1600rpm). The tabs make the transition to plane not noticeable. Top speed with this setup is 44mph. It holds 129gal of gas so it is fairly heavy. The Ficht cut my fuel almost in half over my carburated motor. I don't want to go the other direction.The boat has 2200hrs which is close to 300 offshore trips. I have accurate readings for distance and fuel use. Since I got the Ficht I started running with a 1/2 tank since I didn't need to carry arround another 400lbs. Any more information will be appreciated. The boat has a cutout transom so the less fuel and the small block Evinrude makes the boat work great.
The Judge posted 12-18-2006 02:03 PM ET (US)
You can NOT compare a bass boats MPG to a conventional Whaler. At 2k it might be half on plane where your boat is fast troll. You can not compare a 225 to a 175 either. I HIGHLY doubt that an E-Tec will be much more than a few % than your fitch.

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Author	Topic: E-TEC Fuel Usage
obx	posted 12-17-2006 04:51 PM ET (US) I am in the process of replacing my 2000 Ficht 175 with an E-TEC 175. I have over 1,000 trouble-free hours and want to stay with this engine. I have talked to several people with who replaced Fichts with E-TECs. They say the E-TEC uses more fuel. I got a piece of literature from an Evinrude dealer called "Media Review". In it there is an article from Bass and Walleye showing test results for a 225 E-TEC on a 201 Stratos. It shows 3.6-GPH at 1,500-RPM and 5.3-GPH at 2,000-RPM. This works out to about 1.5-MPG for a bass boat at a fast idle. I hope the is a misreading. My offshore days are 120 miles and would work out to 52-gallons. My Ficht burns 26 gallons. My old carburetor 225 used 50-gallons. The 1998 Ficht literature showed 1.4-GPH at 2,000-RPM, which I have confirmed over the last 1,000-hours. Anyone able to comment on E-TEC trolling fuel consumption? I wouldn't buy an engine that uses that much gas. I hope this isn't the case!
Teak Oil	posted 12-17-2006 07:39 PM ET (US) I doubt you will be trolling at 2000 rpms, thats when the boat is plowing and you are going about 10-12 mph. Every boat and motor combination gets its worst economy at this speed. Check the fuel usage numbers at about 1000-1200 rpms and you will find they are much higher. I dont know what speed you troll at, but at 1200 rpms you are probably going at least 6mph.
Sal DiMercurio	posted 12-17-2006 07:40 PM ET (US) That has to be a miss print. Hell, my 2000 - 200 hp FICHT takes 3 hours & 20 minutes to burn "ONE GALLON" of fuel at salmon troll speed,...2.8 mph or 850 rpms. The e-tech is a Ficht engine with tighter tolerances & a few more changes. Sal
Peter	posted 12-17-2006 08:11 PM ET (US) I don't think its a misprint. If that report is the same as the one available on-line at www.e-tecinfonet.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/ e-tec225ho-stratos201pro_xl.pdf I think one has to take into account that the motor on that bass boat is turning a 28 inch pitch propeller capable of propelling the boat to over 73 MPH. The table of data shows that at 1500 RPM the Stratos is getting right in the peak of the inefficient boat speed zone where its trying to climb over its bow wave and hasn't yet popped up on plane. As a result, its fuel usage at 1500 to 2000 RPM (7 to 8 MPH) is going to be relatively high because it's turning such a tall propeller. Any other motor strapped on that boat's transom that is capable of pushing it to 73 MPH will be inefficient at that boat speed too. See www.yamaha-motor.com/assets/products/otb/bulletins/ bulletin_2stroke_vmaxhpdi_vmax_str-201proxl-vz250tlr.pdf for example where the HPDI 250 is burning at least as much fuel as the 225 HO at 7 to 8 MPH. I think that is the nature of a bass boat climbing over its bow wave to get on-plane. Compare those two datapoints to the other E-TEC data on non-bass boat hulls that get onto plane more progressively than a bass boat. They burn less fuel at 1500 RPM, for example, because they aren't trying to climb over a bow wave with a 28 inch pitch propeller. While they don't have any 175 data over at www.e-tecinfonet.org, the E-TEC 150 or the E-TEC 150HO reports are probably a close substitute to figure fuel burn for the 175. Just pick a hull type that is close to your hull type, if not a bass boat.
fourdfish	posted 12-17-2006 09:18 PM ET (US) My 200hp ETEC starts and idles at 450rpms! I troll at around 600-700rpms which gives me 2.5mph! The engine burns only 1/3 of a gallon of gas per hour at idle and you can barely hear it.(quieter than FICHT) I do not even use 1/2 of a gallon of gas per hour trolling. Like Peter says those readings are misleading. Teak Oil is correct in saying you would be moving very fast at those rpms. Assuming you have the right prop, I'm am sure that the ETEC fuel burn will be better or very close to the FICHT.
obx	posted 12-18-2006 11:32 AM ET (US) My offshore trolling is done between 1500RPM and 2000RPM. It is 6MPH to 10mph depending on wave direction. The prop is 15 by 17" . This was the RPM range Evinrude told me the Ficht should not be run (after I bought the engine). Since thats how you fish in the ocean, I had no choice and have run it for many hours at this speed. My ficht still runs great. I am concerned about the amount of fuel going thru the test engine at 1500 to 2000RPM. 5.7GPH is a lot. In this range my boat is on and off plane all day depending whether going up or down a wave. I'm sure this is the worst condition but the old Ficht uses less than 2GPH. I hope they have not fixed the old problem with this RPM range with a higher fuel burn. This is the range I use the most. I have talked to people, including 2 dealers, who switched from Ficht to Etec and they all saw a loss in economy. They said it was small but I would like to find out where this loss is. Are there any reports out with a 22 offshore boat with a 175Hp Etec or something close? Thanks, this forum seems to have better answers than the rest.
fourdfish	posted 12-18-2006 01:16 PM ET (US) It would seem that your 22ft is a lot heavier than mine as 1800rpms puts mine right up on plane. Those are the transition rpms at which the engine runs at full fuel charge injection. The torque on my engine goes way up at those rpms. I do not know exactly how much fuel it burns at those rpms as I don't stay in that range long. My 200hp and the new 175hp engines do not have the same block nor the same map. Sorry, I wish I could help. I am sure that others at different sites can help.
lordswork2007	posted 12-18-2006 01:16 PM ET (US) Fuel burn is related to power produced and is the product of RPM and manifold pressure (corrected for air density) times a constant. You don't typically measure manifold pressure in marine applications. It is related to throttle setting. The throttle necessary to maintain any given RPM is in turn related to the load on the engine, which is related to the propeller and the boat. So you can't just talk about RPM. I have seen boating magazines fall into this error, too.
Peter	posted 12-18-2006 01:24 PM ET (US) What boat is your 175 Ficht on? If its turning a 17 inch pitch, then its top speed isn't going to be much better than about 45 MPH. So, just for fun, take a look at the report for the E-TEC 150 on a Hydrasports 212cc www.e-tecinfonet.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/ e-tec150-hydra_sports212cc.pdf . The 175 E-TEC is probably not going to be that much different. At 1500 RPM, the boat is going 5.7 MPH with a 1.77 GPH burn and 7.8 MPH with a 3.02 GPH burn at 2000 RPM. Quite a bit different than the E-TEC 225 HO turning a 28 inch pitch propeller on the Stratos bass boat.
obx	posted 12-18-2006 02:02 PM ET (US) Thanks the Hydra-Sport data is a close match. My boat is a 228 Mako with trim tabs. Off shore fishing is off and on plane at the same throttle setting (1600rpm). The tabs make the transition to plane not noticeable. Top speed with this setup is 44mph. It holds 129gal of gas so it is fairly heavy. The Ficht cut my fuel almost in half over my carburated motor. I don't want to go the other direction.The boat has 2200hrs which is close to 300 offshore trips. I have accurate readings for distance and fuel use. Since I got the Ficht I started running with a 1/2 tank since I didn't need to carry arround another 400lbs. Any more information will be appreciated. The boat has a cutout transom so the less fuel and the small block Evinrude makes the boat work great.
The Judge	posted 12-18-2006 02:03 PM ET (US) You can NOT compare a bass boats MPG to a conventional Whaler. At 2k it might be half on plane where your boat is fast troll. You can not compare a 225 to a 175 either. I HIGHLY doubt that an E-Tec will be much more than a few % than your fitch.