2 weeks with a Suzuki 4 stroke

[Noelm]

This might be intersting to some, dull sh!t boring to others, but here goes, I just spent a couple of weeks on holidays with a brand new 80HP Suzuki 4 stroke and a Stessco 5.4m Centre console boat (an Albacore) and Stessco trailer, here goes my very unbiased opinion of the outfit. First off lets look at the boat, pretty good setup, console in the right place, plenty of room, nice wide gunnels to sit on and seemed to look good as well, now coming from a Cat, stability was not too flash, but that is just me I guess, anchor well was way too small to fit anything in except a "tourist" sand anchor a bit of rope, it had one of those silly "store bought" T tops, which looks weak as p!ss but did provide a small amount of shade, it had a long skinny sort of fish box/seat right across the back, which was in the way for fishing, but is a good place to put "stuff" as storage is somewhat limited,so over all I guess the boat was an 7 out of 10 for what it costs, now the motor, after a couple of small installation issues it performed like a swiss watch for the entire time (as it should, it was brand new after all) at idle you could not hear it at all, but at cruise and above it was no better, or worse than any other new motor on the market, power surprised me I must admit, it has plenty of go (mind you, the boat was not all that heavy) and seemed like a great match for the boat, fuel use was miserly, it barely sipped fuel, and we had it over the shelf a few times, as well as a lake, crabbing and generaly mucking about, so the motor for me gets a 10 out of 10, the trailer is just a trailer I reckon, adequate for the task, but certainly not fantastic, I rate it about a 5 out of 10, lots of goodies fitted including a high end sounder, EPIRB, VHF and FM radios, all of which performed as expected (except the EPIRB of course, it was not tested! thank christ) so there you go, anyone wanting a neat offshore/inshore pacjage that will not over stretch the budget or require a big 4X4 for towing, might just check one out at your local dealer, just to end, I do not own the boat, work for Stessco or Suzuki or anything like that , it is just a short personal opinion of what I found after quite a bit of time in it! so dont toast me for advertising or anything else OK!

[Argle]

No toasting here mate, I reckon boat reports (unbiased at least) are right up there with fishing reports as far as interesting reading goes. Im waiting for my new boat at the moment which will have a 175 Suzy on it, never had anything other than noisy smoky rattly 2 strokes up till now so its one thing Im looking forward to is the instant start and quiet running of the four stroke. How did you find the performance out of the hole? I have heard the newer 4 strokes are better than previous models in this area?

Cheers
Scott

[Noelm]

as I said, performance really did impress me, never any momnet of thinking "maybe a 90 would be better" plenty of speed and power, we had 5 people in it at one time and it was still great, noise factor was OK, but fuel use was the most noticable thing, it was great, mind you, there was still fumes, but not oil fumes!

[PADDLES]

we've only ever owned 4 boats, but our last one had a suzuki 140 four stroke and i agree, a modern MPI 4 stroke outboard is a 10 out of 10 motor, or ours seemed that way after having a mercury blackmax.

good honest report noel, i'm assuming in your scoring that a score of 5 is a "does the job it's intended to do" and that people shouldn't get sh!tty if they've got this hull and think that you're under rating it.

[Noelm]

yes, for sure, the trailer I am sure would be OK, but just seemed a but light to me, and launch and retrieve was not exactly a breeze with the way it is built, but it works, and carries the boat OK, maybe the next size up might have been a better option.

[sleepygreg]

Great report Noelm. I think the trailer issue more reflective of the dealers trying to 'package' the deal to bring the cost down. I learnt this issue many years ago. A mate bought a 570 easyrider with a 140 mercruiser, and had a trailer under it that was barely adequate...but kept the rig within his budget. It did the job 'ok'....that is if you were just towing it to the ramp and back. Manytrips up and down the coast later (we would tow our boats from Sydney to Yamba in the north, and Eden in the south...and all points in between). At the same time I bought a Cruisecraft Reef raider 533, and the package that it came with was a single axle trailer...but I opted to spend the extra and got a dual axle trailer designed for a boat 2' longer. In a nutshell....mate was going through a set of bearings every few months, cracked winch posts/shackles/chewed out rollers etc etc. I didnt have to replace anything on mine...except a precautionary bearing change after two years....and there was really nothing wrong with the ones I took out. And both boats had almost identical use and travel distances (mine probably a bit more).

Sorry to hijack the post...just a bit of advice for those buying "packages" from my experience. If something is going to give you grief if you use your rig regularly and over any distances...it will be the trailer if it is undergunned.

Greg

[Jarrah Jack]

Nice reading there Noelm.I'm glad you liked the Zuk. I was wondering at the start what impression it would make. I regularly go out in mates Hondas and Mercs 4 strokes but for some reason the 70 Zuk of mine really hits the spot. ( Not that I'm bias or anything)

[Steeler]

Good report Noelm,great reading and very informative

Steeler

[charleville]

Good report, Noelm.

I would love to see more of these types of independent reports from members.

It is a bit hard to get unbiased reports on anything these days. The journalists will never write a damning report otherwise they will never get another boat to review and anyone who has just bought a new boat is usually blinded by love for their new toy.


Once again, many thanks.


.

[Noelm]

yeah, I guess it is easier to look at something without rose coloured glasses if it is not yours, or you do not own a similar product and no one is paying you to do a report, I can understand (up to a point) testers only testing things in ways that will come up OK, or kind of side stepping issues so they ensure their livelyhood is maintained, but in the end a lot of people take boat/car tests as being the gospel and will base their purchase on what some journo has said, it would be good to somehow test a variety of (say) motors of the same HP from different manufacturers but on the exact same boat, and be completely unbiased about the whole setup, I guess it would take a lot of effort from a lot of people, but it would be nice.

[BOMBIE]

as I said, performance really did impress me, never any momnet of thinking "maybe a 90 would be better" plenty of speed and power, we had 5 people in it at one time and it was still great, noise factor was OK, but fuel use was the most noticable thing, it was great, mind you, there was still fumes, but not oil fumes!
Being both suzi(90) & stressco owner TOTALLY agree with 10/10 on suk but a bit high on boat & trailer(it too broke):wut:

[Noelm]

well there you go, someone who owns a product and is not 100% happy with it, and willing to admit it!! well done, the boat itself looks reasonably well constructed, remember we are not talking a full on custom job, but a semi mass produced to a price point item, some of the finish is a tad rough, but then we are not talking leather seats and stuff here, that's why I mentioned the 7 out of 10 "for what you pay" are you game to enlighten us on your problems without condemning anything or risking a law suit?

[Chimo]

Hi Noelm

Pray tell, how did it come to pass that you had the use of the rig for 2 weeks anyhow?

Cheers
Chimo

[odes20]

No toasting here mate, I reckon boat reports (unbiased at least) are right up there with fishing reports as far as interesting reading goes. Im waiting for my new boat at the moment which will have a 175 Suzy on it, never had anything other than noisy smoky rattly 2 strokes up till now so its one thing Im looking forward to is the instant start and quiet running of the four stroke. How did you find the performance out of the hole? I have heard the newer 4 strokes are better than previous models in this area?

Cheers
Scott
Hi Argle

Your going to be real happy with your 175 Suzy mate. It truly is a beast. I have one on my Yalta Odessa 2000 and it is just a magnificent donk. Fuel consumption is fantastic and hole shot is effortless These bigger susys have a gearbox ratio of 2.5 -1 so the torque is outstanding. What boat are you putting it on?
Also propping is important as you prob already know I have mine with a 21 pitch Susy prop which allows it to rev out to the max WOT of 6100 rpm
It runs superbly on this arrangement

Cheers
John

[Noelm]

Hi Noelm

Pray tell, how did it come to pass that you had the use of the rig for 2 weeks anyhow?

Cheers
Chimo
A family friend had just picked it up the day before I had holidays and so did he, so I had the chance to be in the thing from the maiden voyage, I had no input in the initial purchase in any way, so everything was his choice, so I guess in a kind of way, I did not really have the "use" of it for a 2 week test, just the time to spend a heap of hours fishing and general boating stuff that you do when you have time off.

[Noelm]

I might add, if some company has a boat that they want tested "warts and all" I would be more than happy to do so (not that I believe that might happen) but don't expect any glowing reports on something that is shabby.

[Argle]

Hi Argle

Your going to be real happy with your 175 Suzy mate. It truly is a beast. I have one on my Yalta Odessa 2000 and it is just a magnificent donk. Fuel consumption is fantastic and hole shot is effortless These bigger susys have a gearbox ratio of 2.5 -1 so the torque is outstanding. What boat are you putting it on?
Also propping is important as you prob already know I have mine with a 21 pitch Susy prop which allows it to rev out to the max WOT of 6100 rpm
It runs superbly on this arrangement

Cheers
John

John, its going onto a Haines Signature 580BR, weighs about 650kg so should get up and boogie - just got to wait for it to be built now!! Thanks for the info sounds like a cracker of a set up you have there

Cheers
Scott

[Dean1]

Noelm im unsure if your'e still looking for a centre console Noosacat or not but theres a very tidy one on boatpoint at the minute.

Pretty sure it has a Suzuki 4 stroke on it.

Cheers.

[BOMBIE]

well there you go, someone who owns a product and is not 100% happy with it, and willing to admit it!! well done, the boat itself looks reasonably well constructed, remember we are not talking a full on custom job, but a semi mass produced to a price point item, some of the finish is a tad rough, but then we are not talking leather seats and stuff here, that's why I mentioned the 7 out of 10 "for what you pay" are you game to enlighten us on your problems without condemning anything or risking a law suit?
Noelm, lawsuits means f---all to ANYONE in the small boat industry in QLD, when the puttogeathers DON'T adbide by them:huh: , as there is NO ,NONE,NIL legisation in QLD,they DONT answer to anyone:worried2: to cut L O N G story short,7 weeks after purchase it peeled (something to do with incorrect footwear??) then ribs let go etc etc :err, just look up stessco or my posts:evilgrin:

[Jarrah Jack]

I might add, if some company has a boat that they want tested "warts and all" I would be more than happy to do so (not that I believe that might happen) but don't expect any glowing reports on something that is shabby.

That I would like to see

[siegfried]

I had a 5.4 stessco albacore and everything about it was bad ..wet hard riding poorly built with multiple cracks in the ribs and a large split in the bottom that required multiple repairs, remember fullas to do a reliable boat test/report you need to spend a bit of time inem that is why boat tests in mags such as f&b and various fishing mags are a crock of shit. These blokes do tests on motors and boats that they have had for one day ffs. the only things worth reading are HONEST reports by fair dinkum blokes(owners ) done over many weeks or months.

[BOMBIE]

I had a 5.4 stessco albacore and everything about it was bad ..wet hard riding poorly built with multiple cracks in the ribs and a large split in the bottom that required multiple repairs, remember fullas to do a reliable boat test/report you need to spend a bit of time inem that is why boat tests in mags such as f&b and various fishing mags are a crock of shit. These blokes do tests on motors and boats that they have had for one day ffs. the only things worth reading are HONEST reports by fair dinkum blokes(owners ) done over many weeks or months. Siegfried!!:scholar: HERE bloody here :gorgeous:

[Jarrah Jack]

I had a 5.4 stessco albacore and everything about it was bad ..wet hard riding poorly built with multiple cracks in the ribs and a large split in the bottom that required multiple repairs, remember fullas to do a reliable boat test/report you need to spend a bit of time inem that is why boat tests in mags such as f&b and various fishing mags are a crock of shit. These blokes do tests on motors and boats that they have had for one day ffs. the only things worth reading are HONEST reports by fair dinkum blokes(owners ) done over many weeks or months.

Yep reading those reports sends me to sleep. Notice that its always a nice day when they do the test and when they hit any sort of a wave/ ripple they say it rides well. etc etc what a load of hog wash.

[Noelm]

I do agree that a one day zip around a bit is not a true owners test, and I did not comment on the ride, simply because coming from a 6M Cat, any tinny rides too rough or me, but the boat itself was (seemingly) reasonsonably well built (but that does not mean it won't fall to bits in a couple of years time), so how about someone that has had a "common" boat brand for a year or so do a quick write up for us on the product, without any bias (if thats possible) and tell us if it is as good as you thought it was going to be when you first got it, or read a glowing test in a glossy magazine! I would certainly tell anyone the faults in my motors and boat if I thought comments on an older boat and 10 year old motors would be of any benefit.

[BOMBIE]

I had a 5.4 stessco albacore and everything about it was bad ..wet hard riding poorly built with multiple cracks in the ribs and a large split in the bottom that required multiple repairs, remember fullas to do a reliable boat test/report you need to spend a bit of time inem that is why boat tests in mags such as f&b and various fishing mags are a crock of shit. These blokes do tests on motors and boats that they have had for one day ffs. the only things worth reading are HONEST reports by fair dinkum blokes(owners ) done over many weeks or months.
I too contacted many boat mag editors to ask why, when they do "tests" that its always rosey and hardly ever less than complamentry ? ,only one stated that he would'nt do tests on "certain' brands if they had heard/seen/knew of numerious complaints like build quality,warranity issues on those brands ,and that they could never "bag" a test boat due to the threat of legal action, but he did state to me that the ONLY way to get satifaction from those who had wronged me was that (if) we could afford a good lawyer get one and throw everthing at them ,Its all that THEY understand, and if /when we are talking to our boating mates or ANYONE who might listen, just to make sure we pass on ANY information of how "good" our boat is going? As we are the ones who after time in and out of our boats actually "TEST " these boats >:(