Noel it would be interesting to know how they came to the decision not to develop 4 stroke technology as well as their existing range ..it seems to have worked out pretty well for Mercury ..when I looked at the Black anchor 4 stroke's mid-last year there was a waiting list as they couldn't keep up with demand...
Also remember BRP have bought a 80% stake in Telwater now rather than Telwater just being a Evinrude distributor ..so that's 10000 transoms a year to potentially hang an Etec off and they can gear their marketing toward that goal now...
Basically to overcome the baggage of the Fichts and early Etec issues and drag back market share from the 4 strokes, BRP basically have to totally perfect their 2 stroke technology and reliability I reckon....it will be great if these Gen2 and 3 cyl ,motors actually achieve such lofty heights..
Thanks for the input Lachie, glad you are happy with Yam after a bit of fine tuning. Are you able to provide any performance data from your setup?
Other than the Honda 115/135 I don't think any of the 4 stroke options in this class are rehashed car engines but they are using 20 year old car engine technology. Very few cars made in the 21st century that run a cable throttle, or lack variable valve timing etc etc. There are many features in the higher output 4 stroke motors that are more modern but at this power class the manufacturers are holding out...
Yeah so with a 3 blade 17" pitch prop i cruise about 48-50kmh at 4400rpm getting 2.3km per L and top speed is about 65kmh. This is probably the best prop for me as i do 90% or more of my fishing by myself. I find that if i load the boat up with 3 people and gear it is slow to get on the plane so i run a 4 blade 15" pitch for heavy loads and it does the job really well. Cruise about 43-44kmh at 4400rpm @ 2.1km per L and top speed is 61kmh.
Just need to figure out which one ticks more boxes for the application. ie weight, cost, servicing and power. I recon when you add up, not much difference in most categories.
What a lot of wasted hot air discussing 4st vs etec. They are all great engines. BPR dont need to develop 4s because their etec is already cutting edge. The Japs will eventually catch up but really, the japs dont make shit either. All manufactures learn from each others products and try to find an angle to better their own. It just seems the japs have longer lead times for newer tech, but the reality is that the etecs have come out first, for now. Automation on the production line also means less lemons. Computers dont say, it'll be right, its friday i want to go home, trust me, lol.
Come out first how ?
Always time for a etec four stroke discussion there’s been nothing uncivil here about either of them
Brp inherited factory’s geared towards making two strokes specifically Fichts and what ever two strokes were being made and tried to make the fichts work themselves but couldn’t so you ended up with what became the etec line
Brp have resold rebadge four strokes before in smaller hp sizes and just before the take over their were larger Johnson’s 90s from memory
The fact they are investing heavily to try and force their engines into transoms by buying boat manufacturers is a hilarious admission of struggling to get market share for their outboards
Never had an issue with my first outboard, I use to luv my seagull
I'd putt out to the 1 km mark,the tinny was pretty slow,, anchor up, fish for the day, started first pull, back home for a feed...
I was pretty young then,, wasn't interested in out boards much, not like today,,,, kinda an accessory that's gone over the top in some ways...
Boating has changed somewhat now, I don't think there's a bad engine made today......
Anyone heard of an old outboard called aeromarine ?? an old 60's fresh water job built in Canada from memory, picked it up for nothing, stripped it down got it going, was as proud as punch marrying it up to my first tinny to go for a trout fish, grandfather towed it to the lake for me, off I went, for 10 minutes she was a ripper,, Clamp system snapped and she ended up living with the trout, I was 13-14 I think..... couldn't class it as my first outboard, it never made the return trip,, But had years of pleasure from the old Seagull
My, How engines have changed and developed......
Col
For any kiwis here that know raglan bar.
My father and uncle went out in a 14ft timber clinker with a seagull and we were waiting for them to come back in
They couldn’t make headway to get back inside we’re just sitting there in the current trying to zig zag their way back in
They must only be 2-3 hp
The raglan bar, is one of the worst in NZ, in fact it's really only used by commercial boats. That was my learning ground, all the west coast bars, were treacherous, to say the least. Most small towns, constructed break waters, as the bars are just too dangerous, as indeed Raglan has, the name illudes me. The west coast, 1 km out, was equivelant to hitting the shelf on the east coast here, most days, we could only get 2 hours fishing in, due to the horrendous west coats whether. On that 1 km mark, you could catch anything from marlin to Mako, to your table fish, in fact they have a club there, all with tinny's, from raglan, some of the smallest tinny's you could imagine are pulling marlin and Tuna in.... a truly dangerous place to boat........
Col
ps.... Manu bay break water was the name, made because the raglan bar was impassable for anything less than commecial size..