New motor or new boat?

[MuskyTime]

Hello,

I have a 1992 Stratos 219W that is in great shape. I love the way the boat fishes and how it handles rough water. My problem is that the 1994 175 Intruder has very poor fuel economy and only gets about 2 miles/ gal @ ¾ throttle. Other Intruder owners have the same to report.

I’m debating on either getting a new motor (4-stroke) or do I get a used boat that has a 4-stroke already on it? If I get a new motor (thinking about getting a 175 Suzuki 4-stroke) I would plan on keeping the boat for at least 4 years. My only fear with getting a new motor is that I will never get half the cost back should I sell the boat.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Ed

[lkhartwl]

ok here is the skinny on the motor and boat thing. 1) that is a carb motor and it loves gas, tho you should be getting a little better mileage than you state. my 200 venom/gt gets about 5-6 miles a gallon. Have you had it decarbed and refreshed in the past year? if not you may want to.
2) getting a new motor will hit you in the pocket bad as it is a 1992 boat unless you are gonna keep it forever. now I ask also whay not get a rude or johnny 4 stroke for it ? or maybe a e-tech with 6 yr warranty?
3) if you go with a new( used boat) with a close to year motor you might be better off tho you will unless it is only a couple yrs old get a warranty and you may have a problem as a 4 stroke is about 2-3 times the cost of a carb or EFI to repair. also you will take a major hit on trading used for used.
Here is my suggestion and only worth a grain of salt...... first get the old motor decarbed and refreshed and then see how she does. if still crummy look for maybe a used rude ficht and sell your motor outright.
I want to also tell you this if you think you are gonna get 10+ miles per gallon you are dead wrong with any motor yes you will have some improvement but you have to realize that drag and the hi rpms even 4 strokes run mean more gas consumption than a car. if you ran you car at say 4500-5000 rpms all day or even part of the day your gas mileage in the car would go out the window. even if you troll with the big motor it is usually 1000 to 1500 rpms and that also is not the best rpms for preformance. Boat motors usually get the best mileage around the 3000 rpms. just pulled out my BAWB and opened to dang a suzuki test on a seafox flats boat its best mileage was at 3500 rpms and the gas was 5.2 miles per gallon and the gallons per hour were 4.8 and range for 60 gallons was almost 279 miles. so see it may not be all you think it may be. sorry to be a ballon buster , Steve

[MuskyTime]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the input!

When you say have the motor “decarbed” what exactly is involved with that? I know that my fuel economy won’t jump through the roof with a new motor, but I’m sick with the amount of gas I go through each summer. I take a trip to Lake of the Woods each summer for a couple weeks. I go through 22-26 gallons a day! @ 3.75 a gallon it adds up fast. This is with a RPM setting at 3500. I do love how my Statos fishes and rides and they don’t make the 219W style anymore. I am thinking of getting a 2-stroke as well but the cost is not much different between 2 and 4 strokes in the 175 HP range.

[lkhartwl]

refresh and decarb: a refresh is whare they take out the pistons and put new rings and clean up the cylinder walls, they also if done correctly will remove all carbon on the piston heads and allow for a better gas burn and freer movement of the pistons.
a decarb: can have the heads off and just clean the tops of the pistons and the heads and then new spark plugs , you can also do it with a bottle of decarb from your local rude dealer, but that only gets the newest stuff off not the old burned in stuff. once you get that done and new plugs and maybe plug wires and such you should see a little better mph and preformance. now again I will bring the boat into it that boat probably a deep v boat and with a deep v it takes more power to lift the front out of the water and on to plane. I just looked and in nada it says they made that boat in 1991 and in 1992 they changed the letter to a F , but anyway it will take a bit more HP and gas to get up and out. there is a major refresh needed on that motor as 44 miles for 22 gallons is a bit low , also how much tackle and junk do you carry with ya in it? a v hull does not distrubite the weight as well as a bass boat and you may be over loading it. If you have a local guy that is a good mechanic have him go thru it and clean it up you should be doing better with a decarb and a refresh. also it is a heck of a lot cheaper than a new engine.

[MuskyTime]

Thanks for the input Steve! I have a third option to think about now. LOL

It actually jumps on plane pretty good and I fish alone a lot. I have noticed a decrease in speed of about 5mph over the last couple years.

Ed

[Stratocaster]

You know Muskytime, I'm not sure but isn't there some issues with the additional weight of a 4-stroke?

[trisonmike]

I have a 92 254 with the original Evinrude 75. I can't burn an entire tank of gas in 1 day if I tried. My top speed loaded with gear and a buddy is 44 MPH. Not fast, but fast enough to do some great fishing. The fish dont know how fast my boat will run.
I add Sea-Foam to every other tank of gas. My motor will not smoke,and it got me 2 MPH more speed immediately after I started using it. It may be in my head,but the motor sounds smoother also.

[H2O_Fowl]

you can buy alot of gas for the price of a new 4 stroke motor to put on an older boat.