Thinking of repowering 99 Osprey 245 TM....need advise

[levelhead]

My  1999 245 Osprey has a 99 Johnson 200 Ocean Pro on it and I think its time for a new motor. I was considering a 2012 Evinrude 300 I-con ......uses the same mount holes and with the I-con I don't have to pull new shift/throttle cables into the overstuffed rigging tube...... But I'm worried about all the negative reports about powerhead failures due to Ethanol gas. Whats the true story? Any other problems with the new Evinrudes ?
I'm also considering the Honda 225 and Verado 300....what do you think?

[Circle Hooked]

This is a question I've asked myself with my boat, If your concerned about weight (those Honda's are heavy ) and the new Yamaha's are getting lighter,  I've heard enough bad things about E tecs to scare me alittle, Merc Opti Max is a good option as far as weight and you could do twin 125's or 150's for about the price of a 250 in any brand.

[seabob4]

Level,
Let's look at it this way.  People who have good experiences with motors, widgets, blenders, whatever, usually do not start threads to say how GOOD their experience has been with them.  So really, all we read is the one's that have had a bad experience.  No, I'm not defending Evinrude, just stating what you already may know...

So, that being said, you have a decision to make.  Do you stick with BRP and save in rigging costs (although the rigging is a BIT different with I-CON, and a whole lot more money!), or do you swap brands, say Yam, Opti, Vrod, and factor in the rigging swap over as part of the deal?  And BTW, you're going to have to run some new rigging anyway with the I-CON system.

Going with twins, you'll also have to do some work on the boat to accept them.  Patch the old mounting holes, add another rigging port, tie-bar for the steering, and another set of gauges (need a new gauge panel).  

If she were my boat, and I very well may have built her, I'd de-rig entirely, hang a pair of 200 Optis on her (the hell with the capacity plate!), and be done with it.  Maybe even a pair of 200 baby Vrods...

[levelhead]

Problem is ....I don't know how much truth there is in the " Evinrudes blow up" reports...nobody up here has a late Evi ....any forum guys have any direct experiences with  later model Evinrudes?
I know I have to pull the I-con wire harness...but alot less hassle than 2 new shift/thottle cables....and... I'll never have to worry about stinking sticking cables again.
A friend has had big problems with his Opti.
I don't want to install twins.....price and the quality of the local dealers dictate its Evinrude or...  Honda or Verado (both of these are "drive by wire" also I'm told.)  
How are the late model Hondas and Verados holding up?

[seabob4]

Problem is ....I don't know how much truth there is in the " Evinrudes blow up" reports...nobody up here has a late Evi ....any forum guys have any direct experiences with  later model Evinrudes?
I know I have to pull the I-con wire harness...but alot less hassle than 2 new shift/thottle cables....and... I'll never have to worry about stinking sticking cables again.
A friend has had big problems with his Opti.
I don't want to install twins.....price and the quality of the local dealers dictate its Evinrude or...  Honda or Verado (both of these are "drive by wire" also I'm told.)  
How are the late model Hondas and Verados holding up?

Hondas are damn near bullet proof, but they are NOT fly-by-wire...hell, they won't even put out a 300!  The fly-by-wires are Zuke 300s, Vrods (and some few year old Optis), I-CON equipped Rudes, and Yam 300/350s.

You should drive a Verado powered boat.  You WILL be impressed...  

[Circle Hooked]

Bob Honda's aren't fly by wire yet ?

[wingtime]

You should drive a Verado powered boat.  You WILL be impressed...  

That is for sure.  I drove a Jupiter 31 with twin 250 VRODS once.  Unbelievable.  Super smooth, quiet, and POWERFUL.  At idle you could barely hear them running.  The flyby wire controls take some getting used to... but they are VERY nice.

[seabob4]

Bob Honda's aren't fly by wire yet ?

Nope.  Their website says they are NMEA 2K compliant now...all that means is you can pull engine data up on your MFD...

[seabob4]

You should drive a Verado powered boat.  You WILL be impressed...  

That is for sure.  I drove a Jupiter 31 with twin 250 VRODS once.  Unbelievable.  Super smooth, quiet, and POWERFUL.  At idle you could barely hear them running.  The flyby wire controls take some getting used to... but they are VERY nice.

Bruce,
The DTS binnacle is sweet, much better than the Zuke electronic binnacle.  I had a chance to run one of the first I-CONs back in '09, rigged this little girl...



PL 32 Pilot with 300 Etecs.  The binnacle is basically a Teleflex i6003 binnacle, which is pretty smooth in it's own right...

Running DTS binnacles makes cables seem cavemanish...

[Circle Hooked]

That looks like a sweet boat.

Bob just re read this post, whats was the base motor on a 245, wasn't it a 225, a 200 seems small, heck it is on my boat.

[wingtime]

Running DTS binnacles makes cables seem cavemanish...

You can say that again.  Coupled with the power steering you can drive the boat with two fingers...

[seabob4]

That looks like a sweet boat.

Bob just re read this post, whats was the base motor on a 245, wasn't it a 225, a 200 seems small, heck it is on my boat.

Scott,
Base was a 200, virtually all rigged with 225s in single form.  We weren't dealing with Yam at the time (can you say someone didn't pay their bills?), so there was no 250 out there to rig.  The very best set-up, IMO, was twin 150s, either OMCs or Mercs.  She'd easily handle twin 200s, as I've stated before.

But nowadays, a 245/250 Explorer or Osprey would be a perfect candidate for a single 300.  All the benefits of the HP of twin 150s, at about 2/3 of the weight, less drag...I mean, I'd throw a 300 Zuke or Vrod on the back and not worry a bit about reliability in relations to twins versus a single, i.e. get homeability.  Today's OBs are so much more reliable than those of yesterday.

[seabob4]

That looks like a sweet boat.

She was the one I had the most influence on at PL.  Some more pics...













Only built 3 of them.  A real shame, as she was a winner!  And 300s pushed her 50+!!

Hey, I know this is a bit of a de-rail, but Scott made the comment!!!

Really, this boat was a goddam kickass boat, and would have had a hell of a market in the NE, NW, the Great Lakes, had the marine market not took a huge dive.  Just thought I'd put it out there...

[pete]

nice design Bob,that would give Parkers some competition,prolines were probly cheaper,and they only built 3?

[Circle Hooked]

Was a generator and ac an option on that boat ?