Re: Which V4 to go with?
The norm around here seems to be severely underpowered boats, most boats this size I see for sale have 50HP motors. That decision seems to be strictly price driven.
I paid $100 for the boat and trailer, it's in decent shape with no hull damage and no rot, but was sans the engine. I like the layout since it gives me plenty or fishing room and it's got a good flare on the bow which should make it a dry motor. The boat is a Renken 900, it measures 19' 2" long. Going by the waterline on the hull, it will only draft about 12" of water on average, less on plane. I can only judge the weight compared to my trihull for which I have the original sales brochure for and it's listed at 900 lbs sans motor. The Renken tows much heavier than that boat, and is nearly unmovable around the yard without hooking it to my truck. The trihull can be moved around by hand with no problems and it's on a similar trailer with more tongue weight than Renken. (I can lift the bow of the trihull off the trailer but can't budge the Renken).
I'd love to find more info on this boat, I have yet to see another like it either online or around here, and there's lots of Renken boats in this area.
I am not sure which motor is which type, I believe they referred to the 140 as a Crossflow motor and the smaller motors were looper motors?
The choices are an 88SPL, 90HP, 110SPL, 115, 120, 130 and 140HP. I have a 150V6 on another boat, but I haven't ran it yet. Its supposed to be a 150HP commercial engine, that boat is under construction. The last owner had started to install twin 80 gallon infloor tanks when I bought it, he had said that the twin 40's it came with weren't enough to get out and back with that motor. I can see his point since I had hooked it to a 3 gallon portable tank to test run it, it ran out of fuel after only a few minutes of running backed up to a test tank. It drank up 3 gallons of fuel in about 15 or 20 minutes on fast idle and while checking and tuning it.
I don't run very far and probably will never take this offshore, this is for the back bays and rivers, the biggest body of water it will see is the bay. Generally if its that rough I don't run, but since a storm can surprise you, I don't want to be super underpowered. The trihull has a 70HP Evinrude on it, about a mid 80s motor and it just plain flys, that boat is rated at 90HP and the 70 is more than enough. The speedo says 45, but I doubt if it's accurate. but in a light trihull, anything over 20 in choppy water feels fast. The Renken should be a smoother/drier ride and it should push easier being a V hull. The trihull has a lot of surface drag even when on plane. The 70 puts that boat on plane nearly instantly. The prop is a 13 3/4 x 15P. That boat sips fuel, I can run all day on 12 gallons and not worry about running low no matter how hard I run it.
I normally don't go out of the river with that boat and it stays in calm water. I have run it in the bay and have had it in some bad weather and chop, and it does increase the fuel usage, but never to the point where I have to be concerned with refueling while underway. I can carry 20 gallons in that boat and keep a spare 6 gallon tank full just in case, but have never needed the added fuel.
I realize that the Renken is heavier, but I still consider it a very light boat. I am used to boats that weigh in at over 10 tons, and ones that burn 25+ gal/hr. I got rid of those boats in favor of ones I can afford to run without concern for how much fuel I will burn.
Where I run there are no fuel stops, no on the water fillups, so I have to be able to make it out and back on what fuel I can carry. The boat will have a single 40gal bow mounted tank, and I'll probably carry a reserve tanks as well on longer runs, but there's a point where the added fuel will also cost you economy as well. The added fuel is about equal to another passenger, and having it up front will help both the ride and planing. Even with the 40 gallon tank, thats still a #130 fill up, even more at the docks if I go ocean side.
I have no problem with having the larger engine, but don't most two strokes prefer to run wide open?
I am used to Mercury/Mariner/Yamaha motors when it comes to ouboards, each of the ones I've had have been pretty much wide open performance only, they didn't do well at lower RPM's.
The 70Hp on the trihull is OK at lower rpms but it really comes to life beyond 3/4 throttle.
I really wish that this Renken was aluminum, but I take what I can find cheap when it comes to boats. The motor is where I spend the money. The motors that I am looking at are all from a landlocked lake area, so I don't have to worry about them being all corroded up either.
I did look at a 150 V6, but the added weight concerned me on an old transom, it's not rotted, and is aluminum framed, but it is an older boat and I wouldn't want to add any new stresses to it. I couldn't justify only 10 more horses vs the added weight. The V6 is quite a bit heavier than the V4, and a lot heavier than a 3 cylinder. While I don't doubt it would fly on this boat, I don't see the need for it here, there's really no place to open up a boat here, you cant go far without coming up on another no wake zone or other boats anchored up. If I get a straight mile of cruising at 25 mph I consider myself lucky most days. So speed is not much of a concern, but staying on plane with three guys, bait, coolers, ice, fuel, tackle, and any other items on board is. I pretty much am after the minumum size motor I can run and still be able to stay on plane. I think the 70HP 3cylinder would probably do it, but it would struggle, the old owner said they took out the larger tank in favor to two portables to save weight and gain speed, but that they never went more than a mile from the dock. I also have no idea how it was propped and if it was even running right. My only first hand experience is with a pair or earlier 115 V4's that chugged fuel pretty hard on a Mako center console that weighed about 5500lbs or so. That boat had two 40 gallon tanks and would burn through both in about 6 hours of normal running, but it would top out over 60 mph. A buddy has the same boat, and has about the same results. A day out in that boat costs about $200 in fuel plus oil. Not to mention the 20 gallons of fuel in the 454 Suburban to get the boat to the launch point.
I hope to use a smaller pickup, I have a 4x2 Ranger that should do fine, if not I have a full size van too. I don't want any boat that dictates the vehicle I drive.
I will be running in nearly all salt and brackish water, but launch about a mile upstream into pure freshwater most of the time, so the motor gets a good flusing out on the way home so salt isn't too big a concern and I never leave the boat in the water.
I was told that the larger motors, I believe the Crossover motors are better for saltwater for some reason, and that the commercial motors run much lower compression and lower rpms? Each of the motors I am looking at look like new, and came off of freshwater run boats that were upgraded due to a carburated 2 stroke ban that took effect someplace, so they are not rebuilds, and not just old tired used motors, most came off boats that were repowered with the same size or larger E-Tec motor. They are not super cheap, but they are clean and come from a reputable source. All have had the VRO removed and replaced with a standard pump, all are VRO era or newer motors. I get the impression that the VRO units were replaced when the engine was new, by the dealer.
That concerns me a little, as I have heard both good and bad about VRO. I have a few buddies that have them and have had no trouble, and yet a few that have had nightmares with them and removed them. I am not convinced its all the fault of the VRO pump. But either way, these are sans the VRO and have supposedly been only run on premix since new. It's not the only dealer that's told me that they disconnected all the VRO units when new after a few failed, so I guess thats not all that uncommon?
Is there any one V4 that stands out among the pack?
Is there any one that I should stay away from?
