Best gps for boats/data coming for all who want it

[boater1234]

Well i will try to explain myself here as best as possible.Please read the whole thread as this may help a ton of people in the end.

I usually shop in the small outboard world like 20hp and under as i don't really like bigger boats and motors as i feel in my opinion they are to much work.

Here is the problem i have noticed.There is very little data or research on smaller motors as i have looked day and night for like 6mths at the 20hp 4stroke merc/tohatsu.What i mean is from a performance stand point.I also have seen in quite a few threads were a bunch of people are going through the same thing as they would like to get ideas of how much top end speed they will get on their boats,plus how much of a power difference is there from a 2stroke to 4stroke from the hole shot to wot.

This is what i am going to do.I have nothing but time on my hands and i buy and sell motors for a living but i never keep them long enough to test them as i usually get alot of gems for a great price.Plus i don't have alot of money to work with.Well that has changed a whole lot today as my father n law is going to be giving me a large sum of money to get my dream job of buying a whole lot of motors and reselling them as i want to do this for the rest of my life.

Well this is were all of you come in and want to know what type of perfomances you will get from your motor.I am going to buy a whole bunch of 2strokes and 4strokes from 2.5 up to 20hp and get some very accurate data,like [ TYPES OF SPEED DATA,EXAMPLE-0-20MPH TIMES ON ALL MOTORS,0-30MPH,HOW LONG IT TAKES TO PLANE OUT,WHAT KIND OF SPEED THROUGH THE RPM RANGES...ETC YOU CATCH MY DRIFT.I would like to know what is the best gps to use on the water that is a reasonable amount of money,also i don't think a gps shows rpms right?So i would need a really good tach to if anyone knows what i need.I will have a little money to play with for this stuff.Can someone lead me in the right direction for what i need for a reasonable price and were is the best place to get it.

I'm doing this to help people who want to buy smaller motors and can't find the data they need to make a decision on what they want.There is so much info on the bigger outboards but for some reason they forget the little people.


This is what i want to test as this is the most common questions i have read on here that people need help with.How fast should i expect to go?How will the hole shot be?what will be the difference between a 2stroke and 4stroke in the same motor class?

So this is what i will go for at the very least.
HOLE SHOT TIMES-2STROKE VS 4STROKE

WOT SPEEDS-2STROKE VS 4STROKE

0-20MPH TIMES 2STROKE VS 4STROKE

0-WOT TIMES 2STROKE VS 4STROKE

WHAT KIND OF SPEED OVER THE RPM RANGES 2STROKE VS 4STROKE

IF THIS INFO IS SOMETHING PEOPLE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW AND HAVE ALOT OF INTEREST IN CAN THEY PLEASE CHIME IN PLEASE.ALSO IF THERE IS ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT ME TO TEST FOR PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE AND I WILL TRY TO DO IT.I ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THIS AND NOW I HOPE I CAN HELP SOME PEOPLE ALONG THE WAY.

THANKS FOR ANY INFO.IT WILL BE A LITTLE BIT AS I MUST BY ALL THE STUFF I NEED AND A TON OF OUTBOARDS SO WHEN I GET THAT GOING I WILL START POSTING WHAT MOTORS I DID AND ALL THE DATA,PLEASE BE PATIENT WITH ME AS FAR AS GETTING THE DATA UP AS IT MAY TAKE A WHILE,IN THE MEANTIME IF ANYONE WANTS TO KNOW SOME SPECIFIC INFO JUST POST IT HERE AND I WILL SEE WHAT I CAN DO.

THANKS.

 

[JB]

Re: Best gps for boats/data coming for all who want it

Very ambitious, boater1234. You are going to spend many tens of thousands of bux on motors but want a "reasonable" price GPS. "Reasonable" means different things to different people, but for a good one plan on spending somewhere around $500.

Gps don't have built in stopwatches, so you will need one. You will also need some way to ensure consistency in using it.

You do realise that all the numbers you come up with will only be good for the boat, prop and rigging you are using at the time, or do you plan on buying a huge fleet of boats and a warehouse full of props to go with the huge number of 2 stroke and 4 stroke outboards?

Please forgive my skepticism. I am a fisherman. The things I care about in small outboards are user friendliness, noise, smoke, stink and economical operation. Things like seconds for a hole shot, WOT, 0-20 time, etc., etc. are of very little interest to me.

Though your question is about what GPS you want, most of this is about outboard testing, so I will move it to non-repair outboards.

 

[JimS123]

Re: Best gps for boats/data coming for all who want it

I'll try to address your question and refrain from comments re. your methods. I would guess that the only reason you want one is to check speed.

I am a fisherman and I often go 8-12 miles offshore in Lake Ontario. At times, the lake will turn over, resulting in pea soup fog. Thus, I need to navigate back to the inlet where the launch ramp is located. Second, if I find a school of fish and need to return to that spot, I need to be able to find it again. Since I can't even SEE shore, there are no reference points to go from.

I've used various Lorans and GPSs over the years, and last summer bought one that for my purposes is the best little thing I ever had. Less than 100 bucks, naturally it has no plotting capabilities, has very rudimentary maps and no bells and whistles, but it meets my requirements. Portable, works on batteries and has speed screen too. No need for a compass - you just look at the nav screen and it points to where you need to steer.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Garmin-eTrex-H-Handheld-GPS-Navigator/6015179

I looked quick and didn't see one on Iboats, so I googled it and WalMart came up first. I'm not recommending where you buy it.

Just be advised that if you use it in a river with a current, the GPS speed readings will be different depending on which direction you are heading.

There you have it - a dandy unit for motor testing and maybe you can use it for fishing too.

You also askled what else you need.... Obviously, your "data" will be useless without rpm and fuel flow numbers to go with it.

 

[windy5849]

Re: Best gps for boats/data coming for all who want it

I recently purchased an Electronic Specialities EZ Tach model# 328 and I'm very impressed with it.It is adjustable for two and four cycle engines with any amount of cylinders and has a clamp on inductive pickup or can be used optically.It is also a has a flashlight and is backlit for night use.I use it on ALL my small engines.Check it out,I purchased mine on Ebay for about $45.Hope this helps.

 

[Boatist]

Re: Best gps for boats/data coming for all who want it

You of course know that in that HP range the 2 stroke will be faster out of the hole and have a higher top end.
Two stroke will use more fuel, smoke more and make more noise.
Make sure you know that older motors HP was mesured at the power head and newer one are measured at the prop shaft.
So motor rated at the prop shaft will be faster than the same HP rated at the power head.

All GPS units have speed over ground not speed thru the water so any can work for you.

For TAC also look up Tiny tack.

Have fun.

 

[boater1234]

Re: Best gps for boats/data coming for all who want it

That is not true about a 2stroke will have a higher top end.If you look at most 2strokes compared to 4strokes the 4strokes yes are probally slower out of the hole but can rev higher as far as i have seen.Plus the 4strokes hole shots are getting better if not almost caught up to most 2strokes here lately.Most 2strokes have a wot at around 5500 and some do have it to 6000 but almost all 4strokes go to at least 6000 and higher except for a few.Also 15hp is 15hp a 150hp is a 150hp it's going to have the same top end if it's producing the same hp so i have read here from all the experts.If i'm wrong someone please correct me but that is what i read.Also in some cases since the 4strokes rpms go higher then 2strokes wouldn't they gain a few mph on the top end?Also in the small outboards they don't use much more fuel then you think,i'm 100%sure they do get better gas mileage but it is marginal from the test i have seen on boat test.com.At idle most 2strokes and 4strokes burn close to the same but at wot the 2stroke burns like 15 to 20%more fuel so they say at boat test .com as they tested a 15hp 2stroke vs a 15hp 4stroke yamaha and the results were so marginal in favor of the 4stroke of course.


The 15hp 2stroke merc i have barely smokes as i use 100% full synthetic oil and i'm actually breaking it in with double oil so i'm using twice as much oil and getting almost no smoke so when i can go to the right oil ratio of 50:1 it might not even smoke a bit.I'm running it at 25:1 now and almost getting no smoke.Plus it's extremely quiet for a 2stroke,it runs like a dream.I will do the best i can for everyone as far as testing the motors.I will write down what yr the motors are and all that good stuff.

The boat this all will be tested on is going to be a aluminum jon boat.I am going to find one on craigslist i can use for a demo boat so i don't care about beating it to death if that is what happens.I want to get a decent 14 or 16ft flat bottom or semi v which is still flat and it will be the 48"wide floor and a 70" beam so it will be able to handle the motors.If i can't afford all the things i need then at least i can do rpms and speed and time.Like i said i think some info will be better then none and if it helps some people along the way on deciding what they want then it was worth it to me.Hey at least i'm trying right.

 

[jhebert]

Re: Best gps for boats/data coming for all who want it

I believe that this is an announcement of something that will occur in the future. I have a few of those myself:

--In the future I am going to lose weight

--In the future I am going to carefully wash and wax my boat three times each season

--In the future I am going to retire and use my boat more often

When you collect and publish all this data, in the future, I may read it.

As for what GPS to use, I recommend using the Air Force's NAVSTAR system. It is the only global positioning system that I know of which is currently active and useful, but that might change in the future.

 

[boater1234]

Re: Best gps for boats/data coming for all who want it

Yes in the future,like in a month or maybe sooner as i can find a ton of motors fast.I travel all around my state of fl so it will take like a week to gather up like 5 to 10 motors then all i need is a gps and boat.I'm not going to buy some state of the art expensive system.I wil go to walmart or maybe west marine and see what i can find.I don't mind spending like $500 for all what i need and if it is a little more so be it.At least i'm trying to help is good enough for me.It gets very frustrateing when trying to buy a motor like 25hp and under as there is very limited research and tests done on them.Go on mercurys website and the only motor they have tested is a 15hp outboard 3 yrs ago and nothing since,yamaha is a little better as far as 20hp and up but under that there is very few tests,0 on hondas website and 0 on suzukis website so i figured any little info could help people.If not i will do it for me so i know how much difference there is between a 2 and 4stroke.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Best gps for boats/data coming for all who want it

That is not true about a 2stroke will have a higher top end.If you look at most 2strokes compared to 4strokes the 4strokes yes are probally slower out of the hole but can rev higher as far as i have seen.Plus the 4strokes hole shots are getting better if not almost caught up to most 2strokes here lately.Most 2strokes have a wot at around 5500 and some do have it to 6000 but almost all 4strokes go to at least 6000 and higher except for a few.Also 15hp is 15hp a 150hp is a 150hp it's going to have the same top end if it's producing the same hp so i have read here from all the experts.If i'm wrong someone please correct me but that is what i read.Also in some cases since the 4strokes rpms go higher then 2strokes wouldn't they gain a few mph on the top end?Also in the small outboards they don't use much more fuel then you think,i'm 100%sure they do get better gas mileage but it is marginal from the test i have seen on boat test.com.At idle most 2strokes and 4strokes burn close to the same but at wot the 2stroke burns like 15 to 20%more fuel so they say at boat test .com as they tested a 15hp 2stroke vs a 15hp 4stroke yamaha and the results were so marginal in favor of the 4stroke of course.


The 15hp 2stroke merc i have barely smokes as i use 100% full synthetic oil and i'm actually breaking it in with double oil so i'm using twice as much oil and getting almost no smoke so when i can go to the right oil ratio of 50:1 it might not even smoke a bit.I'm running it at 25:1 now and almost getting no smoke.Plus it's extremely quiet for a 2stroke,it runs like a dream.I will do the best i can for everyone as far as testing the motors.I will write down what yr the motors are and all that good stuff.

The boat this all will be tested on is going to be a aluminum jon boat.I am going to find one on craigslist i can use for a demo boat so i don't care about beating it to death if that is what happens.I want to get a decent 14 or 16ft flat bottom or semi v which is still flat and it will be the 48"wide floor and a 70" beam so it will be able to handle the motors.If i can't afford all the things i need then at least i can do rpms and speed and time.Like i said i think some info will be better then none and if it helps some people along the way on deciding what they want then it was worth it to me.Hey at least i'm trying right.

I think you had better "understand" what you read rather than just looking at numbers. 6000 rpm on a four stroke vs 5500 on a two does not mean the boat is faster. Four strokes tend to have a higher gear ratio (lower gear) to provide a reasonable chance of having a hole shot. That deeper gear takes more rpm to stay anywhere near a two stroke. As for 10 - 20% fuel economy difference you are also wrong in that regard. A two stroke or four stroke outboard will burn around 10% of its rated horsepower at WOT. To prove that go the Yamaha web site (Performance Bulletins) and look at fuel consumption data for both two strokes and four strokes on the SAME BOAT. Then while you are looking at the charts, take note of the fact that a two stroke at nearly any rpm is pushing the boat faster than a four stroke at the same rpm. And also take note that because of that you cannot compare fuel consumption at equal rpm. Try comparing it at equal speeds. You will find the fuel consumption comes even closer. So you see -- numbers are nice but you need to understand what they actually mean.

 

[boater1234]

Re: Best gps for boats/data coming for all who want it

Well i just went on yamahas website and there is a bunch of different data there and i saw a few motors that burned close to 10% fuel at wot whether it was a 2stroke or 4stroke.But the majority of all the motors whether it was a 2 or 4stroke burned over 15 to 20% fuel at wot.Also there were quite a few boats that the 4stroke was faster then the 2stroke at certain rpms and at wot.It's not that big a deal what burns what to me as i'm doing this to help people get data so they can pick a motor based on tests.Are they going to be 100% accurate probally not but i will try to get as close as possible.Also i got the 15 to 20% fuel difference from the 15hp yamaha 2stroke to 4stroke from boattest.com.I'm not argueing your points and i was simply just asking some questions that was it.I can care less who is right or wrong.

I just want to try and help with data on small outboards if i can and i will do the best i can at getting the most accurate readings.If i'm off by a little at least someone can look at it and see what motor does what.There is very little to no research on small outboards so i want to try and put some data up,thats all i want to do.