Engine suggestions - Alweld 21' escort

[BKS72]

Guys, I'm looking to do some toy swapping. I've got a Lowe Husky 20' jon that's reached the end of the line for me. It's a great boat but I'm tired of the flat bottom and relatively narrow hull. Here is a link to the boat I'm looking at: http://www.alweld.com/escort_bay_boat.html

I just repowered it from a 1980 75 horse to a '95 115 crossflow that I rebuilt. My plan is to put the 75 back on it and sell it and put the 115 on the Alweld when/if I get it. Once I've saved some pennies I'll sell the 115 and repower the Alweld with a 175 to 200 horse motor.

I'm looking at putting a 2 stroke looper on it to get better fuel economy than a crossflow and avoid the $15k spend for a new E-Tec. As a bonus I could still work on the older motor if needed. I know the E-Tec offers a lot of advantages over the older 2 stroke as far as economy and ease of starting is concerned but it'd take a lot of fuel savings before it paid for itself.

From what I've seen on eBay and locally I think I could get a good used motor in the horsepower range I'm looking for for well under $4k. I want to avoid the Ficht motors since I want a unit I can work on without a laptop. What year motors would you recommend and why?

 

[wilde1j]

Re: Engine suggestions - Alweld 21' escort

You won't get appreciable better fuel economy with loop charged vs crossflow. If you want better fuel economy, E-tec or four stroke is the way to go. I have owned big cross flows, loopers and currently a pair of E-Tecs and the E-Tecs are the best hands down. E-Tec fuel economy is virtually the same as four stroke with way fewer parts.

The non-DI two stroke motors all burn ~ 10% of their HP expressed in gph @ WOT, regardless of motor technology.

 

[BKS72]

Re: Engine suggestions - Alweld 21' escort

You won't get appreciable better fuel economy with loop charged vs crossflow. If you want better fuel economy, E-tec or four stroke is the way to go. I have owned big cross flows, loopers and currently a pair of E-Tecs and the E-Tecs are the best hands down. E-Tec fuel economy is virtually the same as four stroke with way fewer parts.

The non-DI two stroke motors all burn ~ 10% of their HP expressed in gph @ WOT, regardless of motor technology.

Thanks Jim. I had read that the V4 60 degree loopers are better on fuel than the V4 crossflows and I assumed that held the same for the larger motors. I would love to have a new E-Tec on the back and probably will some day but I'm just too danged cheap

 

[wilde1j]

Re: Engine suggestions - Alweld 21' escort

With gas in the $4 / gal. range, cheap gets expensive. The reason I have E-Tecs is the fuel costs. It was either E-Tecs or four strokes when I repowered, solely for that reason. But, you may not use your boat much.

 

[BKS72]

Re: Engine suggestions - Alweld 21' escort

I use my boat quite a bit but I'm not running much, if that makes sense. 30 miles is a lot of running for me in a night of fishing and most of that is at a cruise speed, not WOT. The rest of the time is anchored up waiting on a big Missouri River bluecat to get hungry.