honda 50 vs etrc 60

jjbuoni

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 24, 2005
Messages
37
I am looking at an alumnacraft 165 dominator cs max hp is 90. I am looking at 2 different dealers one has it with a honda 50 the other with a etrec 60.

My gut feeling is to go with the honda ( now has a 5 yr warranty) any input would be much appreciated.

Thanx in advance.
 

seahorse5

Rear Admiral
Joined
Jan 24, 2002
Messages
4,698
Re: honda 50 vs etrc 60

Check with your dealer, E-TEC also has a 5 year warranty promotion going on.
 

Silvertip

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Sep 22, 2003
Messages
28,771
Re: honda 50 vs etrc 60

You would be wise to rethink your power choices. 50HP is way underpowered for that boat and the 60 Etec would be not much improvement. The rule of thumb is power with no less than 75% of rated maximum HP. 75% of 90 is 67.5 HP. 75 HP engine is highly recommended. The dealer is talking you into a 50 or 60 strictly on price -- and is disregarding the marginal performance. Put a load in that boat and it will struggle to get on plane and have marginal top end. That boat weighs around 1200#. I have a Navigator 165CS which is 300# lighter and is powered by a 75HP Merc two stroke. The link below is to Alumacraft's web sight. Unfortuanately they don't have a 165 Dominator test but I can assure you, my boat pretty much mirrors this performance test with the exception of speed. Mine is faster. My Navigator initially had a 50HP motor on it and it was a slug which is why it now has the 75.

http://www.alumacraft.com/performance/165Nav75ETEC.pdf
 

gss036

Commander
Joined
Jan 18, 2003
Messages
2,914
Re: honda 50 vs etrc 60

I would agree 100% with Silvertip on this. Always better to have tooooooooo much power than not enough, does not mean you have to use it at full throttle, cause mid range (60-75%) RPM will give you a lot better fuel milage.
 
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