I went out of Port Oconnor on this boat in July. 3 saltwater Mercury 225's and we went out 55 miles with not a hiccup. The owner said he is very happy with the motors.






Go to http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/elite/news/story?page=b_sweeps_hottest_rig_boats_ab
If you will notice the pro's boats are powered by 46 Mercury's, 24 Yamaha's, and 10 Evinrudes.
I don't know what you want to take from this but the pro's are running Mercury .

NICE BOAT!! That's like mine but bigger. I would love to see what all the pros use about 6 or 7 years after the E-tec came out. No doubt Mercury WAS the motor to buy. I have had many people email me becuase of this thread and they all say the E-tec has performed as advertised. One gentleman said that his E-tec is older than all his friends motors which are Mercs and Yamahas and his is the only one that hasn't been in the shop. Sounds good to me.

Nice boat, but i'll guess he pays for it with another business...not guided fishing trips.

My point is this, "real" fishermen as Cash refered to are folks that use their motors for a living. I'm alluding to crabbers and inshore shell fishermen. They run their motors 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. Sometimes put over 3,000 hours a year on the motor.

I've never seen a crabber on the Texas or Louisiana coast who does not run a Yamaha. They all do. They do it because the Yamaha is the most dependable motor on the market. It's not the cheapest nor is it the most reasonable to work on. However, it's the most reliable.

If I bought a new boat today, I would hang a Yamaha on it.

You've never seen my uncle then. Suzuki.

I knew that was coming...I have seen a Suzuki in Rockport on a crab boat. 1 of them.

I'm not saying shell fishermen don't use other outboards, however, 95% of the outboards I see on shell boats are Yamis.

Nautilus, personally I don't think you can go wrong with the E-Tec from everything I have read. As far as service, I have never taken my boat there but have talked to Tommy Yetts over the phone and he was a tremendous help. Everyone on here that has dealt with him can't say enough good about him though, so I believe your warranty service worries should be covered.

Go buy your motor and boat and give me a call and so we can go fish so I can give you my approval.....

Dennis

Catfish, he lives there at Port Oconnor and at $1350 a day, and he stays pretty booked, he probably pays for most of it guiding at least.
He was a great guide by the way if anyone goes down there. We had six of us on the boat and loaded up, and he worked hard for us to catch fish and have fun.

Very interesting post. We all have had our experiences good and bad, and they are all valid but unique. I have a Merc ( my 1st and last). I have friends with Yamahas that love them and friends with merc's that love them. I didn't like dealing with my Merc dealer or the Factory rep...at all. That's why I won't buy another. I could have similar problems with other brands.?. I am however a devoted 2 stroke guy. I WONT buy a 4 stroke! So Evinrude certainly has my attention. A 2 far surpasses the 4 in perfrmance, wt and mechanics. Evinrude is still "developing" 2 strokes. All other mfgrs have scrapped 2's for 4's...and remember it is solely based on emmissions and govt reg's. CARB laws were enacted for emmission control only. The mfgrs have gone to 4 strokes to reduce emmissions, the rest of the sales pitch is just that. I hope the e-tec is all it appears to be because Evinrude is the only mfgr left that hasn't switched their whole line to 4 strokes. Just my humble opinion.

Erik

Well, I bought a 200hp Etec with 36 minutes on it for $10,000 shipped from FL. I LOVE THE MOTOR!!! The fuel line was sliced and leaked out countless gallons of fuel the first day but once I got it figured out and installed the Seastar hydraulic steering, I was having a great time!! It pushes my 22' heavy CC with 500lbs of fuel, 35 gallon bait tank, 3 people, lots of gear, a full cooler, two anchors, and 4 batteries to about 48 MPH and the RPMs aren't even where they're supposed to be. I'm only getting it up to 4800rpm due to the wrong prop so I'm expecting it to get much better soon. The motor is VERY quiet and sounds clean and mean when at full throttle. I very much appreciate all of you guys' help in the matter and I think I definitely made the right descision......I love it!! I'll get some pictures today or tomorrow and post them for you guys. I'd have to say the motor deserves a better boat but I'm already working on getting a 2400 Skeeter CC....it'll just be a little while before I can afford it.

Congratulations. Now catch something!

That almost sounds like a comment from a mechanic that isn't getting much business from Evinrude motors.

Nautilus,

Get some quality trim tabs on your boat. It'll improve the performance even more. Might even hit 50mph. Good Luck!

Better you than me. I have two friends that have had the same issues and one of them has had the problem twice. I will stick to what I know...Mercury or Yamaha