Hey guys, just wanted to get some feedback on something. I've had my 1993 Nitro with a 150 Fast Strike for almost a year now. When I bought it from a friend of mine, he put a brand new lower unit on it, so that's good. However, over the past few months I have fought a problem that just won't seem to go away.

The problem (that I've mentioned on here actually) is that the boat intermittently stalls when put in gear. You never know when it will do this. Most of the time it's when the motor is warm and has been run a while. Had a mechanic work on it and he replaced the idle jets. Worked fine for a few weeks. At a tournament last weekend, had to leave early due to the same issues, so obviously it's not fixed. Now the mechanic is thinking it's something deeper in the powerhead, like a seal or piston problem. So, here's my question:

Since I don't owe too much on the boat, should I just attempt to sell it to somebody with full disclosure on the issue (that it runs, but intermittently has this problem), or should I continue trying to get it fixed, knowing that continuing to replace certain things on it and spending money on it may or may not fix the problem. I don't have all the cash in the world to keep dumping into it, especially if it's not fixing the issue. I would really love to just get something newer and start over. I've even looked at brand new bass trackers or possibly even the Nitro Z-6 (small boat, but new nonetheless). What do you think? Should I hang in there and keep trying to fix the problem on a boat that is almost 20 years old, or just cut my losses, sell it at an extreme discount to somebody that's willing to take on the issue, and move on to something newer?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

If you can fit a new boat into the budget,,why not. Cary

Have all the fuel lines been replaced, changed fuel filters?

i'll give ya 500.00 for it

The first thing that I would do is change the SHIFT INTERUPTER SWITCH. It is located on the shift linkage under the cowling. What it does is kill three cylinders on ignition so you don't hit the lower unit with too much power. Those engines and Mercrusier uses that switch. It makes for the lower unit to last longer but at the same time whenever it does not work properly it either makes the motor fall flat on it's face or kill the engine completely.

If the hull is in good shape, I'd try to fix it. My guess is either Mike's right about the switch or the VRO could possibly be the problem. Doesn't sound like exactly the symptoms I had when my VRO went out, but very similar. I have an Evinrude Intruder 115, which is the V4 version of your motor.

Is that something that can be done semi-easily by somebody like me, that's not too terribly mechanically inclined? I sure wish I had more ability than I do, so that I could start changing stuff out on my own. The mechanic is backed up about a week at this point, so I'm getting a little anxious.

Patriot, thanks for the info. By the way, I didn't mention this, but the VRO was bypassed on this boat before I bought it, so fortunately I can rule that out. Since it happens sporadically, I'm assuming it couldn't be a spark plug issue?

Trade it plus some cash for my boat??? lol

So far I'm leaning towards trading it in/selling it, especially since my mechanic is backed up. One thing that ought to help me out is that the lower unit is less than a year old. That should count for something.

Even a newer boat will have it's own issues. Time to sit down with pen and paper and figureout with bigger payments on a new/newer boat how much you will save by fixing this boat.

But realize once you fix this problem others will pop up. It's the nature of the beast with boats.