what outboard?

[beau]

I am about to purchase two thirty HP outboards for my Power trimaran.
This is for long range cruising.
I have a choice between Honda, Suzuki, Yanmar and Mercury.
The Mercury is the only one with EFI (electronic fuel injection) I would assume that EFI is better than carb's.
I would prefer the japanese, particularly Honda but I do like EFI.

Any comments?

[SkiprJohn]

Just my point of view but it is hard to fix EFI in remote areas unless you are really a great electric/mechanic.

JohnL

[ssullivan]

I 2nd what John said. You want to stick with low-tech so you can do things like soak your gummed up carb to clean it out, or just swap out the parts. The more common/simpe of an outboard you get, the more parts you will find as you cruise.

[charley]

Honda would be the way I would go, bullet proof motor. EFI would be great for fuel efficiency however have you ever rebuilt an EFI system no fun.

[Inthewind]

What ever you choose, make sure they are four stroke as they are quieter and much more fuel efficient and you don't add two stroke oil. Fuel injection is nice as fuel injected motors start easier and may be smoother throttle on power. For the most part they are very dependable. Fuel injection is more complicated if they ever have problems because they are electronically controlled by computer chips. I am partial to carbed motors because I like to keep things simple. As far as yanmar goes, I thought those outboard diesels were only made years ago but I have heard good things about them. Does Yanmar make new ones now? All the motors on your list are good, maybe you should compare prices and which one has the best warranty. I am partial to Yamaha motors.

[beau]

inthewind
I have looked at Yanmar diesels but two motors (I will not go to sea with one motor on the boat either diesel or gasoline) will cost me US$36,000
whereas I can buy new four stroke Hondas for US$9,000.
The $27,000 buys me one hell of a lot of gasoline.
Outboards are safer than gas inboards and the fuel tanks are built into the hull. I will have a cruising range of 2,000 nautical miles.

The other reason I want outboards is that I want to be able to Tilt the motors up as the draft on the boat is only 12 inches and has a heavily reinforced bottom so I can let it dry out on the beach.

[Inthewind]

I think in your case that twin outboards would be to your best advantage financially. Yes you can buy alot of gas for the price difference. I thought you were refering to Yanmar diesel outboards as your first post implies. You must have been refering to Yamaha and not Yanmar.

[beau]

your right I did say Yanmar but I really meant Yamaha.

Once I get this project up and running, I hope to sell a couple of similiar boats and I will be offering Yanmar diesels as on option, for those who "NEED" diesel.
The 39ft powered aluminium trimaran will cuise at 10knots with one motor and 20 knots with both motors. The boat will fit inside a 40ft container so I can freight it anywhere.

[emeraldsea]

Sounds like an interesting boat. I've had a 90merc 4 stroke, (carburated) for 5 years and its been great.

[44'cruisingcat]

EFI is more fuel efficient, quicker starting , smoother running, but is much more sensitive to dirty fuel, water in the fuel etc, and much harder and more costly to fix.

You need to work out what criteria is important to you. Is it weight, transom height, or low gear ratio/big prop.

I've been looking at outboards in the 20-25 hp range for my cat, and the Honda 20's are the lightest, (a little over 1/2 the weight of the Yamaha 25 HT) and have the longest shaft length. That's what I based my comparison on. If I were looking in the 30 hp range, I'd probably go with the Yamaha 25 high thrust, it has a bigger footprint, and a lower gear ratio. The Honda 30 is still lighter than the Yam 25, but it doesn't come in an extra long shaft. (Not in Aus anyway.)

[schoonerdog]

I drove a PDQ 36 which was powered exclusively by outboards up and down the ICW twice and to the bahamas and cuba. I got to be an outboard test lab. I had over the years an evinrude, yamaha, honda and nissan. After a few thousand miles I've got to say nothing compared with the yamahas for reliability. Nothing else would start on the first try, every time. A couple caveats on the yamaha four strokes though, I would put in a water filter and a gas filter. They are very sensitive to water and bits of sand. The two stroke enduros are more tolerant of dirty fuel. But with clean fuel yamahas are simply great, I'd honestly have considered getting a catamaran powered by yamahas outboards again instead of diesels, they were that good. The evinrude was so freakin horrible I can't find the words to describe it(the four stroke 9.9 model which they produced just before going bankrupt), the honda was good, and the nissan ok. But nothing else started so consistently as yamaha, and nothing else worked out with such an even and consistant power distribution. No constant finicking with the idle like I had to do with all my other outboards to get a nice and reliable slow idle. The best testimony though were from remote mechanics in the outer bahamian islands who only liked the yamahas, and only kept parts for them. They depended on them for everything. Another word, it's an aluminum head engine, after 1500 hours it's best to swap out for a new engine before you have a lot of expensive repairs.

[senormechanico]

I agree about dirty fuel. About the only problem we ever experienced while cruising Mexico was dirt in the dinghy fuel. Even with an added inline filter, I had to disassemble the carburetor on a regular basis.

Steve B.

[GordMay]

National Marine Manufacturers Association Press Release:
EPA Seeks Comment on Proposed Rule for Marine Diesel Engine Emissions
The EPA proposal would require gas marine engine manufacturers to meet new emission standards beginning in 2009 and boatbuilders to reduce evaporative emissions from boat fuel systems. Under the proposal, outboard and PWC engines will have to be certified to the same stringent exhaust emission standards that will be required by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
Goto:
NMMA - NMMA - News Center

The EPA rule is called "Control of Emissions from Non-road Spark Ignition Engines and Equipment", and if passed, could impact boatbuilders, gasoline engine manufacturers (outboard and inboard/sterndrive) and manufacturers of marine generators.
Goto:
Gasoline Boats and Personal Watercraft | Nonroad Engines, Equipment, and Vehicles | US EPA

[Bear Essentials]

Originally Posted by beau

I am about to purchase two thirty HP outboards for my Power trimaran.
This is for long range cruising.
I have a choice between Honda, Suzuki, Yanmar and Mercury.
The Mercury is the only one with EFI (electronic fuel injection) I would assume that EFI is better than carb's.
I would prefer the japanese, particularly Honda but I do like EFI.

Any comments?

Beau,

In response to your question, may I suggest a Tohatsu (aka Nissan)? They come in 25, 30 and 45 horsepower configurations, are very light, EFI, and according to everyone I've talked to about it, are totally bulletproof.

You said you wanted a Japanese make and this fits the bill. They are EFI and run forever. On some of the other forums people rave about them. I have one and I can attest that after almost no maintenance from the previous owner (he admitted it to me, strongly suggested that I take it in for a tuneup). An authorized Tohatsu repair technician said that it was a waste of time - the bloody thing was in great condition. Only needed a small plastic part (forgot what it was) after two years of running. The technician also said that you never see a used one for sale as people tend to keep them until they turn to slag.

Totally realize that you'll weigh your options and come up with, for you, the right choice. But if I were looking to do what you intend to do, I would put the Tohatsu brand at the top of my list. Best of luck!

Regards,

Lee and Terry
Bear Essentials
Miami FL

[Gator81]

Understand you meant Yamaha rather than Yanmar. I've had most excellent experience with late-model Yamaha's.

As for the EFI vs carb debate, even tho I'm a hardcore DIY kind of guy that's taken apart and fixed carbs in all kinds of conditions, I have to go for the EFI. While it may be true that major malfunctions of an electronic control nature are essentially not diagnosable and therefore not repairable when out and about, I think that in the end you need to look at the over all Mean Time Between Failures. I don't know where to get that data, maybe from Yamaha, but I think you'll find that in real-world conditions, the EFI 4-stroke engines have the greatest MTBF statistics.

Think of it this way: with carbs, you can probably fix the problems, and you'll need to, because they come along more often. With EFI, you will likely not have any problems, but if you do, now you just have another boat anchor (and a pricey one, at that!).

I think the thing with the EFI 4-strokes is that you become an absolute nut about clean fuel and spare filters.