Extended Cruising vs. Outboard Power

[Americat3014]

The tough part of the 20 or 100 hour maintenance would be the valve inspection if that is required on your outboard. On my 9.9, I would be reluctant to do that maintenance myself because of the removal of the flywheel and timing belt. So, look at what is required for your brand of outboard, may help you choose which one to buy. My dealer said to not worry about the first 20 hour valve adjustment because all they would find is whether it was set correctly at the factory and they have not found one yet that was off.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Americat3014

The tough part of the 20 or 100 hour maintenance would be the valve inspection if that is required on your outboard. On my 9.9, I would be reluctant to do that maintenance myself because of the removal of the flywheel and timing belt. So, look at what is required for your brand of outboard, may help you choose which one to buy. My dealer said to not worry about the first 20 hour valve adjustment because all they would find is whether it was set correctly at the factory and they have not found one yet that was off.

and you will know if you are having valve issues. It’s not going to stop the motor completely. It’s just going to change it a bit. Then you’ll know you need to adjust them.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Whoosh

Chris, to a degree I think what you're describing is self-inflicted pain.

Still, we do have control over this, right? Avoid most of the non-mission related systems, boxes and other geedunk. Hard to do, tho'.

I try to do most of my own maintenance and service, so that's why access is an important factor for me...

And it's one of the issues that can be addressed -- to varying degrees -- during the shopping phase.

Our approach has often been to "shop upward" in size (for features we want) until we get to the point where the builder added another stateroom. Stay just below that.



FWIW, electronics hasn't ever been much an access issue for us. Whatever fits on/in/under the dash, nothing else. "Hire a guy" to do the install -- since snaking wires is often the most difficult part. Live with it, 'til the next boat.



-Chris

[nofacey]

I guess it’s how you define cruising. To me, cruising is multi day open water transits - for which outboards would be my last choice.
- plus, I really don’t get the “servicing” side of a diesel requiring a mechanic. It’s an oil and filter change, then eyeball the belts; I have literally done it solo at sea. If you can’t handle that, then you need to get trained to before you leave sight of the dock.

Good Diesels are simple, durable & reliable beyond anything an outboard, even the best of today - they are radically different animals.

[Whoosh]

nofacey, you may have jumped in at one of the later pages of the thread. That's not the definition of 'cruising' we're exploring here. I've done the ocean crossings too and completely agree with you IF that was the neighborhood we would be playing in.

Grift, it sounds like you've poured a lot of thought and creativity - plus a bit of cash - into your retirement boat, and are very pleased with the results. Should I be so lucky! Good for you!

No valve adjustments in the 100 hr service with these larger, modern 4-stroke outboards, Americat. Thankfully!

Jack

[Grith]

Hi Jack We down traded houses and moved to retire from the most expensive state here in Australia, New South Wales, to the cheapest being South Australia buying a waterfront home for a third of my previous homes sale price. That’s how I got the time and money to spend on improvements to the yacht.
Housing here in Australia has recently risen stupidly in some locations and we cashed out of one of the craziest to retire.
By having a trailable cruiser we weren’t limited in selecting our retirement travel base home by our preferred choice of cruising grounds.
We very luckily still found a remarkably cheap waterfront home with some local cruising areas suitable to our yacht.
We have ended up on Australia’s equivalent to the Mississippi (The Murray River) but close to the huge freshwater lower lakes ( Alexandrina and Albert) and the mouth of the river is about 30 miles away.
I just comment here as Trailable Cruising be it power or sail or in my case both does open up a lot of different home location choices and perhaps save enough money on housing to indulge a part time cruising passion more effectively.

[Whoosh]

You've found the good life, Grith! Others should take note...

Jack

[Dave_S]

I looked at some big-ish cruising power boat options and there are some very impressive performance V's fuel burn purpose built outboard boats out there.

I would still find it hard to decide between outboard and diesel for a "power only" boat because diesels are so bullet proof, a ton of grunt, and with big props that have so much grip in the water.

Dollar for dollar. I'd probably prefer diesel.

[Grith]

If we are talking monster engines perhaps I would agree however my neighbour has a 28 foot trailable power cruiser similar in size and accommodation to my 28 foot trailable power sailer yacht with 115hp Yamaha Outboard. We have crawled over each other’s boats.
Yes he has a higher top speed but we have compared fuel economy notes and there is surprisingly little difference at moderate speeds.
He has just spent several weeks fixing a steering problem with a mate in his shed which cost him about US$2,000 and involved removing the engine.
Lucky he is a motorcycle racer and very handy.
He relayed the cheapest of the 3 quotes he got to do the job professionally was about US$ 10,000.
I could have a brand new Replacement Yamaha 115hp Outboard purchased and professionally installed in under one day and still have a chunk of change left over from that amount.
More importantly even perhaps is that in most places it’s under a days job and the engines are always readily available as are the outboard capable mechanics.
Conversely my previous 180hp turbo diesel with leg fitted version of my same yacht cost the previous owner around US$ 20,000 to purchase and install.
An engine out repair or replace would be prohibitively expensive again.
Having had back to back direct comparison between diesel inboard and an outboard with the same hull is what drew me to comment on this thread.