MacGregorSailors.com

To be blunt, you guys are scaring me. Watching the posts of late reveals a high degree of maintenance costs for the upkeep of the larger outboard motors; most notably what I thought to be the more reliable 4-stroke motors.

A year ago I sold my 95 26S in hopes of getting into a power sailor. In my 30 some years of trailer sailing however, a minimal amount of annual maintenance and cost; not much more than you would put into your lawn mower, was experienced for outboard upkeep.

Are these costs and reliability issues a real concern and part of the cost of ownership, or is this recent rash of problems isolated and just a spike in a normally mild curve?

BTW, a hip replacement and a Montgomery 17 refurb have delayed the power sailor dream a year or so. But I am back on the research path.

Steve S

my garden variety Merc Classic 50 two-stroke has cost me a bundle, both on electronics, and hydraulics. But is about 10 years old now ,,,

The outboard motor for the most part is very reliable. I have owned them for years and never had major problems crop up. I have a classic fifty also that has been trouble free for 20 years.

if changing the oil and filter, spark plugs or othe minor stuff is to much
to deal with then I agree dont get into this.

But if you look at it as part of the FUN then its added bonus when you change the water pump. Large engine small engine doesnt matter they all need TLC.

I was also concerned about maintenance. I looked at the owner's manuals for all the different makes. I bought the one with the lowest projected cost. My Evinrude manual says first visit to the mechanic is three years. Some say six months and frequest valve adjustments. Mine has no valves to adjust. The engine hasn't been in production to really set a track record yet. We shall see! I also got a free seven year warranty. So far it runs perfectly, I get 20MpH with no ballast, 3 foot chop, two crew and a portly captain.

I am not really sure of which post you are refering to.

ALL motors require maintance and, if allowed to sit for months, SHOULD have a winterization done to them. If these are not correctly done, then you will have problems in the future.

I do not know what your level of motor training is, but the more that you know and can do correctly, the less problems you will (most of the time).

The newer outboards are like your auto, they just go and go with little trouble unless you beat them.

Find a good outboard repairman for the make that you want and buy your motor from him and get basic training from him(her) and buy and read the service manual.

My 10 year old 1997 Mercury 50 hp Classic two stroke has cost me all of $18 so far for a tilt relay. Even has the original impeller and plugs in it. It looks and runs like new.

I prefer sailing so use it as little as possible. When I do, I always run it up to max rpm for at least five minutes. If on the hard for more than a month, I turn the engine over a half turn by hand to cause the impeller blades to rest on different positons.

I never winterize it. I use regular 87 grade fuel, and Stabil fuel saver to keep it from going bad over the year it takes to use up two tanks of fuel.

I run in fresh water, or rinse very thorougly with fresh if in salt. I never leave it down when not sailing or motoring

I use either Mercury Marine or Redline Marine synthetics for lubes.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for the replies. In retrospect I may have looked in the archives at motor maintenance issues and intermingled this (concentrated) information with the more current posts. At any rate, it is good to hear that the bigger motors are no more troublesome (if properly cared for) than the smaller outboards.

I have always done the maintenance on the motors myself and I would like to continue that; if only for the self reliance that I'd have half a chance to fix it if it broke down away from home. The only major difference I see is that removing the motor requires some kind of lifting assistance. Is there anything you have to routinely do to the motor that requires removing it?

At any rate, it is good to hear that the bigger motors are no more troublesome (if properly cared for) than the smaller outboards.

Uh, yeah. I doubt any engineer worth his sliderule could convincingly argue that a machine with triple the number of moving parts is no more "troublesome".
Now, "troublesome" is a funny word.
Are we talking just bolt out of the sky failure, or the "I let my motor sit for months at a time and never do anything to it" troublesome?
A 9-15hp kicker is cheaper to maintain and cheaper to fix when it breaks. There's less moving parts and the parts are cheaper, and you can reach them yourself. I'd guess an X/M is about twice the maintenance of a 26S/D with a kicker
If you're an "involved" owner with a 4 stroke 50 that could be OK. If it's an older but a two stroke, you still may be OK. Chip's two-stroke Tohatsu 50 sounds bullet proof with very little care and feeding. If you have a spankin' new 4 stroke and have never done anything, hey, hello, it's still new, talk to me in three years.
If you don't want trouble just do basic things. Don't let fuel get old. mine likes to be vertical on the trailer at home, the floats don't get stuck as easily. Run it regularly with ears. Check the oil, replace your impeller every 1-3 years, plugs, fuel/oil filter. The basics.

To disassemble, clean-out the gunk from my carburators ( 50 HP Mercury Bigfoot 1999) it cost just a bit less than $500.00. Most of it was for the 5 hours of laborat $98 per hour.. I wouldn't go to a place that says it takes them 17 hours to fix it. The carbs do not have to be rebalanced after the cleaning. I let my motor sit for too long while waiting for bottom painting, and two trailer repairs and an electrical problem.