 KB7DX
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Posted: 6/1/2012 10:13:21 AM
While I don't have any specific info on the boat itself, the Yamaha outboards seem to be very reliable. I can't recall ever seeing one with major issues. Granted, we aren't a Yamaha dealer, but see 6 or 8 a year in the shop for minor repairs/maintenance. If the hull looks good and not rotted out, I wouldn't be afraid to buy a used Yamaha outboard...after a "sea trial" of course.
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rike
Florida, we'll eat your face.
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Posted: 6/1/2012 10:26:52 AM
Good advice.
No sea trial no buy. Period. |
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Posted: 6/5/2012 7:58:02 PM
[Last Edit: 6/5/2012 10:34:44 PM by wshbrngr]
First, this is a great thread. - thanks for any help you can give.
OK, the wife unit has talked me into buying another boat. It's been about 10yrs since I owned a boat (and it was an old Bayliner w/a 2-stroke) - WOW things have changed. No more mixing oil and gas.... e-techs, optimax, the 4-strokes are pretty quiet.... We finally found a bay boat we both could agree on. 2009 NauticStar Model 1810 - 18'2" w/90HP 4-stroke Yamaha outboard (also 2009) I know it has been used in salt water, everybody here pretty much goes to the coast. Redfish bay is a big lure. 
That being said, it is a very clean looking boat, no corrosion, no rust on the boat, motor or trailer. Hull looks new, no cracks, no scrapes, no oxidation, transom looks fine. I pretty much followed all your suggested checks, except running the engine. We are buying from a dealer, he is servicing the boat this week and we have a sea trail set for Friday morning to complete the transaction. If all goes well, we are bringing it home (after a weekend of fishing) I downloaded the Yamaha owners manual and have read through the operating instructions. I will check what RPM's we get at WOT and will have a GPS with us to check the MPH. (According the the spec sheet for this boat, it should do ~40MPH@6000RPM). There is a water pressure gauge for the motor and Yamaha states anything over 11psi is OK. I also downloaded an i-Touch app from Yamaha, entered the S/N for the outboard and it confirmed that this motor was sold with this boat. (It gives the boat hull number and where & when it was purchased) Gotta love technology.
Any other advice or things to look out for? |
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KB7DX
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Posted: 6/6/2012 12:00:57 PM
Looks like you have it covered. The water pressure at idle may be lower than 11 PSI, don't sweat it as long as it makes 11+ PSI when running WOT and doesn't overheat during an extended idle period. Is the engine an EFI unit or carbureted?
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Posted: 6/6/2012 12:07:38 PM
Originally Posted By KB7DX:
Looks like you have it covered. The water pressure at idle may be lower than 11 PSI, don't sweat it as long as it makes 11+ PSI when running WOT and doesn't overheat during an extended idle period. Is the engine an EFI unit or carbureted? It is a F90TXR - EFI We have been seriously looking at boats for about 3 months now, I have not found any major complaints about this engine. |
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KB7DX
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Posted: 6/6/2012 12:30:56 PM
Ok, I was just curious. The Yamaha's have a good reputation, so good that Mercury uses Yamaha powerheads on their 4-stroke outboards...they just paint them black.
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akethan
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Posted: 6/6/2012 12:44:47 PM
Originally Posted By KB7DX:
Ok, I was just curious. The Yamaha's have a good reputation, so good that Mercury uses Yamaha powerheads on their 4-stroke outboards...they just paint them black. Not anymore. Merc used to buy their powerheads from Yamaha but since Brunswick tried to sue Yamaha for flooding the market with motors Yamaha has cut them off. Most Merc 4-strokes are now built in China and some in Japan. Their smaller HP motors are made by Tohatsu. Yamaha motors are very reliable. We sell 150-175 of them a year and our warranty is just about zero. |
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akethan
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Posted: 6/6/2012 12:48:43 PM
Originally Posted By wshbrngr:
Originally Posted By KB7DX:
Looks like you have it covered. The water pressure at idle may be lower than 11 PSI, don't sweat it as long as it makes 11+ PSI when running WOT and doesn't overheat during an extended idle period. Is the engine an EFI unit or carbureted? It is a F90TXR - EFI We have been seriously looking at boats for about 3 months now, I have not found any major complaints about this engine. Have your local Yamaha dealer plug it into their laptop. You can see how many hours are really on the engine and at what the RPM the motor was used the most at. Including any codes that may have occured. |
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KB7DX
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Posted: 6/6/2012 1:14:56 PM
Thanks for the correction akethan. I figured it was just a matter of time before the Chinese infiltrated the marine industry.
 At least they are copying a good engine. I knew Tohatsu made the smaller 4-strokes but didn't realize the Chinese had taken over the larger powerhead production. When I was at Merc-school 2 years ago they referred to the 4-strokes as their M I C product (Made In China) but I was under the assumption that Yamaha had moved production to China. Merc likes to keep us in the dark about alot of things.. |
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Posted: 6/6/2012 1:56:18 PM
Originally Posted By akethan:
Originally Posted By wshbrngr:
Originally Posted By KB7DX:
Looks like you have it covered. The water pressure at idle may be lower than 11 PSI, don't sweat it as long as it makes 11+ PSI when running WOT and doesn't overheat during an extended idle period. Is the engine an EFI unit or carbureted? It is a F90TXR - EFI We have been seriously looking at boats for about 3 months now, I have not found any major complaints about this engine. Have your local Yamaha dealer plug it into their laptop. You can see how many hours are really on the engine and at what the RPM the motor was used the most at. Including any codes that may have occured. Good idea, thanks. I believe the engine has 126hrs. - but I am going to check that. Not sure if that is considered a lot of hours or not. (engine was originally purchased 08/20/2008) |
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KB7DX
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Posted: 6/6/2012 7:19:38 PM
Originally Posted By wshbrngr:
Originally Posted By akethan:
Originally Posted By wshbrngr:
Originally Posted By KB7DX:
Looks like you have it covered. The water pressure at idle may be lower than 11 PSI, don't sweat it as long as it makes 11+ PSI when running WOT and doesn't overheat during an extended idle period. Is the engine an EFI unit or carbureted? It is a F90TXR - EFI We have been seriously looking at boats for about 3 months now, I have not found any major complaints about this engine. Have your local Yamaha dealer plug it into their laptop. You can see how many hours are really on the engine and at what the RPM the motor was used the most at. Including any codes that may have occured. Good idea, thanks. I believe the engine has 126hrs. - but I am going to check that. Not sure if that is considered a lot of hours or not. (engine was originally purchased 08/20/2008) 126 hours isn't alot. Like akethan said, the dealer can download the true hours as well as a breakdown of what RPM ranges the motor was run at. The data will look something like this: RPM HRS 0-1000 20.6 1000-2000 18.9 2000-3000 54.3 3000-4000 10.2 4000-5000 13.3 etc... |
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Posted: 6/6/2012 8:30:29 PM
Originally Posted By KB7DX:
Originally Posted By wshbrngr:
Originally Posted By akethan:
Originally Posted By wshbrngr:
Originally Posted By KB7DX:
Looks like you have it covered. The water pressure at idle may be lower than 11 PSI, don't sweat it as long as it makes 11+ PSI when running WOT and doesn't overheat during an extended idle period. Is the engine an EFI unit or carbureted? It is a F90TXR - EFI We have been seriously looking at boats for about 3 months now, I have not found any major complaints about this engine. Have your local Yamaha dealer plug it into their laptop. You can see how many hours are really on the engine and at what the RPM the motor was used the most at. Including any codes that may have occured. Good idea, thanks. I believe the engine has 126hrs. - but I am going to check that. Not sure if that is considered a lot of hours or not. (engine was originally purchased 08/20/2008) 126 hours isn't alot. Like akethan said, the dealer can download the true hours as well as a breakdown of what RPM ranges the motor was run at. The data will look something like this: RPM HRS 0-1000 20.6 1000-2000 18.9 2000-3000 54.3 3000-4000 10.2 4000-5000 13.3 etc... Thanks for all the info. the 126hr figure came from the salesman, He said when they take a boat in they hook them up to get the hrs and check for error codes, etc. We are headed to the dealer tomorrow and I will see if I can get them to hook it up or if they made me a printout. I was planning to install an hour meter. I see that it is possible to buy the Yamaha cables and software (e-Bay) Think this is worth doing? |
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Posted: 6/6/2012 9:38:17 PM
My Dream Now to win the lotto...
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akethan
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Posted: 6/6/2012 9:51:46 PM
Originally Posted By wshbrngr:
Originally Posted By KB7DX:
Originally Posted By wshbrngr:
Originally Posted By akethan:
Originally Posted By wshbrngr:
Originally Posted By KB7DX:
Looks like you have it covered. The water pressure at idle may be lower than 11 PSI, don't sweat it as long as it makes 11+ PSI when running WOT and doesn't overheat during an extended idle period. Is the engine an EFI unit or carbureted? It is a F90TXR - EFI We have been seriously looking at boats for about 3 months now, I have not found any major complaints about this engine. Have your local Yamaha dealer plug it into their laptop. You can see how many hours are really on the engine and at what the RPM the motor was used the most at. Including any codes that may have occurred. Good idea, thanks. I believe the engine has 126hrs. - but I am going to check that. Not sure if that is considered a lot of hours or not. (engine was originally purchased 08/20/2008) 126 hours isn't alot. Like akethan said, the dealer can download the true hours as well as a breakdown of what RPM ranges the motor was run at. The data will look something like this: RPM HRS 0-1000 20.6 1000-2000 18.9 2000-3000 54.3 3000-4000 10.2 4000-5000 13.3 etc... Thanks for all the info. the 126hr figure came from the salesman, He said when they take a boat in they hook them up to get the hrs and check for error codes, etc. We are headed to the dealer tomorrow and I will see if I can get them to hook it up or if they made me a printout. I was planning to install an hour meter. I see that it is possible to buy the Yamaha cables and software (e-Bay) Think this is worth doing? Yamaha released a new system last year so I'm sure there are a few dealers selling their old equipment. |
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Posted: 6/8/2012 8:54:23 PM
Thanks for the help guys.
KB thanks for the RPM/Time info. I got the printout, turns out the motor only has 84hrs on it. Picked up the boat today and headed out fishing in the morning. |
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KB7DX
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Posted: 6/8/2012 10:52:08 PM
Originally Posted By wshbrngr:
Thanks for the help guys. KB thanks for the RPM/Time info. I got the printout, turns out the motor only has 84hrs on it. Picked up the boat today and headed out fishing in the morning. Congrats on the new boat! Post up some pics in the "Post pics of your boat" thread. |
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SatelliteMan
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Posted: 7/18/2012 7:36:33 PM
Originally Posted By KB7DX:
Originally Posted By eclark53520:
Originally Posted By KB7DX:
On a lighter note, another bad aspect of my job involves pulling all kinds of...ummm....stuff..out of Vacu-Flush toilets. 
KB Story time!!! OK, we had a marina member who was quite the ladies man. He would have several bikini clad chicks on his boat every weekend. Every Monday morning, we would get a call from him saying his "head"(toilet) was broken again and wanted us to fix it under warranty as we had fixed it several times before. This time, we fished the used "feminine hygene product" out of the system and saved it in a baggie for him. When he showed up the next Saturday, we presented him with the prize. We told him we didn't warranty things like this. He said.."oh well, you pay for it one way or the other.." 
and tag |
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entropy
Latino Fudd.......
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Posted: 7/28/2012 4:13:25 PM
I just bought a 2003 Duracraft 160 basic bay center console with 2 stroke merc 90HP.
I had the seller so a trial and boat ran great. I didn;t do a compression check, so I hope it is ok. I'm been out of the boating world for 35 years, and have a question about the muffs to run the engine. I see there are square ones and round ones. Which do I need, and they just fit over the water intake, right? When I was a kid, I used to start a 40 evinrude in a garbage can. Thanks |
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ydididothis
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Posted: 7/28/2012 7:28:15 PM
Originally Posted By entropy:
I just bought a 2003 Duracraft 160 basic bay center console with 2 stroke merc 90HP. I had the seller so a trial and boat ran great. I didn;t do a compression check, so I hope it is ok. I'm been out of the boating world for 35 years, and have a question about the muffs to run the engine. I see there are square ones and round ones. Which do I need, and they just fit over the water intake, right? When I was a kid, I used to start a 40 evinrude in a garbage can. Thanks Don't matter, I have the square one's, over the intake on the lower unit is correct. |
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KB7DX
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Posted: 7/30/2012 10:10:25 AM
[Last Edit: 7/30/2012 10:12:06 AM by KB7DX]
Either muff will work. That sounds weird huh?
ETA–– don't rev the motor over 1800-2000 rpm's on the muffs. The muffs won't supply enough cooling water at high rpm's and 2-stroke engines don't like to be revved up without a load on them. |
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DVCER
SHTF ammo dog
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Posted: 9/30/2012 11:16:00 PM
Can someone recommend a 19-22' boat that does crossover duty- primarily fishing in Tampa bay area, secondary use will be
cruising out to islands with the wife and dogs, possibly 4 people. I can spend up to 20k. |
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Posted: 2/28/2013 1:14:30 PM
Thoughts on a 99' 115 ficht ram?
I have read the issues that they could have, and I know that the resale value is shit on it, but my thoughts are if it is running 14 years later it isn't one of the shit motors. I have also read that the v4 engines were relatively reliable. I will be taking it for a ride, and am going to bring it by a dealer to get hours, etc. Ok as long as I understand it is a 10+ year old 2 stroke? Or should I only pay what the hull is worth? Thanks! |
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devildog12210
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
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Posted: 2/28/2013 3:00:52 PM
Originally Posted By _Matt_:
Thoughts on a 99' 115 ficht ram? I have read the issues that they could have, and I know that the resale value is shit on it, but my thoughts are if it is running 14 years later it isn't one of the shit motors. I have also read that the v4 engines were relatively reliable. I will be taking it for a ride, and am going to bring it by a dealer to get hours, etc. Ok as long as I understand it is a 10+ year old 2 stroke? Or should I only pay what the hull is worth? Thanks! I have an 2001 200. I know its apples and oranges but both are grouped in the "FICHT" sucks group. Have the dealer look up the SN and check and see what work has been done to it. As long as the "updates" were done to it you should be fairly good to go. |
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akethan
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Posted: 2/28/2013 10:22:23 PM
Originally Posted By _Matt_:
Thoughts on a 99' 115 ficht ram? I have read the issues that they could have, and I know that the resale value is shit on it, but my thoughts are if it is running 14 years later it isn't one of the shit motors. I have also read that the v4 engines were relatively reliable. I will be taking it for a ride, and am going to bring it by a dealer to get hours, etc. Ok as long as I understand it is a 10+ year old 2 stroke? Or should I only pay what the hull is worth? Thanks! Run away!  |
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Posted: 3/1/2013 8:46:04 AM
Originally Posted By akethan:
Originally Posted By _Matt_:
Thoughts on a 99' 115 ficht ram? I have read the issues that they could have, and I know that the resale value is shit on it, but my thoughts are if it is running 14 years later it isn't one of the shit motors. I have also read that the v4 engines were relatively reliable. I will be taking it for a ride, and am going to bring it by a dealer to get hours, etc. Ok as long as I understand it is a 10+ year old 2 stroke? Or should I only pay what the hull is worth? Thanks! Run away! Well, I was looking for more info than just that. Like I wrote, I may just offer what the hull is worth. Thanks devildog, that is along the lines of what I read, although the 115s don't have the need for the updated pins, etc. |
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