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I'm afraid I'm going to be faced with the tough choice of repowering my 1974 Montauk, rebuilding my old motor, or getting rid of the boat and finding a new hobby.

This is the second time I have had bad luck with a Mercury on a used Whaler. It's going to my Boat Mechanic soon so I don't know the status. But I have been starting to look at motors and all. For one I have sticker shock, as it's been 13 years since the last motor I bought.

When it's running this boat goes like hell with an old 80 hp Mercury. I think it will work fine with a 70 hp. Does anyone have any suggestions on hp and which motor? I have been trying to shop around and find better motor prices. Anybody had any luck with online or buying someplace not local. The local dealers here seem very set on prices and all. Do you get better prices if you buy at the end of the year? Any ideas will be helpful.

Thanks, Joe

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Hi Joe,

I would not go with any thing less that a 70 HP for that hull. Also you need to decide if you want 2 or 4 stroke. Be prepared for weight shock was well. All of the new engines aside from the Evinrude Etec and 2 stroke Yamaha's are very heavy.

You did not mention what happened to your 13 year old Merc. That is really not that old, Mid 90's engine... I assume that is the one you purchased 13 years ago.

If you purchase online you will have other issues and challenges, cost of shipping could out weigh savings and rigging may cost more. I believe the best thing is to shop locally. I am sure others will have ideas.

Below is some performance data I posted recently (kind of dated) for a pre 2002 Montauk. Also there is info on this site which includes the Evinrude Etec, missing below.

Fuel=168 LBS
Boat=950 LBS
Gear & Passengers=400LBS

HP/CYCLE WT TOTAL/WT MPH
---------------------------------------------
Honda 50 4 212 1730 34
Honda 90 4 373 1891 44
Yamaha 50 4 233 1751 34
Yamaha 60 4 244 1762 37
Yamaha 100 4 356 1874 46
Yamaha 50 2 194 1712 34
Yamaha 60 2 228 1746 37
Yamaha 70 2 228 1746 40
Yamaha 90 2 261 1779 45
Merc 50 4 236 1754 34
Merc 60 4 236 1754 37
Merc 90 4 386 1904 43
Merc 50 2 199 1717 34
Merc 60 2 219 1737 37
Merc 75 2 303 1821 41
Merc 90 2 303 1821 44
Suzuki 50 4 243 1761 34
Suzuki 70 4 359 1877 39

Also a link to a recent thread on the same question

http://www.whalercentral.com/forum/viewthread.php?forum_id=22&thread_id=1605

Good Luck
Jon

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Prices are better in the Fall, look for a "Left over", I paid just over $5000 for a left over (non-VRO) plain Jane "Johnson" 50 H.P. '04 in '05 (included installation, new steering cable, new helm, newcontrol box), The Whaler cost me $3100 (no trailer) with a 3 yr old motor in 1990. I "Engine" shopped locally, I went to the main "Factory Authorized" Johnson dealer, pick a good one with a good shop, and good rep., at some point you will need service, you want it to be close by, you can't get that "on-line" unfortunately.
mw

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Thanks for the advice. I was not perfectly clear in my thread. I have sticker shock because i last bought a motor 14 years ago. It was a Johnson 40 on my 13ft whaler that i have since sold to my dad. Still runs great. 2 years ago i came into a deal on a 1974 17 ft. I was not even looking to buy and only gave 3400 for it to friends. It has a mismatched but good trailer, 4.5 hp Merc kicker and an 1988 80 hp Merc. It ran but need work. Being a whaler lover, too good a deal to pass up. It has been bit by Electrical trouble. At first it was missing on lower cylinder. I repalced swithc box and ran well. 34 MPH at 5000ft and even trolled ok for big motor. Only had slight hesitation on midrange. Thought it was fuel. It slowly got worse and on last trip will just die. Like a switch shut off. Will restart and run right away. Testing was inconclusive. I decided to replace stator When i took off flywheel i discover insulation on trigger wires was bad. Replaced both and still is not right. Im fed up with trying to work on it and it wil get to my mechanic here soon. But my gut feeling is that something inside the engine is bad. Up untill now i was fighting elec but. Im just waiting a this point to get it looked at.
If its major i will repower or sell the boat. I have wanted to pick up a used Revenge for a few years now. But you know how that is, if i spend more on this boat then that will make it harder to someday get boat i have wanted.
I agree that the Etec or the Yamaha 2 stroke are the way to go. 4 strokes are just too heavy, even though i liked them better when i was into Motorcycles. I do alot of my fishing in California, and they are getting bad about the carb 2 strokes in alot of places. Makes me lean toward an Etec. I did find by calling a bit out of my area that the same motors are much better priced. They are still high but better. If you have any more thoughts id apprecaite it. Joe

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I have a 1974 Montauk with a 115 Johnson 2 stroke and it does well. You may want to consider the condition of the bottom of your hull. The rougher it is, the more power you will want.

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Just repowered a 2003 Montauk that I bought with no motor. I read as much as I could find and went with a 90 hp 2-stroke. $5700 including tax and mounted on the back but not rigged. Just put it in last weekend. I am in break in two hour period running oil injection and 50:1 as Yamaha recommends. Less smoke than I expected running twice the oil as normal. The engine is much quieter than older outboards and not bad at idle. Runs perfect and handles the Whaler with ease.
I put on a digital Yamaha Tach with trim, temp, oil level functions. That was about $270 new on ebay. Also had to buy a new Yamaha throttle for around $150. Everything plugs right in.
The boat was originally Mercury, but I could only find positive comments about Yamaha. Some of what I found:
1) Less than 100hp 4-stroke is not such a big deal
2) 4-strokes are more complex and have more to go wrong- fewer can work on it.
3) Noise level is higher at idle but simlar at speed. You can hear it idling and the 4-strokes I observed were hard to even hear idle.
4) They do pollute more. Air and water as I recall.
5) Big weight difference in weight as previous post mentioned.

Lots of decisions. I thought I could save you some time searching!
Good luck!
Greg