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Well, I picked up my 1984 Outrage 20 today with the new E-tec 175.

The dealer said the Rebel prop didn't work out well and gave me the boat with a used Viper SST 14 3/4 X 17 prop on it to use while they get me a new one.

They gave me a printout of the test run. It shows the max RPM 5340 or 5500 with that prop. I'm not really sure how to read the printout. He thinks this is the right prop for this boat. I plan to check it out before I take the new one.

Does this prop sound about right for my boat? Can you please give me some advice about checking it out tomorrow?

I will do a max speed test at wide open throttle with the trim out as far as it will take. That won't hurt my brand new motor will it?

Here's the printout I got.

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Art,
I am by no means a prop expert, but I've had four different engines on two 22' Outrages. Based on my experiences, I think you would need at least a 19" pitch prop for that engine on your 20' Outrage. My 1979 22' Outrage was initially rigged with a 1979 235 Johnson. I think the prop was a 13 1/4 by 21" SST. The boat would run about 55 MPH, but was a little slow getting on a plane. I replaced the 235 Johnson in 1986 with a 225 Johnson looper. I believe the dealer rigged that engine with a 13 1/4 by 19" SST prop. The boat was much quicker on a plane, and would run about 50 MPH. My 1989 22' Outrage was initially rigged with a 1989 Johnson 200 with a 13 1/4 by 19" SST prop. Again, it was very quick on a plane and would run about 50 MPH. In 2005, I renovated my Outrage and rigged it with a 150 HP Yamaha Four Stroke. It is rigged with a 13 3/4 by 17" painted steel prop. The 22' Outrage is quick on a plane with 5 or 6 people in the boat, but I did lose 5 to 6 MPH top end. Obviously you do not want a pitch that will allow the engine to exceed it's recommended operating range. I think Tom Clark is the best person for giving technical knowledge in this area.

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I agree that Tom Clark is definitely an expert. There are also a few others...

I can tell you that the RPM's you are seeing at WOT are not bad. It is only 100 RPM's under the MAX rating.... You can't go with a 19 pitch with the Viper as it would have less RPM's than you have now and that is not good....

I am not sure how the boat was loaded when the test was run.
One person onboard?
Full fuel?
Any other gear?

Generally, if you have a full tank of fuel and two occupants, the reading you are getting now is just right... With a light load you will have more wide open throttle rpm's... With a heavier load it will drop down slightly...

Everything is determined by the WOT MAX RPM's..... unless you water ski and need the hole shot to get up on plane quicker. Personally, I would forget about top end speed as the hole shot usually suffers...

The main thing is you do not want to go above the Max rated RPM's for your engine...
For the E-Tec.... what is that? 5500 RPM or 6000 RPM? or????

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Thanks guys. Hopefully Tom will add some more advice.

Here's what Tom Recommended for my old 185 hp on this boat -

"14-1/2" x 19" OMC/BRP SST/Viper, 14-1/4" x 17" Stiletto Advantage II, 14" x 19" Mercury Offshore/VenSura or 14" x 19" Mercury Laser II"

So, I have the Viper now that he had recommended. And I also have mey 14-1/2 X 19 OMC/BRP that I had rehubbed. Maybe I'll give that a try too if the splines are right.

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Art,
Just noticed in the snaphot you posted that the starboard side of the engine ran about 8 degrees hotter than the port side. I would ask if this is normal for this motor.

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Today, I was only able to get up to 44.4 mph @ about 5700 rpm. I expected better than that although the boat is plenty fast.

It really did run great.

For some reason, the trim wouldn't go all the way down at first. I'm not sure what was hanging it up. It has a rest for towing, but I moved that out of the way. The engine went down enough to run, but not all the way down.
It did go down when I tried it again after a few miles.

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Roger,
That doesn't sound too bad at all.
How was the hole shot?

My Outrage 22' would do 40.1 mph via GPS with a newer Johnson 175hp on it....
I never played with props because it had a great hole shot and fast enough for me top end....
I had the 4 blade Renegade Offshore 14 1/2 x 17 pitch prop on it...

I take it your Redline is 6000 RPM ????????

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redline for the 175HP E-Tec is 5850 RPMs, there is a revlimiter on the engine that kicks in at 6100RPM. What hole did they mount your engine in? Also you are still in breakin so you can expect to gain some RPM's once breakin is finished, usually around 10 hours.
With the engine trimmed out (no it's won't hurt as long as you still have cooling water) what is the max RPM's you reach? How are you loaded, full fuel and a couple of friends or just you? I usually run alone, so I prop for solo with a full tank of gas, I know folks that always have 2 to 3 people on the boat with them and so they prop for the extra weight.

I am currently running a Mercury Offshore (Vensura) 14x17p on my 18 and hitting 6000 RPM's with a top speed of 43.4 or 33 MPH give or take. I expect that if I raise the engine a bit more to get the anti-ventilation plate out of the water when the boat is on plane I will run into the revlimiter on the engine so before I do that, my plan is to swap to a 19p Laser II prop to drop the RPMs back down. I was of course planning to do that this weekend, but 3 foot waves made me decide to leave the boat at the dock.

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Thanks for the input guys.

The hole shot is increadable Joe. That thing has a lot of torq. I almost wish my throttle control wasn't so sensitive. I wonder if there is an adjustment for that since it is an electronic throttle? 44.4 is plenty fast too. Believe me, I didn't go that fast long.

My engine is mounted all the way up on the transome Kamie. That plate is at least 2 inches up above the bottom of the boat.

I had my uncle with me, and I estimate together we weigh 550 lbs. :o And I filled up with gas. I also have 2 batteries.

I'm thrilled to death with the motor and with the fact that I was out on my boat all day today. I didn't check the total miles I did, but I estimate 50. We went fishing out in the ocean and there was an offshore wind. It made me feel like I could go way the hell out there if I wanted too.

I only caught a little stingray today but, I'll be going out often and one day I'm sure I'll catch some.

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Roger,
Page 3 of the manual for the binnacle shows you the location of the friction adjusting screws.
If you don't have the manual, download from our download section.... :o

Adjust it to suit your needs........

Glad you like the engine.... Now we just need to see some photos to make sure you really bought a new E-Tec...... B)

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That's excellent Roger! No regrets on not doing the rebuild I take it? What's your take on the biggest difference between new and old? Enjoy the heck out of the rest of the season!

Dave

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Dave, the biggest difference between the old and the new is that now I just start it and go. No more fiddling with chokes and idle speeds. I also am confident that it won't let me down. In the event something does go wrong, I am confident the between the gauges and alarms, I will know about it so I can be sure to fix the problem before it gets worse.

Hehe Joe,
If I don't have that manual, I'll give the dealer hell.
Although adjusting the friction might help, I was more hoping that there was a way to make it so I have to slide the hand lever farther to give it the same amout of gas. The way it is now, it is hard to gradually give it more gas or gradually let off the gas. Especially when I'm bouncing around out in the ocean. I have gotten used to it already and will get more used to it I'm sure.

Thanks for the tip about the friction adjustment and I will try that soon.

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You will get used to the control? Which one did you get? The only complaint I have about mine is that the button to take it out of gear is on the top and I have hit it at least once, coming off a wave. I have learned not to rest my hand on the controls.

The one thing you should watch out for is low oil. I assume you got the 1.8 gallon tank, and as you get close or just over 10 hours try to remember to fill the tank. If your out bouncing around the oil pickup can pickup some air and you will get a low oil warning and the RPM's will cut back to idle. The cure is to shut off the engine, pump the bulb for the oil and then restart the engine allow it to idle and then try increasing the RPMs and see if you get the oil warning. If you still get the warning, try it again (assuming you have oil in the tank), you can also pop the cowling and confirm you see oil when you pump the bulb. You will be able to see it on the port side of the engine in the clear tubes near the bottom. It might take a couple of times but that should clear the faults.

Glad your enjoying the new engine.

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I have the new BRP control kamie. I don't know about a button to take it out of gear. I would think that would cause the motor to rev too high.

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Wow Roger, I've only dealt with old school technology and never considered that there's no choke on a new engine, and it sounds like there's no way (or need) to change the idle speed? Now that in itself is worth the investment! My engine was a PITA, even when warm, and I always had to mess with something when starting it up... Very nice!

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I made the whole thing up. :D

Actually, I went out again today and am getting used to boating and my new motor.

I tried to take a couple pics with my phone, but they didn't turn out. I'll get some soon. I'm proud of my boat and my motor but, just haven't had the camera out at the right time yet.

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I'd like to see not only photos of the engine, but the gauges and their layout along with the new style binnacle control.....

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You got it Joe.

My Garmin 178c GPS/Sounder is up there too.

I ran up on 1.5 to 2 ft of water twice today and that thing saved me. It's impossible to boat around here blind.

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Just make sure you get the motor only on it's good side or it will never forgive you :)

While your out there, pop off the cowling and take a picture of the 3 prong connector for the oil tank so Joe gets the wire colors correct. In the picture below you can see the empty connector in the upper right of the engine. Should have tan wires?

[img]http://www.whalercentral.com/images/ppimages/561/Engine3.jpg[/img]

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I wonder how fuel octain effects the performance of an E-tec? I'm running 87.

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From the Evinrude website:

Q - What grade of fuel should I use in my motor?

A - Current recommendations are to use a minimum of 87 octane, 89 octane is preferred. There is no additional benefit from using higher-octane fuels, in fact they may cause hard starting conditions in hot weather. If you have an older motor and the owner's manual requires premium fuel, here's why:

When these were built, the best oil available was TCW-2 rated, and did not contain the additive package (detergents, carbon preservatives, etc.) which our current oils (XD-30, XD-50 and XD-100) contain today. In that era, premium fuel contained the additive package that helped prevent the formation of internal engine deposits. That's why premium fuels were preferred at the time. Ultimately, in the late 90's the federal government mandated fuel refiners to use the same additive package in all grades of fuel and the premium fuel requirement was dropped.

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Roger,

The E-Tecs run on 87 just fine. My dealer tells everyone he sells one to that 87 is all they need.

However, the old non EFI 2 Stroke outboards need to run a minimum of 89 Octane.

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I just realized that the 14 3/4 x 17 SST that I am using is not the one Tom Clark recommended. Now I'm totally confused.

Here's what Tom recommended - "14-1/2" x 19" OMC/BRP SST/Viper, 14-1/4" x 17" Stiletto Advantage II, 14" x 19" Mercury Offshore/VenSura or 14" x 19" Mercury Laser II"

I am so busy right now but I need to do some more testing.

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There have been several versions of the SSTs over the years but I think the prop you have now is a good one. The 14-3/4" x 19" is the only 19" SST/Viper they offer now.

I am not thrilled by the RPMs at WOT though. You do not report what the top speed was during that test. Did your dealer tell you?

I still think the 17" Stiletto Advantage II would be a better performer.

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Thanks for your input Tom.

The dealer didn't tell me the rpm from their prop test.

I have the 14-3/4 x 17 prop on now that has SST between the blades. That is the only one I tried so far. It went up to about 5700 RPM and 44.4 mph. My motor is new (less than 10 hrs), and I my have hit the rev limit, but if I did, it wasn't a noticable rev limiter like I have felt on motorcycles and cars.

I also have a 14-1/2 x 19 stainless steel prop that I took off my old motor. But I haven't had a chance to try that one yet.

I'm working so much, it's hard for me to find time to play. I hope to do a few more test runs this weekend. B)

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Nope, you were far from it. Rev limiter on the 175HP kicks in at 6100 RPMs. You will gain some RPMs as the motor finishes with the breakin.

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Well, I made it out again. I put my old stainless prop 14 1/2 X 19 on and it felt better to me and I got up to 46.4 mph this time and about the same rpm 5700 or 5800.
I was by myself this time though.

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Kamie, what limits the RPM until after the 10 hr breakin? It seems strage that I got up to the same 5800 RPM with the 14 1/2 X 19 prop but 2 mph faster compaired to the 14 3/4 X 17.

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As far as I know it's just the motor getting broken in and loosening up. I can't say for sure but on all the Evinrude forums the experts say, expect to gain some RPMS after breakin finishes.

Without knowing what is different between the two props, I can't say. If Tom knows both props maybe he can tell you.

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The one that seems to work best is a stainless prop off of my 1984 185hp Johnson. It is a 14.5 X 19 with no markings on it. I think it is an old OMC SST prop.

The other one is a 14.25 X 17 SST prop.

Both props went up to about 5800 RPM but the 14.5 X 19 went 46.4 mph. The 14.25 X 17 went 44.4 mph. The boat jumps up on plane smoothly with either prop.