Considering a Repower

This past fall I bought a 2002 Lund Angler 1700 with a 2002 Merc 115 ELPTO. Due to budget I didn’t get a kicker added right away and plan to do it next spring. Recently I’ve changed my mind and thought of just repowering with a new 4 stroke that can troll down. My dislikes of the ELPTO are: 2-stroke smoke, $40 gallons of oil every other tank of gas, poor fuel efficiency, the motor has days where its hard to start, always have to start with throttle down a little not in idle. The boat can do about 42 mph at 5200 ish rpms. I typically run it around 4400 and get 35-37 mph.

Anyway, I know this was a popular boat so wondering if anyone has some advice for repowering. Max hp is 135. So couple questions:
1. what motor? HP?
2. costs/maintenance of newer 4 strokes?
3. what is my motor worth? do dealers take old motors on trade in?
4. i know the upgrade will cost some coin, but will it be worth it when factoring in fuel/oil efficiency and reliability?

Thanks for any comments.

I imagine they are all pretty good, my dad has a 2012 suzuki 140 on his 175 alumacraft and it has been a very good motor so far. He gets similar speeds as you out of it and in 3- 1 week long trips with it to kabetogama has yet to empty the 35 gallon tank in the boat, but I don’t think he ever runs it wide open. Its quiet, easy to not even here it running at idle, and no issues having a conversation while running accross the lake (windshield helps with that too). Looks like the closest you can get is a 115, on his boat the max is a 150, but that 140 will get the boat up and on its way very easily. I don’t recall what he can idle down to, about 2 mph is my guess.
You’ll still have some expense in oil with oil changes, but unless you really run it that wouldn’t be more than once a year though, I did my own this spring since I hardly used the boat last year and the cost for materials (2001 90hp merc) was about the same as my silverado and took about the same amount of time (and I didn’t have to crawl under anything).
If you have the time and patience, you’ll get more selling your motor outright, the offer I got when I asked about trading in a motor on a different boat was a joke, granted it was older and smaller, but I got about 5x more selling it myself. It may be able to work something out with your dealer you buy the new one from to give a ‘report’ on the motor and get it removed upon sale to help maximize what you can get for it, a 115 is getting pretty heavy for a diy removal without hoists and such. You can look around craigslist or even dealers to get a feel for what the going price is on your motor.

This won’t make you change your mind, but just wondering what kind of oil you’re using at $40 a gallon that’s still giving you all that smoke?

Some time ago when I had a 150 HP 2 stroke, I asked on a saltwater fishing forum what oil the guys were using that gave lower smoke and didn’t cost an arm/leg. Many of these guys were running twin two strokes and burning gallons of oil per trip, so I figured they were a valuable source of actual experience.

The answer came back as an overwhelming recommendation for Pennzoil Premium Plus semi-synth as the low smoke and low cost oil. I tried it and could not believe the difference compared to the other oils I had been running which included the manufacturer’s branded oils.

Just a thought.

Also, keep in mind on a repower that the 4 stroke engines can be significantly heavier than the 2 stroke of the same HP.

It’s difficult to justify a repower for lake fishing based mainly on reduced fuel consumption. Saltwater guys who are hitting offshore structure and burning hundreds of gallons a weekend can come close, but even then the ROI point is years down the road even at that consumption level.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

The answer came back as an overwhelming recommendation for Pennzoil Premium Plus semi-synth as the low smoke and low cost oil.

I got turned onto it a few years ago. Walmart’s got it cheap (relatively).

I have that same model/year but a 90 horse. I do not experience the large amount of oil used or it smoking. I suppose it does use more fuel than a 4 stroker but not enough to make me think about repowering. perhaps take it to a good Merc tech and have them go through the motor?

I’ve been using the Mercury Premium 2 stroke oil. Usually $40 a gallon if not on sale. I will try the penzoil.

Steveo: i was thinking of bringing it in and having it gone through. probably will soon.

The smoke is only bad on start up. I would also not miss the noise of the 2 stroke.

I have run a tank (26 gallons of fuel) this year and I do not believe I have used two quarts..

How often do people ‘re-power’ as opposed to just buying a new boat? How much are you looking at for a newer 130ish hp 4 stroke? Like 8-12k?

steveo wrote:

I have run a tank (26 gallons of fuel) this year and I do not believe I have used two quarts..

That makes sense as ratio is 50:1. My tank is similar so when I said every other tank of gas thats nearly 50 gallons of gas per one gallon of oil. I guess I more so meant the gas economy seems poor. I’ll admit I’ve used my boat a lot this spring, but I don’t make long runs but I did do a lot of trolling with it already so maybe that’s the cause for the poor efficiency. Either way I scheduled to bring it in and have it looked over.

I guess I’ll need talk to a dealer and get some prices and see what the upgrade would cost. I’ve looked for similar motors being sold as mine and can’t find any good comparisons for price. It’s also hard to find prices of new motors.

Tim J wrote:

It’s also hard to find prices of new motors.

Tim Jim, take a look at this site, you’ll at least get some ballpark numbers to consider.

http://www.edsmarinesuperstore.com/mercury.htm

HRG

I haven’t seen the fuel savings 2 stroke vs 4 stroke some people claim. I had a 225 4 stroke yamaha and a 225 etec. They were almost the same as far as fuel consumption goes. 4 stroke was a tank (heavy) and a turd out of the hole, but was very quiet. Etec louder at idle, but much quicker motor. I did test run a mercury Verado this spring, and that motor is heavy too, but I really liked it. Big time low end and really smooth motor. I like my 2 stroke motor, but I would look hard at the Verado with my next new boat.

Main outbord carbureted motors burn a lot of gas idling compaired to fuel injected motors. a kicker motor will burn the least amount of gas trolling and will save you a big pile of money over repowering.

Tim J wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>steveo wrote:</div>
I have run a tank (26 gallons of fuel) this year and I do not believe I have used two quarts..

That makes sense as ratio is 50:1. My tank is similar so when I said every other tank of gas thats nearly 50 gallons of gas per one gallon of oil. I guess I more so meant the gas economy seems poor. I’ll admit I’ve used my boat a lot this spring, but I don’t make long runs but I did do a lot of trolling with it already so maybe that’s the cause for the poor efficiency. Either way I scheduled to bring it in and have it looked over.

I guess I’ll need talk to a dealer and get some prices and see what the upgrade would cost. I’ve looked for similar motors being sold as mine and can’t find any good comparisons for price. It’s also hard to find prices of new motors.