115 hp outboards

AllanG

AllanG

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With a view to downsizing to a boat more suited to single handling, I've recently sold my Nimbus 320C, and am considering boats along the lines of the Merry Fisher 645 or Antares 6.80, with a single outboard.

As I have no experience with large outboards, I'm looking for recommendations as to which makes I should consider around the 115 hp range.

So far the choices appear to include the Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha and Mariner brands, but would like some recommendations from actual users of these brands, and reasons why they chose their model.

Also, any advice regarding pros and cons, running costs, reliability and maintenance of these brands would be very much appreciated.

Cheers, Allan
 
I have the 115 Yamaha and can't really comment anything more meaningful than it works. I think the challenge is that people tend to be quite brand loyal and rarely get to try the same size of another brand. I had no allegiances and my Yamaha came with the boat, but on research it seems that they are a highly rated brand.

Generally you get either Yamahas or Suzukis on Merry Fishers etc. Seen the odd Honda and never seen a Mariner on one.
 
By the way, don't get tempted by anything less than 115hp. By the time you are loaded up and with a bit of slime, even the 115 can struggle to plane easily (you can, but you are having to keep it closer to WOT, than is ideal).
 
Over time I've had Mercury, Mariner, Evinrude and Suzuki, the latter only as 4-stroke.

My Suzuki was a 140 hp and definately my favourite. Never missed a beat, runs so so sweet, inexpensive to own (no timing belts etc.).
If a was to pick one today an Evinrude E-Tec would be the runner up besides a Suzi.

Try a Youtube search to see/hear some live
 
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Many thanks for all the info so far but, if there are any other owners of these engines, or the two boats in question, that can give their advice/experiences, this would be much appreciated!
 
I honestly dont believe there are any 'bad' mainstream outboards these days. I think the location of the dealer is probably just as important as the make of the engine. Its no good buying a SupaDoopa outboard to find the nearest dealer is 100 miles away and always busy with a 3 month wait for service.

We have owned Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda and Evinrude, all have been excellent with no issues. My current favourite 115hp would be the Etec, fast, quiet and frugal. The 3 year service intervals are also attractive, we ran one on a centre console and it was excellent.
 
Our Yamaha 115hp on the Merry Fisher 645 has done 150 hours in the past nine months and has behaved faultlessly. We have had over 29 knots out of the MF and it happily cruises at 20-25 knots. The fuel efficiency averages out at almost exactly 1 ltr per mile.
 
We're running a feature on outboards, focusing on the 115HP market in the October issue of MBM. As your boat is quite heavy for that size, I would check out the Mercury 115 with the CT 'box. The engine won't be out for a few months yet, but I have tested it and was impressed. Will also be cheaper than the Yam.
 
Thanks for this info, Greg, and will look forward to reading the article in the October issue of MBM, of which I'm a subscriber.
 
I re-engined my Dell Quay Cruisette 5 years ago with an ex-demo Yamaha 80 4stroke that had done 1000hrs when i bought it - it was faultless for another 300hrs when I sold her and it is still running faultlessly now. I changed to a Yamarin 59HT fitted with a 115 Yam 4stroke and have now done 200ish hours with no problems (touch wood!) Always have it professionally serviced at a main dealer (which costs more than servicing my car) but I figure thats why its trouble free.

We ski regularly with friends who have a Campion with one of the last 115 Yam 2 strokes, and the only problem they have had was due to glazing apparently from the ethanol in the petrol.

As someone has already said, I think you tend to stick with what has been good experience for you in the past.
 
On a technical note, the Suzuki 4-strokes are designed with an Offset Drive Shaft:

"First introduced in the DF115 and the original DF90, Suzuki’s offset driveshaft has proven successful in reducing the size of the Suzuki line-up, from the DF70 to the DF300. The DF150 and DF175 benefit from this same design, which positions the crankshaft in front of the drive shaft simultaneously moving the outboard’s center of gravity forward. While adding to the compactness of the outboard and providing an improvement in power performance, this system also places the engine’s axis of inertia, the point where vibrations produced by the engine are at a minimum, up over the upper engine mount thus greatly reducing vibration."

tech_ods.jpg


While this provide benefits, it also puts the cowling a bit further forward hence needing more space in the well when tilted all the way up. An issue with some boat designs.
 
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Thanks for this info Spi, as I have noticed on some boats I have looked at that the outboard, when tilted, does tend to require more space in the engine well so, perhaps, this is one of the reasons, especially if it's a Suzuki engine.
 
Just bought an ETEC 115 for our 6.4m boat.
Blummin brilliant plus what Landlocked pirate already mentioned.
Not sure what package deals manufacturers are offering, The Etec came with steering and remotes, new icon pro guages (including gps speed log) and the remote oil tank and fitting kit.
 
Allan G, Yamaha F115 (four stroke 115hp) is the smallest in-line version- I have owned many boats with outbaords and found Yamaha and Mariner (same as mercury) the best compared to Suzuki, and Honda - never owned new evinrude but owned a vintage 70hp Evinrude which was the worst outboard -

The only thing to be aware on 115hp: They suffer from weak gearbox - if you are planning to be in and out of gear alot then this is by far the weakest point of Yamaha outboards -

other than that maintaining a boat with outboard is generally easier - and Never forget to flush the engine - regardless of how often you use it - they MUST be flushed after each use.
 
Just remembered, the Etec 115 is a V4 but uses the gear case from its bigger brother V6. So hopefully a very strong gearbox.
 
With respect to the owners of such outboards that have cam belts, have any of you had to change one yet and, if so, at what running hours and cost?

Many thanks, Allan
 
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