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Ed

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Hi, all

Decided that since I am in the final, or near final stages of ordering a CD 25, it would be helpful to discuss with people who know a whole bunch more about CDs than yours truly.

Have been in pleasure boating (power, of course) since childhood and have owned outboards, I-Os, and even a 36' twin powered trawler in FL. for a few years. Even cruised a 24' Starcraft from Key West to Dry Tortugas--stayed in the "harbor" adjacent to Fort Jefferson until my ice ran out.....Yes, I used to be a bit more reckless in my youth, but I did listen to the weather reports more than twice a day, since I knew bad weather could have ruined an otherwise happy existence. After many, many years, I'm still fascinated by cruising on the rivers and along the coastline. The old Loran system certainly worked perfectly for me, but I'm ready for GPS, electronic chart plotting and everything else.

Firstly, I understand that the membership list can be sorted by columns, but right now, it is rather laborious to find a name, location, etc, unless it is on one of the first three or last three pages. Suspect there is some really simple way to move around it, but I need help.

To keep things relatively short and sweet, wondered what CD owners would have to say about engine choice. I am OK with a single. Due to my location in Cincinnati, I will be limited by dealer/service warranty work to Suzuki, Mercruiser(the overwhelming winner in the midwest) and Honda. Since, in the waning years of my existence, I really want to play with the new fuel management options available, Suzuki seems eleminated, unless I want to mess with, or trust one of the "local yokels" to add one of the several available-they do seem about $1000 less than ones ordered with the engine. So the question is "about 150 hp-2 stroke or 4 and manufacturer"?

I have really enjoyed scanning this site for several years, and am happy to finally "be aboard"....Thanks much in advance.

Ed

Almost forgot, Evinrude is an option locally, also
 
Ed - Welcome to this happy crowd and I hope you do get the boat of your dreams. This question of what engine(s) to get comes up fairly regularly and has been beaten around pretty good. It would appear that on the 25's the consensus seems to be a 150 HP single with a 9-15 HP kicker. The 2 vs 4, and choice of manufacturer is less clear but you can expect to get a lot of very specific opinions most of which will be highly correlated with whatever choice the poster made. I would say that a general consensus on manufacturer is that all the major brands are very good and the availability of local service and the deal you can get at the time will often drive what's the best choice for you.

One thing that you should become familiar with on this site is the Search tool. So many topics have been beaten up that you can often find what you're interested in by searching previous posts. For example a search performed using the following words

engine choice 25

and selecting the search for all terms radio button led me to the following links
C-Dory 25 Engine Choice
Repower
Suzuki or Honda?
Engines for a 25

and many other potentially relevant links.
Good luck with your research.
 
Ed, another great thing to do is to travel a bit to one of the gatherings...and take a look see and responses from folks too. Most of the CD25s that I have seen have chosen 4 stroke 150 range. I think any of the current 4 stroke manf all put out great motors and any would serve you very well, very little maintenance, and very long time. I like you pick motors with who can service them ...however with the simplicity of changing oil about every 100 hours on a 4 stroke myself...that need for that maintenance is way down. I think that Suzi is going from 140s to 150s between 2005 and 2006...? maybe? Seems I heard talk of some new bay boats coming in with Suzi 150s.. So, there may simply be some deals with new in the box 140s that would work perfect. I'd use the single 4 stroke without the added kicker prior to putting several thousand more dollars into a "matching" kicker...after getting the mount, the stearing rod, the motor itself....and having the extra weight of about 105 pounds for just a 9 hp motor. And....watch for other answers....and kick about the links for the same topic previously discussed. Look forward to having you as a C-Dory owner.....and... put that kicker money on the wallas heater/cooktop. That you will use almost every trip out....and a lot at the docks if you just go down and sit about on your boat. I am in the middle of repowering with a new 4 stroke main, and have a 9.9 hp Suzi that has burned about a quart of fuel in her. I bought the motor due to the main motor was an original 1984 Johnson VRO...over 20+ years old and I boat on waters where cell phones do not work...and I do not paddle... Grin. I do not think the shop that is doing the retro work has sold the kicker... let me know if you have interest...but like earlier... I'd try it without it 1st.

Byrdman
 
I don't have much experience with outboards but the 2001 Tom Cat 24 I bought last year has 2 - 115 Merc EFI 4 strokes. I ran them alot last year and they never even sneezed. They work great. I think all current manufacturers seem good.
Phil
 
Ed, this is quite a joyous period for you. You've made the decision to go for the boat (25, nice choice :wink ) and you're now doing your homework to utilize the vast knowledge of this group, way to go! I have twin Yami 80's, plenty of power in my most loaded condition. I am able to basically set the throttle for the speed I want and not monkey with it unless the conditions change. Very relaxing. I'd go with twins if you're boating primarily offshore, single for everywhere else.

I'd also do a little research on the mfr you choose so that the 150ish engine is the lower of the two engine choices with the same block. They just re-jet to boost the hp at the high end for the higher hp option engine. That way, you get an engine that is built for the higher hp but won't see those high stresses at the lower hp rating -- was that understandable? My 2003 Yami 80's are also the 100's when re-jetted. All major mfrs have great engines, you can't make a bad choice, go with your closest and most trusted dealer.
 
Ed: I have a 22 but can vouch for the Merc 4 strokes above -- they are absolutely flawless thusfar (have two of them).

Good luck with your boat!
 
You have all been helpful and reinforced my impression from previous visits that all of the major manufacturers are producing pretty good products--being from "the old generation", the most surprising thing has been the apparent improvements in 2 cycle technology.

This year Suzuki has added 150 and 175 hp models, so they certainly have hit the CD 25 consumer exactly. The light weight, ingenious innovations and simplicity of the E-Tec balanced against their relative newness and therefore reliability questions. For many years Mercury was the unrivalled innovator, but this has been offset by lower unit corrosion and burned piston issues. And old, heavy, Honda, known for its rearward vision finally decided to fuel inject a couple more modes, including the 150. Has their "bullet-proof" reputation been tarnished by having unleashed a bunch of bad ignition switches on their loyal minions?

OH SO MANY QUESTIONS--its enough to make one want to try one of each. Keep those comments and suggestions coming. The recommendation from Alabama for a Wallis stove/heater certainly made an impression on someone just north of the Mason-Dixon Line, who really was on the fence requarding the Wallis option. I had considered that the ease of winterizing the E-Tec would be ideal for extending the boating season here in Ohio, until one reads about possible cold weather/water problems with the Evinrude. Of course, with Wallis, I'll be warm and comfortable while adrift in the Ohio River.

Thanks again.
 
burned piston issues
Click to expand...

Ed - that's the Optimax -- be sure to seperate 4-stroke from 2 stroke with Merc. As for the lower unit -- I haven't a clue what that is about, but on the I-net, if a guy from Numbchuck Mississippi has an issue, you'll hear all about it . . .

Same with all the engines. I am of the opinion they're all good 4-strokes at this point. The occasional lemon happens in all manufacturing.
 
Hi Ed,
You are where we were about 6 months ago. Our situation prevented us from taking delivery earlier, but the factory worked with us to make the timing work. We will pick up our new CD-25 in late July/early August. The fine factory folks recommend the Honda 135 for us... fuel injection and we're not concerned about the absolute top speed of the 150. We have a Honda dealer near us, but we're hoping to not have to rely on them (since we plan to be traveling for a couple years). Even basing ourselves in deep south Texas (same lattitude as Ft Lauderdale), we felt the Wallas was a great option. We went to the Seattle Boat Show in January and had the opportunity to go out with Tom and Susan in 47 degree weather and were very impressed with the performance of the Wallas. Having a comfortable place to sleep, eat, and sit, hot & cold water, and some heat when it cools off will make that boat so much more livable. We made this move from a sailboat... and having a place to man the helm out of the elements was the deciding factor. OK, that and the wonderful group on this forum.

Good luck with your decisions.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Ed,

The cold water problem tpbrady was having was traced to a defective pressure control valve. This has not been reported as a widespread problem.

There are many ETECs running here in the cold water of the Pacific Northwest. Sawdust has a ETEC 90 and he hasn't had any problems.

I like the 'no dealer service required for 300 hrs or three years'.

I don't have one...yet, but I am considering one.
 
:mrgreen: can ya mount 4 each 50 hp cross the back? Could ya see a hon/mer/suz/yam on the back? Need a speed, turn a key. OK...just for kicks and grins, what is the smallest engine we have on a CD25??

Sitting here today, I can't think of a manufacture that I have not heard some issues on... and then have someone else lay down their boat for the same motor... great motors all of them are for the most part...just spendy.

The Etec with the cold water and the power head issues....which in the life of motors followed real close to their Fict issues... Now I have friends that own both types of those Evy's and love them with zero problems....and we used the Johnson and Evenrude motors in my family to warm my baby's milk so it ain't like I myself have not had wornderful years with them... and a few bad ones too when we bought our 1st 100hp motor with some type of "monkey balls" in the lower unit that always gave us issues... we simply traded that fancy boat (Glastron 20' runabout with walk-thru windshield) for a 18' Ski Barge....and again, with a 70 hp Evenrude that gave us about 15 years of great use.

Now my gut today is that "sometimes".... I think Evenrude and Mercury have "used the public" as their cutting edge technology ginny pigs... Again, we have owned both...and had some great service out of both...but TODAY.. I am not sure I'd go there.

TODAY the new 4 strokes from all of them....are very high dollar machines. We all roll the dice when we buy one. We just have to depend on our manufactures, and the dealerships, and the wonderful guys who commit their lives to maintaining these motors to keep us moving forward.....or...backwards if we are backing into the slip while most other boats are tied in and not using their boats.


But....toss the motors....and we do know that we have a great network of dealers, and a fine set of folks at the plant to stand behind our hulls. So, we are 1/2 way home free from the get go.

Boy I can not wait another couple of weeks to get C-Byrd back.. THis down time is killing me...and more than likely some of you who have read a lot of my post due to me using this site as my virtual boating fix.... :smile :smiled

Can't wait to see some of the post from the NE gathering this weekend that I should have attended....

can't wait to put something out on a 20-22Oct06 SE gathering together and get it out...which I may do today.
 
I've got twin Honda 90's on our boat. One of the worst things you can do is not run your motors regulary. I'm the worlds worst offender of this do to circumstances. They continue to start and run, despite my abuse. I wish they had fuel injection, but so far so good.
Look hard at the wallas stove/heater. You'll strecth your boating season by several months a year with the 25, and the heater.
The new GPS systems are very user friendly, and you can teach yourself to be just as smart with it as you want to be.
 
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