Re-Power

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rcwass

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My C-Dory is a 1990 22' Cruiser with a single 70HP 2-stroke Johnson of the same vintage. The engine is showing her age and eating gas. I'm looking to re-power with a 4-stroke. I've heard many pros and cons about single vs twin engines and would like to hear from C-Dory owners as to what works best for our 22' Cruisers. And any input on brands would be helpful.
 
My old Sealife 22' (Angler) had a 75 Merc when I first bought it. Was always troubled by it's tendency to yaw in following seas. After a couple of years use, I repowered with twin Suxuki 40s and found the problem gone. My new Sealife 22' Cruiser is equipped with twin Suzuki 50s and tracks like it's on rails. The old Sealife continues to serve it's new owner well, parked right next to me in the dry storage yard where we keep our boats. Out of four Suzuki engines, we have not had a single problem. They fire up instantly (fuel injected) run smoothly and quietly. And both sets of engines came with six (6) year warranties.
 
Love my twin engines, like Mike says it like running on tracks , there is so many things you can do with twins that you can't do with single engine. And you got to admit they also make your boat look good from the back. Yes the cost a little more than just 1 engine or 1 engine and a kicker but to me it is worth every extra penny! Like RED FOX said our boats like to be tramson heavy, you also get twice the charging for your 2, 3, or 4 batteries. SEARAM
 
I repoweed to a single Suzuki 90hp 4 stroke last fall and love it. I previously had a 112 Johnson 2 stroke that was good but vibrated at low speed, was noisy, and didnt like the cold.

This is the second boat I have had with a Suzuki and have been very pleased with both. A single meets my requirements for simplicity and fuel economy and the charging capacity is excellent. I already had an almost new kicker so that was not an issue for me and on my 22' Angler, the weight balance is about perfect.

My wife and I travel to remote areas as often as we can and I feel safe with my combo of the 90hp and 9.9 kicker.
 
Thanks for your input. The tracking issue I've never considered but I have experienced the yaw with my single. It's an uncomfortable feeling. The waters I travel have a large current and a lot of boat traffic so with my single I'm all over the place.
 
We had twin Honda 40's; finally wore out those gems; and repowered with identical Honda 40's. Cruised the Maine coast with the original two and they gave us the reliability and redundancy we wanted.
 
I appreciate the responses. I have an additional question. With twins, Is it necessary to have counter rotating props? Years ago I was told that this would eliminate a strong pull to the right. I haven't talk to dealers yet so this may be quite expensive and not worth the cost.
 
The smaller outboards are not available with counter-rotating drives, at least off-the-shelf. While having zero experience with the things, I am inclined to believe those who say that with the props as near each other as they will be on a CD that the benefit would be negligible anyhow. I have watched B~C motor his twin 40s around quite a bit, and he seems to be all over the place and not just pulling to the right.
 
Counter rotation is only available on higher HP engine , with the size of props that is used on 40s and 50s , with a boat that does only 29 to 31 mph you would not even notice the difference ,if you would have counter rotation . I can cruise sitting at the helm without hands on the wheel most of the time with no problem.
 
Heck Mike, I have to zig and zag, if I just zigged it wouldn't work :) The twin or single debate flares up on a pretty regular basis and it usually boils down to what ever makes a person happy. Both have their strengths and weeknesses. One bonus with the twins ( I always thought this was just peculiar to our boat but after talking to Bill at the show I find out otherwise) is that the starboard engine will run out of fuel well before the port engine. It's kind of nice to have that advanced warning before you totally lose power.
My $0.02 on brands, whatever brand has the best dealer support near you wins. They're all good.....fuel injection would be nice
 
I have a 98 22' Cruiser that has a Honda 90 single with a 9.9 kicker. The system works well. The 90 can be a little cold starting below 40 F. Again if you think the twin thing is cool then do it. I like to fish so a kicker sipping gas and taking the hours seemed more reasonable to me vrs. the twins. As for brands I went with the Honda simply because they have been proven for at least 10 years to be dependable. Yep old technology.. but it works.
Some here are sentimentle about the old Johnson 70s. I personally do not have much nice to say about them. The ones I used never liked to idle.

Good luck
Chris Bulovsky
 
"I have a 98 22' Cruiser that has a Honda 90 single with a 9.9 kicker."

That's good to know it's possible to mount a 9.9 on these. My parents already have a brand new 9.9 they used on a sailboat, and it's longshaft too...
 
Chris Bulovsky":vyx64pkc said:
Yes it fits. You can check out my photo album to see it. Just click on the blue SCOUT to the left of this.


Chris Bulovsky
Click to expand...


Very nice pictures Chris! It can sit right next to the motor without any extra hardware or cables. I'll send these to my parents to get them a little more excited. I think they'd really enjoy a CDory. I especially like how you're able to pull it up to shore. Nice restore work too!
 
rcwass":1svnoa86 said:
I appreciate the responses. I have an additional question. With twins, Is it necessary to have counter rotating props? Years ago I was told that this would eliminate a strong pull to the right.
Click to expand...

As has already been stated, counter-rotating is not offered in smaller outboards. (I believe the "cut-off" mark is at 100 HP). As far as a strong pull to the right, I've never experienced any such problem (perhaps I don't have that problem since I'm left handed :roll: ...)

Also as has been mentioned if you peruse the "search" engine in this site, you will find a tremendous amount of information that has been posted about the twins vs. single preferences. (aka different strokes for different folks).
 
Great response. Thanks to all. I have another question. My boat will be at a mooring when not in use. With twins or single, will the motors be out of water when raised. My current Johnson is completly out of water. I noticed in the manufacturers literature the the tilt angles are different for Honda and Suzuki. Again, Thanks for the great feedback.

Dick
 
I tough that this forum was to discuss, are love and passion about this fantastic little Vessel call C-Dory. Is it me alone or I scent some of our members seem to be offended about replies that we all do when question are ask. Some of you seem to be very well inform and very talented to express them self . Personally I feel intimidated at time to sit in front of this screen and try to put some of my ideas , toughs, and experiences with all aspect of boating. If you look at my tread trying to answer our friends questions I did not even mention the type of engines, my boat could had been rigged with Honda , Yamy, Suzy, E-TEC, Merc, as the are all very good engines! My dealer sells Yamy, that is what is on my boat. I have twins for me it is a first ,( Thanks to El and Bill ) . Hunky Dory ask all of us a question , we should all try are best to help him on this difficult decision he will have to make. In they end he will be very happy regardless of what kind of engine , how many. One last thing for Hunky Dory , 2 foot waves ,all by your self pull 4 pots out of the water with about 350' of rope 0n each pot, one engine in reverse , one forward with a little practice it will keep the bow in the win with the boat standing still at idle, beat being rock side way or having water splash inside the cokpit from the tramson. SEARAM the Dodge man!
 
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