Trolling: Two Strokes or Four Strokes

[skip]

Hi All,

I'm trying to compile some hands on information from those people who go trolling with their boats specifically those who have outboards larger than say 40-50hp.

Basically I think it would be useful to ascertain the behaviour of outboards when used for extended periods of time at low rpms as one does when trolling. How do two-strokes behave versus four-strokes, and which are better. What problems are there with either type.

Skip

[benri]

Hi Skip. Very interesting subject which unfortuantely has too many opinions. My boat is equipped with a 90HP 2 stroke johnson outboard with VRO. Many people tell me that I will do very bad to the motor if I troll with it and on the other hand others tell me that since it's VRO I can do all the trolling that I like! I got totally mixed up and decided to try and buy an aux. 6 to 8hp motor for trolling but now I'm in the same dilemma... 2 stroke or 4 stroke small motor or else nothing and troll with the big one?....

[skip]

I will try and do some research but most smaller outboards were always 2 stroke and 4's weigh alot. At best I reckon keep a spare set of spark plugs on board coz all you really do when trolling is potentially foul the plugs as not all the fuel gets burnt. However I reckon if every couple of hours you take the boat up on the plane for a few mins you clear it all out and can go back to trolling. Furthermore with modern ECM (ECU) controlled outboards the outboard is adjusting the fuel/air mix all the time as opposed to outboards that have carbs which is fixed. Plus certain boats were not designed to accomodate the weight of a 4 stroke on the transom, so also be carefull adding an aux motor depending on how close you are to the max hp recommendation which here you would be focussing on transom weight.

Skip

[visa]

hi there,
i had a 90hp nissan and a 9.9.hp for trolling on my old boat and never had any trouble with either and used to troll on either one depending on the sea,or wind like skip said if u then plain the boat then u have no problems, now with the new boat i have a 200hp mercury and a 18hp nissan and i tell you i dont dare use the 200 hp for trolling, as first of all it (200hp ) stalls on slow speed and when it doesnt then the petrol is being sucked out of the tank quicker than i can fill it, so i use the 18hp for trollling either at 5.knots or 6.5 knots and i forget to fill its tank as it harldy wastes compared with the 200hp, for your information the only problem is the noise i wish i had a 4 stroke, as the guy next to me on the pontoon has both a 150hp and a 9.9 both 4 stroke and he leaves the engens on and what he uses in three outings i use in one (comparable). otherwise everthing is a o.k.

[shanook]

Hey Visa see if anyone wants to buy a 200HP mercury.

[benri]

Thanks for all the great info guys. I wish I was knowledgeable enough to give back some info to pay back all of you but, since I'm very new I'm sorry I cannot! All I can give you advice about is maybe first aid and medicines :-)! Well, back to the subject nowadays all small engines are available in 4 stroke as from next year it will be illegal to import new 2 strokes into Malta due to enviroment issues - therefore what's here is here. From what I read and gathered 4 strokes have more torque but less acceleration therefore they are ideally to troll with. On the other hand 4 strokes are heavier and much more expensive initially.

[skip]

Surprised about the illegal to import 2 strokes. I think that would probably be illegal to import small basic two strokes that don't meet emission regulations within the EU. That basically boils down to the smaller carb controlled engines, because the Evinrude ETECs are two strokes up to 250hp, computer controlled and have lower emissions that most four strokes, at least that's what Bombardier say.

Visa which Merc 200 do you have on the back? Is it an Optimax Direct Injected 3.0L 200hp ?? The current 2008 200HP Merc Optimax which is very similar in operation to the ETEC and totally computer controlled shows much better fuel consumption than both the Yamaha HDPI VMAX and the ETEC http://www.mercurymarine.com/look_deeper/head_to_head.php?ID=58&Filter=7

I thought the computer controlled big two strokes were fine at low rpm's, surprised to hear yours doesnt like it / stalls, so curious to know the exact model.

Skip

[visa]

hi skip,
to correct myself not the motor doesnt like to troll slow but me with the merc 200, the stalling piece is its o.k. trolling at 6, 7, 8 knots but as soon as u go lower it splutters and goes off but to troll slowly its o.k. my merc is direct injected saltwater v6 today trolled with it for over two and a half hour as needed to boost the battries (in the meantime used about one third of my fuel tank) as they went dead on me due to the rain during the past three weeks and pump was working without any recharging, so they let me down, but RMF Gozo saved the day and they came down to port and gave me a battery boster to start the engin. my thanks go to Joe Buhagar of gozo RMF.

[ciappinu]

In my opinion, the best Motors out there for trolling are the eTecs. Probably Gottie can support that as he's got one. They have been designed with trolling in mind, and they are extremely fuel efficiemt on very low revs.

To give you an idea, last summer I left Gnejna with a friend of mine. He's got a 90Hp, while I have a 2 year old Johnson 9.9hp 2 stroke. Although we left together, he was on the albie hot spot 25 mins before me (Took him 15mins). We trolled all day. At the end of the day, back in Gnejna, he had used 20 litres of fuel (Lm9), while I needed 29 litres. Considering the comfort he had, an eTec is definitely a good investment. I am personally waiting for the smaller models to come out, hopefully this summer. Then I'll go for a 25hp with a tiller arm.

[visa]

as everyone knows my boat is on the hard and what happens after waiting for three weeks for a nice weekend, excatly what i feared would happen as soon as the boat is up the wind dies down and the sea is going to be beautiful weekend for fishing so now just wishing i left it longer.

[skip]

Hi John,

Isn't your boat on a trailer? Would have thought you could have launched it for a quickie over the weekend, though on second thoughts 24 foot boats probably needs at least a landrover if not something heavier to pull it?

Skip

[busumark]

no beautiful weakend for fishing visa another windy week. force 6-7 for weekend

[visa]

yep u are right, the last time i looked at the wind on the seven day forcast it was all blue and wind in the 6/7 knots but having had a look again today after your reply the outlook changed completly, pehaps to make me feel good.

Once on the hard i start working on the boat immeditaly, i have already taken batteries for a full service and charge, booked the mechanic for winterr service, jacked the boat on stones so as not to leave on the tyres, etc etc, one of the things i want to do this winter is make some sort of shore power, since my boat is berted on the poontoon in gozo have power supply , so if anyone can give me idea, what i need, would appricate it very much, something like to keep batteries charged , the blidge pump to work on shore power when berted and keep the cooler working 24/7 i saw something on the web but cant remember where.

[skip]

Putting in basic shore power is very easy. Marine outlet somewhere near the back, good quality 3 core electricity cable (ideally with the black jacket) running to ELCB, MCB, circuit switch inside a waterproof box. From there you come out with where you want your power inside the boat. ie. in our case we have a wire from the circuit switch straight to a battery charger input which takes 230V and outputs up to 40 amps DC over 2 connections allowing you to have two sets of batteries charging. I used a Mastervolt available from Strand Marine and have had no problems with it.

That way we can leave our fridge and freezer on 24/7 which draw say 15-20amps max when plugged into shore power and know that the other 20 amps is being used to charge the batteries. Mastervolt are fully automatic with voltage and temperature sense plus smart control, so it keeps your batteries on float mode when fully charged.

Your bilge pump would work from the batteries which in turn would be kept charged by the charger connected to shore power.

Skip

[visa]

thanks for info will go see what strand marine has and check it out, thats what i was looking for the name its mastervolt, will also check out my supplier, i use Sea Link in griza, what he does not have hell get you.