I've been looking at buying a larger boat. Requirements are outboard powered, cuddy cabin, deep V aluminum hull, and preferably 22ft to 24ft. Models I'm considering are Starcraft?s Islander and Crestliner Sabre. I looked at Sylvan Offshore models, but dont' like many things I've seen. I realize aluminum hulls a light and not necessarily favored by many. Anyway, the questions I have that I hope someone can answer have to do with lubrication of 2 stoke motors, mainly Mercury's Opti-Max, Evinrude?s E-Tec and Johnson/Evinrude VRO. I've been told that if I buy an older outboard that has the VRO system, that I should purchase a VRO elimination kit and just mix my fuel at 50:1. I was told that there is a "O" ring in the VRO pump which keeps the fuel and oil separated, and as the O ring wears, it allow fuel to pass through into the oil and dilutes it. The Pump doesn't recognize the dilution and as a consequence, the engine is starved for lubrication. If this is wrong in any way please elaborate. As for E-Tec and Opti-Max oil systems are they similar to the VRO system? If so, what improvements were made to prevent oil pump failure such as I described above?
