New 115 Evinrude ETEC Prop Issue

tnbassing

Recruit
Joined
Aug 10, 2009
Messages
1
I have a brand new 2009 Evinrude Etec on my 2009 Bass Tracker. It has less than 5 hours on it. Yes, I know Trackers are suppose to have Mercurys but mine has an ETEC in a deal I worked out with the boat dealer. I have always liked EVinrudes. Anyway, when I first got it, I was experiencing hesitation between 3400 - 3600 rpms and also hesitation at 5,000 rpms. The motor starts great and ran great everywhere but at those rpms. The most rpms I could get was 5200 vs the boat is suppose to get 5800 rpms. It had a 4 blade 19" stainless prop on it and I got 53 mph (which is great). I took it back to the dealer for the hesitation and to put a hot foot on the boat. I couldn' get used to the hand throttle. The dealer is 120 mile drive (60 miles one way). I left it with them and came back 120 miles a week later. They said they found the problem. They put a smaller 18" 4 blade prop on it and it was cured. They said the larger prop was causing the hesitation issue and the low max rpms. I took it out this weekend. There was no longer hesitation at 3400 - 3600, 5000 rpms and it was extremely quick to get to 5800 rpms. However, there were issues. The rpm guage would spike like when I was at 4,000 rpms it would quickly spike to 5,000 sometimes and then come back down. Varied a lot on the which rpm that would spike at. It didn't do it everytime, just 3-4 times. The max speed I could get out of it at 5800 rpms was 46mph (previously 53 mph before I took the boat back). Also a lot of times I would be at 5800 rpms and only be getting 40 - 42 mph vs the 46 mph and it was trimmed up the same amount as when I was getting 46mph. When I was wide open above 5,000 rpms, it felt like the boat had more resistance in the water. I tried trim at different heights with no help. It is hard to describe.

I hate to drive all the back to this dealer. They are a distance from the lake and don't run the boat. They use a computer and a hose to work on it. Any suggestions on what is going on? Thanks
 

steelespike

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Apr 26, 2002
Messages
19,069
Re: New 115 Evinrude ETEC Prop Issue

Thats nuts! I don't care if they have it on 10 computers you can't check a boats setup unless its in the water. These guys surely haven't done a tracker. Motor height can be critical.Anti vent (cavitation) plate just above prop even with the bottom of the boat is considered a starting point.
Usually ends up about 1 inch above the bottom.This could make a 2 or 3 mph difference and rpm or more if setup carelessly.Wouldn't hurt to check that the hotfoot is setup right.Is the 18 Stainless?Seems odd that a 1" pitch change added 600 rpm.??And cost up to 14 mph.?? Doesn't add up.Is speed by GPS?Speedos are notoriusly inaccurate.
I think the 19 would be close to right and with careful setup.
 

Dhadley

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Feb 4, 2001
Messages
16,978
Re: New 115 Evinrude ETEC Prop Issue

Yep, and it sounds like they went from an aggressive 19 with good lift to a fairly inefficient 18.
 
Top