The New Arrival

We knew from the start that the old Merc 1150 wasn't going to work out in the long run. We plan on doing some long, slow trips, and the Merc is really designed for performance. It runs well, and is very fast, but it does burn about 6 gallons an hour at 25-30 mph. Great for short, fast trips, but probably not ideal for our purposes.

For some reason we had fixed on an Evinrude E-Tec 90 as the replacement. I must have seen one at the Valley RV/Marine store first. Then we read the brochures, amazed at the specs. The EPA and European Union certifications are hard to argue with. And if the fuel consumption and db levels are anything like what they advertise, we'd be happy. But they're expensive. We had a small engine fund set aside, and we'd save for the rest. We could use the Merc for a couple years.

Well, as they say, be careful what you wish for. Just for the heck of it, I went on Boat Trader to check the E-Tec 90s out, and one jumped out at me. A dealer in Florida was taking one in on trade for a larger E-Tec. 50 hours. Two years old. Still under warranty. Less than half the price of new. Ahhhh!



So we bit. Sent him the money. And THEN came the hard part. Before shipping the engine, our guy sent it over to the Evinrude dealer to check it out. In retrospect that was a good thing. But it took two MONTHS to get everything resolved. First, he couldn't read the codes from the computer. Bad computer chip. Order one, wait, install it, THEN read the codes and discover the fuel pump was about to go out and needed to be replaced. Order one, WAIT again ... and WAIT ... and WAIT. Apparently, the part was on factory back-order. We stewed and worried, and wondered if we were being scammed. Finally I got the number of the Evinrude dealer and called him. No, everything was legit. He had the engine, and was in fact waiting for the part. And everything would be done under warranty.

Finally, just last week, we heard the engine was on its way. And a couple days ago I got the call from a trucker wandering around Mount Vernon. "Got an outboard for you. Can you meet me?"

So, at long last, here it is:















We'll be heading over to Island Boat Shop in the first week in July. Marty and his crew will remove the Merc and install the new baby. Can't wait to try her out.