Eduardo,
For what it's worth, here is what I learned during my engine replacement and my
thoughts and evaluation since.
My Seawind 1000, hull 82, is a 2000 model. I purchased it from the original
owner in 2006. Shortly after retiring from work in April 2010, we sailed north
(home is Ft. Lauderdale, FL) up the US East Coast. We made it to Beaufort, SC
and one motor began blowing out blue/gray smoke and would only idle roughly.
I spoke with Seawind and found that many of the Aussie owners were experiencing
this problem somewhere around the 7th or 8th year of use. The explanation was
that we typically run our motor(s) until conditions are right to set sail, then
we shut the motors down, tilt them up, and leave them until they are needed
again. Saltwater gets trapped in parts of the motor including around the
exhaust manifold. The manifold will eventually rust causing an oil leak,
which: 1. causes the motor to smoke, and 2. the CDI (brain) senses "low oil"
resulting in the CDI putting the motor in "safe" mode, not allowing the motor
to rev up past idle. I was told that the cost to fix this issue was running
around $1000.00.
I chose to replace both motors since both were the same age and had about the
same hours on them. We also were beginning an extended time of cruising and
wanted motors I could depend on.
At the time, there were only a few Yamaha 9.9 GEX motors available in the
States. These motors have manual tilt and tiller handles. It took 4 weeks to
have two of them delivered from Washington State to South Carolina. My wife
and I replaced them fairly easily. The most difficult part of the process, as
others mentioned, was getting the wiring correct. I also replaced the hour
meters to start fresh. Our boat came with tachs mounted at the starboard helm.
After almost 4 years, including two seasons in the Chesapeake Bay and winters
in the Bahamas, I have been pleased with the new motors. It was apparent
immediately that the new motors provided less power than the old, larger (more
cc's) motors. But like with most things we adapted quickly and soon forgot.
On the positive side, the new motors are smaller, a little lighter, quieter,
have better fuel efficiency, and come with garden hose attachments for easy
flushing. Except when cruising, I flush the motors after each use using my
freshwater supply. I typically run one motor at a time at about 4500 - 4800
rpms, making around 4.5 kts., and burning in the neighborhood of .7
gallons/hour.
When you get around to Florida, be sure to let us know.
Ted
"Morning Glory"
On Tuesday, February 18, 2014 9:41 AM, Eduardo Camps-Romero
<ecampsromero@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Gary thanks for your time.
My engines are 1997 and I am not sure how reliable my engine meters are having
only owned the boat since 2009 but they are around the same number of hours you
listed. I am not really sure how long to expect these engines to keep going
both hour use wise and years? All I know is that I spent $500 bucks on an
engine survey before I bought these and was given the all clear. I have had a
myriad of problems since. I have spent several thousands of dollars on repair
and have lost confidence in them. I am ambivalent about asking another mechanic
to see if they can fix them for me. I would love to save what will be a major
expense and am a bit wary of going to motors that have less overall power. That
being said I won’t be kicking around SF bay any more and will taking her out
the gate and a series of long jumps and well off shore at times and is some
remote places. The trip to Miami Florida will be a long one and as I am
learning it looks like after the
Panama Canal I will be relying on my engines quite a bit (still need to work
out my sail plan south of Cabo but this bit looks nasty).
So as of now I am leaning on replacing them as neither seems to be working at
the moment. If i was living by my boat maybe I would be more willing to
continue to tinker with them. I would be curious what the thoughts of the group
are in general in terms of hours or years that one should keep these outboards.
I am also in the process of writing Shan Grover about this reposer and the
vexing question about the power tilt and the possibility that the longer
bracket may protrude outside the engine pod amongst some other questions that
perhaps the group can help me with. I found some discussion about tachometers
and hour meters. I suppose I should get new hour meters (can you reset these
when you buy new motors). I never had tachometers and balanced engines by ear.
Would like to have them. What about engine temperature and oil pressure gauges,
anybody have these?
Thanks again,
Eduardo
On Feb 11, 2014, at 3:53 PM, Gary Oelze <gary@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Got a lot on the plate.
I have 1999 International motors and they have been very good.
They are high torque with larger CU IN (323 I think) than the US engines
which probably use high RPM to make 9.9 hP. More RPM = more wear on parts.
I have pulled my motors out with the boom situated over the engines. I
used a snatch block connected to some line wraps on the boom. You can then
swing the motor with the boom to get the motor over the side. My brother
and I did it pretty easily. The handles will most likely be frozen and
you'll save time by just beating the handles off. (No pun)
I have held on to my engines because: nobody builds engines like they used
to (per mechanics), I have less than 1400 hours on them. You said you
need to replace them so maybe this is of no value.
Some motors come with automatic lift feature. Avoid the units that have a
metal bracket for the lifting mechanism that drags in the water.
Good luck
Gary Oelze
-----Original Message-----
From: scoaa-members-bounces@xxxxxxxxx
[mailto:scoaa-members-bounces@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Eduardo Camps-Romero
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 6:53 AM
To: scoaa-members@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Scoaa-members] Re-power
Hello all,
For some reason I am having issues with the scoaa net site. I can't seem to
find the forums and I can't seem to find the old posts.
Anyway I have a 1997 Seawind 1000 with the original motors. I am needing to
replace them and was hoping I could find information but I don't seem able.
I am in the USA and recall that perhaps we have different options than what
is available in Australia. I am assuming the Yamaha model is the T9.9. I had
also saved a post about a member who re-powered with Honda 20's. I was
wondering what others may have done and their thoughts on the matter. My
reading tells me that my original yamaha's had a gearing such as to make
them more powerful. I am planning on taking my Seawind from the San
Francisco Bay Area around to Florida and I like the thought of the gas
sipping 9.9's. My reservation is that I bought the boat used in 2009 and
always had problems with these engines and my local repair guy here in
Florida (where I have a small sloop with a 5 hp Honda) tells me Honda's are
superior (granted he sells Honda's).
Since I have your attention, I was also thinking of adding a second auto
pilot for redundancy, replacing parts of the rigging that are older, and
maybe upgrading the electronics as I think I have all original components.
I imagine the boat should be out of the water for the outboard install, is
this true? Any other upgrades I should be considering with a boat of this
vintage? I recently replaced the windows (wish I would of read the posts
[that I can no longer find] on the forum before I did this] and may need to
redo at least the front ones), tramps and lifelines replaced, new throttle
cables and probably a few other things I can't recall now.
I am not sure when I will be bringing the boat over and most likely will
need to do it in stages so really only the motors need to be done now and
the other items I can stagger.
Thanks for your attention,
Eduardo
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