Bombardier Recreational Products, manufacturers of Johnson and Evinrude outboards, have concluded that the failed engine holder casting on my Suzuji-manufactured 90-horsepower 4-stroke EFI outboard motor is not their responsibility.

Oh yes, they “apologize for any inconvenience”, and “customer satisfaction is a top priority”, but the problem I experienced was the result of corrosion, and that’s not covered.

A disappointment, to be sure, but not a big surprise. They were able to provide a bit of background on the changes I noticed in the part that failed:

“Upon further inspection of this issue after reading your letter, the change in the casting was due to the elimination of a test port. Your pictures illustrate this change well, the noted change in the casting was due to the elimination of the machining for a test port for an oxygen sensor, which is no longer used. Otherwise the casting is the same.”

That makes sense, and it explains the change. The engine has over 800 hours on it, which is a lot for a three-year-old engine. The previous owner used the boat a lot, and I’ve put about 100 hours on it in the past eight months. So maybe this part was just going to fail at this point eventually, and mine failed early due to the large number of hours on the engine.

It will be interesting to see if other owners of these Suzuki-manufactured engines begin experiencing the same failure in large numbers when they’ve got 800 hours on their engines. Affected models probably include Johnson and Suzuki 90 HP, 115 HP, and 140 HP 4-stroke EFI engines manufactured between 2001 and at least 2005, the model year of my engine. But I don’t know when Suzuki modified the part, so it’s possible some newer engines are similarly at risk.

If you own one of these engines and you’re experiencing exhaust leakage into the engine enclosure, please contact me. You can identify this problem because of the soot that will gradually build up in the vicinity of the exhaust leak and, eventually, rough running and stalling that’s difficult to diagnose.

Never fear, there’s a happy ending for this Thanksgiving story: now that it’s fixed, my engine’s once again the smooth, reliable runner I’ve come to know and love.

Plus the boat motor’s workin’ again! [cue rimshot]

I tell ya, that joke just never gets old. Anyway, the fine folks over at Jacobsen’s Marine wrapped up their work early in October. Special thanks to Service Manager Tim and Acting Service Manager Willy; you guys are great.

I’m feeling unreasonably pleased with myself because my own diagnostic conclusion turned out to be correct: exhaust was leaking into the engine enclosure.

The cause, however, was not something simple like a worn-out hose or a gasket. Instead, (more…)

I’m having trouble with my Johnson.

Plus the boat engine ain’t workin’ right! [cue rimshot]

Bwa-ha-ha-ha! Oh man…I kill me sometimes. Anyhoo, here’s the deal: My 2005 Johnson 90 (4-stroke, EFI, Suzuki-manufactured) outboard starts fine, runs fine, and then stalls when I slow down to an idle after running several minutes. (more…)

Here’s a product I’ve been meaning to write about for awhile: the Solar Stik, a robust solar panel mounting system for cruising boats and other applications. The advantages of solar are compelling: less reliance on fossil fuels; less wear and tear on engines being run to generate electricity; quiet and non-polluting energy; and the simplicity of no moving parts. However, panels that produce useful amounts of power need to be pretty big, and deck space is often limited on cruising boats. In Mexico, I’ve seen panels mounted in all kinds of inventive, sometimes precarious ways. The better ones are on arches, hard-top biminis, or davits, where they are generally up and out of the way. Others are cantilevered off of lifelines or held in a spider web of rigging. And some are custom folding brackets that allow panels to be turned toward the sun for maximum power output. The Solar Stik folks have taken the specially designed bracket approach to a new, and welcome height.

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When I bought my cruising cat a few years back, the un-loved, raw-water cooled 18hp Volvo diesels were one of my biggest concerns, and I set aside some cash for new diesels and saildrives. As luck would have it, I found a couple new, still-in-their-crates, 27hp Yanmar diesels with matching saildrives, being sold by an inventor who decided he’d rather not build his own catamaran. Since then, the crates have been sitting in my shop waiting for the old Volvos to give up their places. But, lately, I’ve been thinking seriously about going diesel/electric hybrid instead.

Electric drives for sailboats have been gaining noticeable momentum in the last few years, and it no longer seems to be such a bleeding edge proposition. Here are some of the systems I know about:

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The Duogen convertible wind- or water-driven generator is one heckuva transformer. The unusual design caught my eye at the boat show, and it was a little confusing figuring out how it works. Many cruisers have set off with wind generators to increase their energy independence, only to discover that they make a negligible amount of power on passage, because the apparent wind on downwind routes is so light. Some have turned to water generators that make lots of power from an impeller towed behind the vessel, but these have some interesting issues, e.g. sharks seem to be attracted by the giant lure, and—I’m not making this up—bite them off the line! Duogen’s convertible looks to be a successful combination generator, but using a shaft driven prop instead of the shark bait impeller. (more…)