Firstly to the claims. E-Tec says its motors are the lightest around in a power-to-weight ratio and the specs sheets back this up. It also claims the fuel economy is comparable to a four-stroke’which I originally doubted’but after testing the motor I’ve changed my mind, and the spec table within should give you a detailed idea of the fuel consumption figures.
Here’s a an example: with a full tank of juice, three on board and all the gear under the sun, I did four full days on the Bemm River, two full days at Mallacoota and a couple of afternoons at Merimbula. When I filled the tank, I’d used 45 litres. This was either at idle speed or full noise, no in-between! I’m sure everyone would agree that is good fuel economy. For the same distance travelled on the water in my old 5m Hornet with its 90hp two-stroke, I would have used more fuel than that ‘where is the sense’
E-Tec claims its motors are as quiet as a four-stroke outboard, but I disagree here. This isn’t all bad though. You turn the ignition key and the motor starts instantly and effortlessly and all you can hear is this low-down, grunty, awesome-sounding noise. It’s far from loud’like you’d expect from a two-stroke but it’s a nice throaty sound that would get any car or engine buff smiling.
While at idle, I believe the best four-strokes are slightly quieter than the E-Tecs, but it’s at higher speeds these motors excel. As quiet as fours are at idle, I reckon some are worse than old fashioned twos at running speed with a real screaming pitch.
The E-Tec, on the other hand, is still low throughout and I can comfortably speak (not scream) to my passenger while doing more than 80km/h as the engine’s pitch hardly changes!
The E-Tecs have incredible top-end speed, acceleration and grunt out of the hole. When I put my foot down in my new rig I get up and going in a hurry’this is one fun fishing machine! At around 5800 revs, I’m reaching more than 110km/h, but what I really like is my cruise speed of 80km/h when the engine is only pushing 4200 revs. My planing speed is at 30km/h and the engine’s revs are around 2000.