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The E-TEC Buzz...
 Bombardier Recreational Product's (BRP) Evinrude
division has finally started taking the offensive
regarding their E-TEC technology. There have been a couple of attention-getting (read "odd")
commercials on the tube lately (including one with a fat guy in
a G-string), as well as a 30 minute infomercial comparing the 2-stroke E-TEC to
the 4-stroke Yamaha F-series and the Mercury Verado.
In general, they make a strong case for the E-TEC, although I
found one of their side-by-side challenges a bit misleading. In the
challenge I am refering to, they put a 225 E-TEC and an F-225 Yamaha
4-stroke side-by-side on a large center console, then ran the boat
flat-out with only one engine. With the Yamaha, the boat never got on plane,
and they recorded a maximum speed of 13 mph. With the E-TEC, the boat managed
to break onto plane, and once on plane, accelerated up to 30 mph.
They made a point of emphasizing the speed difference, which is a bit
misleading - if the boat could have gotten on plane with the F-225,
it is likely that the Yamaha could have produced speeds not that
different from thre E-TEC. The real point is that the Yamaha did not have
the torque necessary to bring the boat on to plane, but the E-TEC did.
Think that the Yamaha was mispropped? There was a discussion thread on www.thehulltruth.com about
the informercial, and two of the people posting comments were involved in the
tests. Those people are both Yamaha and Evinrude dealers, and they stated that
Bombardier encouraged them to prop the F-225 any way they wanted. They had the
F-225 turning 5900 RPM at Wide-Open-Throttle (WOT), but just could not get the
big center console on plane with the Yamaha. One of them did comment that the
F-225 is known to be a little weak on torque, so it's clear to us why Evinrude
picked this particular size motor. But the fact remains that the E-TEC clearly
had a better hole shot than the F-225. Interestingly enough, Evinrude also had
them leave the Yamaha down in the water (but not running), and the E-TEC was
still able to get the boat on plane.
Along a similar note, Powerboat Reports' March 2005
Issue did a comparison of the Verado 250, the Yamaha
4-stroke F-250, and an E-TEC 250, running three identical hulls, and letting
each manufacturer fine tune the boat. In their tests, they ultimately picked
the Verado, but if you looked closely at the results, you would see the motors
were not all that much different in performance, fuel economy, and noise
levels. The E-TEC, as you might imagine, was faster, had better acceleration
and average noise levels. The Mercury was the quietest and had the best fuel
exonomy. But the differences were not that big. They did not measure emissions,
and did not take into account cost of operation.
 Finally, Trailer Boats magazine's September
2004 issue had a 90 HP outboard motor shootout titled: "Bantamweight
Brawl". Now in general, these articles are useful, but the thing
that really annoys me is that they always seems to leave out one
or more of the major players. In this case, the missing player is Yamaha. They
tested the Evinrude E-TEC 90, the Mercury Optimax 90, the Honda BF90, the
Tohatsu (Nissan) 90DI, and the Suzuki DF90. But no Yammie. Oh well...still,
some very interesting stuff: Evinrude's E-TEC came out the the fastest, had the
best acceleration, had fuel mileage only slightly less than the Honda, and
was only 4 dB louder than the Honda.
So...I'd say all signs are that BRP will have a winner in the E-TECs, especially
if their claims about reliability and maintenance costs prove true. Only time
will tell!
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