the Sea Knight is DEAD (untill further notice)

darthplywood · **Posted:** Wed Apr 18, 2012 8:02 am

out on sunday, wife baby and dogs on board for a nice boat ride....the third time the boat has been in the water. Shortly after i got her up on plane....my 115 Evinrude made a horrible sound that no outboard owner ever wants to hear. luckily, some nice fishermen towed us back to the launch and even helped me get the boat on the trailer.

I'm not a mechanic but it sounded BAD! I dropped her off at the evinrude dealer first thing monday morning and i am still waiting for the diagnosis....but its not going to be pretty. As broken hearted as I am, this may be the perfect time to pick up that e-tec that i have been dreaming about......

as far as the sound goes....lets just say a lot of clunking and shuttering in the powerhead somwhere. the motor will still start (and it runs like CRAP) but it won't go in to gear......its ugly...its ugly my friends....

DaveLott · **Posted:** Wed Apr 18, 2012 8:34 am

Never ever like to hear stuff like this because it always causes two terrible things to happen:

(1) loss of precious time on the water
(2) a hole in our wallet

Keep us informed

jeffh · **Posted:** Wed Apr 18, 2012 12:33 pm

Is your 115 an age that it is not computer controlled? If it is, the repair will probably be a lot less. New outboards cost a bloody fortune. A new E-TEC 115 is $12k :shock:

Good luck.

gdcarpenter · **Posted:** Wed Apr 18, 2012 5:57 pm

Don't think of it as a lost engine, think of it as a found anchor. All joking aside just hearing that noise probably says it all, but you never know until the fat lady sings. All the best.

Dwain the ski king · **Posted:** Wed Apr 18, 2012 8:38 pm

MAN, Darth hate to here that...I was looking forward to another ride, this fall...SOOOOO, ya got a few months to rectify the problem....Seriously, hope it's not catastrophic...Nobody like to go thru that...Dwain, the SKIIIIIIIII KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Roberta Hegy · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2012 5:11 am

OUCH !!! Please get it fixed for G6!!!

Roberta

rbrandenstein · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2012 7:51 am

At least the boat is still in good shape.
From the title of this topic, I was worried you hit a rock and sank or something dreadful. I'm glad you were able to get back and on the trailer.

Iggy · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:55 am

Ya, I figured you smashed the hull and it went all Titanic on ya!

Still, a mucked-up motor is a tough hand to be dealt so eary in the season. On the bright side you didn't get stranded and nobody got injured. I hope you find a silver lining in there somewhere!

Bob Maskel · **Posted:** Sat Apr 21, 2012 11:28 am

Whoa, Darth, sorry to hear my sistership :wink:

is landlocked for now...BUT...I am very relieved that, as noted by those above, it was "only" the engine that met its early demise and the boat is intact. Not knowing anything about the year of your motor, I quick googled 115 Evinrude powerhead and one of the results was this...http://www.crowleymarine.com/powerheads/johnson_evinrude/115.cfm so at least if the whole powerhead is shot, you can still save ten grand over the cost of that new Etech if your running gear is still salvageable...hopefully your mechanic will find it was not as catastrophic as it sounded...good luck...let us know....

darthplywood · **Posted:** Sun Apr 22, 2012 9:15 am

Thanks all for you support. I haven't heard back yet. I wil cal this week to try and find out what's up. I don't want to miss a single weekend on the water!

red · **Posted:** Sun Apr 22, 2012 7:46 pm

if you couldnt get it to go into f or r after the noise it sounds like the foot came unglued more than a problem in the power head to bad it costs just as much to have a foot replaced as a powerhead . good luck and let us know what they find and also anytime you want to meet up on west point and go cruising or do some fishing let me let me know

darthplywood · **Posted:** Fri Apr 27, 2012 8:20 am

the Sea Knight Lives again! (prepare...this is the longest post i have ever written)

What went wrong with the 115:
They told me it was mostly the lower unit. they said that the gears were completely destroyed and the drive shaft was twisted so hard it was almost twisted in to two peices. THey also said that there was possibly more damage but they would need to check a few more things.

The solution:
After much thought and consideration we decided just to go ahead and buy a new motor. To fix the 115 it would be costly and ultimately my wife and i had been kicking around the possiblity of buying a new motor anyway. I probalby coudl have had the 115 fixed for anywhere from $1000 - $2000 bucks depending on the total damage but i just didnt want to dump that much money in to a motor that is already 15 years old, not to mention it would probably be a month or so (minimum) before i coudl get it back.

The new motor:
after a LOT of research, reading, comparing and discussion with other outboard enthusiasts i had to go with another Evinrude. I ended up buying a leftover etec (2009) that was still in the crate (zero hours). It comes with a 5 year warranty as well. I will be picking the boat back up in a day or two and taking it on its "new" maiden voyage. I ended up getting a great price on it not to mention what i consider a very fair trade in on my 115!

I'll post some pics soon!

The lessons to others that i feel like i learned:
1. I "trusted" the person i bought the 115 from that the lower unit had been serviced and the lube had been changed. Perhaps if i had simply re-done it myself after i brought the motor home i would have possibly found evidence that there was a possible problem sooner rather then having it grind itself to bits when i was out with my family. I only had the boat in the water 4 times since i bought it so i just assumed (big mistake) that it woudl have been okay.

2. When we were finishing the boat i was dead set on buying a new Evinrude etec...however i talked myself out of it because of the expense. in hind sight, i should have just saved up a little longer and gone with a new motor. I was (and i'm sure you all can empathize) OVERLY eager to get the boat on the water (esepcially for G-5). In my haste, i took a half-measure (buying the '96 115) rather then waiting. If you are going to buy a used outboard, witness the compression test....check the lower unit lube...do everything you can to ensure you arent wasting your money.

3. Finally, lesson 3......if you're going to buy a new motor, call around to a LOT of dealers and see if you can find a leftover model from a previous year. I ended up beating out any price on a 2012 by buying a 2009 that was still in the crate and it still has a GREAT warranty. ITs hard to find these deals just by surfing the net (because most outboard dealers and marine dealers have VERY POOR websites).

Bob Maskel · **Posted:** Fri Apr 27, 2012 9:47 am

darthplywood wrote:

the Sea Knight Lives again!

Hey, great news!! You got yourself a good deal and peace of mind for the next 5 years...that's worth a LOT!!

Congrats!!

jeffh · **Posted:** Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:37 pm

Congratulations! That will be a sweet ride and with the 115, you have the V4. My 90 is nice and powerful, but is a 3-cyl. I'll bet yours will be smoooooth. The 115 E-TEC is 390lbs. What is the weight diff?

BTW, my advice is to have it programmed for XD 100 oil. I believe they come with xd50, but everyone I have ever talked to highly recommend changing to the 100 ASAP. It is not cheap (~$50/gal), but every owner I have ever met said it was money well spent. Mine still has the xd50.

darthplywood · **Posted:** Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:22 pm

actually, i should verify, i got a 90 etec...not a 115.

What is the difference in the oil? do you know?

Glen-L.com

the Sea Knight is DEAD (untill further notice)

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