Replacing '93 Evinrude 90 hp

[WaterGal]

This is my first post here so hi everyone. I'm trying to decide whether to buy a new Mercury Big Foot 4S 50 hp for my 1993 24 ft Crest pontoon boat (refurbished 2012 - new seats, carpet, LED lights, gauges, etc). Total cost will be about $8,500. for motor, parts and labor switching controls to Mercury, prop and taxes. My other option is purchase a 2012 Performance Tri-Toon 24 ft Harris Flote Boat owned and used 2 seasons by a local Boat Club. It has a Mercury 4S 150 hp motor with about 475 hours. It has all the bells and whistles, snap-on cover, lifting strakes, in dash depth finder, hydraulic steering. It's in excellent condition. Asking price is $24,900.

I could probably sell my Crest and motor for 5-7K. It's in really good shape and only prob with motor is automatic trim isn't working. It just stopped last summer.

My main question is about the hours on the 150 hp Mercury motor. Is 475 hours high for a 2 year old motor? My research indicates that hour life before rebuild is about 2,000 hours but does that apply to the 4 strokes as well? I only put about 75 hours per season (max) on my motor so I guess that seems high to me. Also, how would you rate the Mercury 4S over Honda, Yamaha and others?

Although we live on a large lake, my husband isn't much into the whole boating/fishing thing, although my dog loves it! So it's just usually me, my dog and an occasional gal-pal enjoying the lake. I'd LIVE on the water if I could!

Any advice from you folks would be greatly appreciated.

 

[WaterGal]

Thanks for the advice, Kim. Actually, I use the trim quite a bit. We have a lot of islands with rocky coastlines and I love to explore. So I frequently have to use the trim when approaching and docking at the islands.

You're right about downgrading from a 90hp to 50hp. Although I'm not a speed freak, I do want some power behind my "barge." But the cost of a higher hp new 4S makes buying the newer boat much more cost efficient overall. Maybe I'm over thinking this but spending $12K on a new 90 hp 4S motor for a $6-7K boat seems like putting lipstick on a pig, even if the pig is in really great condition.

 

[papyson]

i am running a 2 year old 60 hp merc bigfoot 4 cycle that i bought new...it serves my purpose on a 17 foot boat but i dont need mid and hi range torque....if i did i would get rid of it...it will handle my boat in rough water but if i was exposed to a lot of wind in a party barge i would want more torque...and dont believe the salesman on higher gas mileage.....get above 4500 rpm and it uses as much as a 90 evinrude that it replaced.. they pitch the ''bigfoot'' as a heavier built lower unit built for heavy loads...that is bull as far as i am concerned...the weight is only a couple pounds heavier than a regular...i think the only difference is a different gear ratio which would call for one heavier gear...but it does decrease you gas mileage...
boats are a personal thing but i would lean towards fixing the 90...you know what you got....get the guy to give the motor a look before doing so...compression and lower unit and spark etc...again everyone has an opinion but if i was going to upgrade and spend 25k i would opt for a new rig...primarily because of the motor..good luck what ever you do..

 

[WaterGal]

Thanks Papyson. I'm leaning toward repairing the trim on the 90hp and keeping my Crest. It's probably a loose wire or maybe the damn muskrats chewed on the wiring. The trim sensor died a few years back and Evinrude doesn't mfr them any more for my motor so my new trim gauge doesn't work. But it really wasn't a problem until the auto trim stopped working completely. Any tips on troubleshooting the trim problem before I spend $300.+ pulling the boat out of the water and paying out the arse for my boat guy to fix it? The motor only has about 4 hours on it since he checked it out and replaced all the sparks, etc. Thanks for any advice.

 

[papyson]

this is a late 80,s wiring diagram but i had a 1994 that was the same so i assume your 90 is also...

 

[papyson]

i tried to copy evinrude.johnson color wiring color codes from my computer but it wont copy the color examples..if you use google the are easy to find though...

 

[papyson]

EVINRUDE/JOHNSON COMMON WIRING COLOR CODES (Some Wires May Have Additional Specialized Functions) ​
WIRE COLOR(S)	FUNCTION	COLOR SAMPLE
Black	GROUND
Light Blue with White Stripe (may also be solid blue)	Trim UP Switch
Light Green with White Stripe (may also be solid green)	Trim DOWN Switch
White with Light Brown Stripe	Trim Sender to Trim Gauge
Gray	Tachometer Signal
Black with Yellow Stripe	Shorting or Stop Circuit
Red	Un-fused Wire from Battery
Purple	Ignition (Switch) to 12 Volt Positive
Tan with or without Stripes	Temperature Switch to Warning Horn and/or Temperature Sender to Temperature Gauge
Yellow and/or Yellow w/ Gray Stripe	Stator to Regulator (Charging Circuit)
Yellow with Red Stripe	Ignition Switch to Neutral Start Switch to Starter Solenoid
Purple with White Stripe Stripe	Choke (or Primer System)
Orange with Varied Color Stripe	CD MODULE to Coil - Various Striped on Orange
White with Black Stripe	Temp Sensor (Alarm Circuit) to Power Pack

 

[papyson]

yes kim..ty...thats what i was looking for...it has the trim wires colored....how do i delete the last entry of mine?

 

[WaterGal]

Thanks so much for all the info. I'm sure it will come in handy when I pull the boat so I can get a good look at everything.