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TEST on the new
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| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | 4 Months later | Nearly 2 years later | Over 2 years and 2500 hours later | |||
The Background The vessel Jabulani has just been fitted with a pair of new MARINER 115 4-stroke Electronic Fuel Injection outboard motors for comparative testing under the strenuous dictates of charter work and harsh South African conditions. A charter vessel, like a commercial fishing vessel, is continuously exposed to the elements and harshest working conditions possible, so if a motor can withstand this treatment it will certainly meet any rigors of recreational use. It was with this foresight that Paul van der Westhuizen of MARINER South Africa approached us to test the latest addition to their stable. However, for a little more background as to how we became involved in this test one needs to step back and look at it from a different angle. THE most important responsibility of a charter skipper is undoubtedly to return the clients safely to the dock, and only after that do items such as economy and durability come into the equation. I must confess I have now been running MARINERS since 1984 and for a very good reason - they got me home. Even under conditions ranging from surf launches along the Natal coast to running over 40 miles to the Tuna grounds of the Cape - they got me home. Sure all motors will give problems at some stage, so do the most technically advanced motor cars but the deciding factor is how often and how severe. Since fitting a pair of MARINER 115 hp - 2 strokes to Jabulani in 1991 the boat has done many 1000's of sea hours (hour meters finally packed up in 1996), in some frightening conditions and excessively long runs to the fishing grounds. Even up to the time of taking them off the boat I could still rely, without question, that they would deliver my charters safely to the dock, and me home to my family. Now that's what I call reliability and that's why I was very hesitant when Paul suggested changing motors for a test. WELL THEY'RE ON NOW - LET THE TESTS BEGIN ........ My requirements of an outboard, in order of priority, are:
Paul has really stuck his neck out on this one as anyone in local boating circles will tell you, if I find a fault or dislike something, the world will know - but by the same token if I am pleased the world will know. This day was primarily for the correct propping of the boat and run-in time. Les Biggs, MARINER's technical guru, and I launched from Simonstown with 17" pitch props fitted. From start-up I noticed the leaps forward in technology - no choke buttons - no cold start levers - just turn the key and the motor decides it's own choke and fuel requirement. Perhaps the most noticeable feature of 4 stroke engines is the uncanny quietness and super smooth idling on the back of the boat. The 'telltale' water jet had me convinced on a number of occasions that Les had bladder trouble - the telltale almost makes more noise hitting the water than the engine idling. Another very prominent issue, and one which will gladden the heart of anyone who suffers seasickness - NO FUMES - not even a smell of fuel. If you get seasick you have to change to these motors. One major advantage of a 2-stroke over a 4-stroke engine is the quick response, a 4 stroke traditionally has a sluggish take-off. A quick response engine is vital in surf launch conditions and it is for this reason that I have never recommended 4 strokes for anyone operating in surf conditions. Knowing one has time to brace oneself while pushing the throttles forward on a 4 stroke, I was caught totally unawares and were it not for the chair I would have lost control and ended up at the back with the motors. As Les said, "that's the new EFI system for you". The response was so unbelievably quick and positive that I would find it hard to say there is any difference between this 4 stroke and a 2 stroke. I would take this 4 stroke motor through the surf any day. Jabulani is fitted with a fuel flow meter so an accurate measure of fuel consumption is possible at all times. AND THIS IS WHERE THIS 4 STROKE COMES INTO ITS OWN.
That equates to a 10 hour day in the Tuna grounds at around a 100 liters of fuel - and no outboard oil. The 2 stroke 115's would have used between 240 and 270 liters for the same trip - and they were fairly light. That's a fuel saving of between 58% and 63% against a 2 stroke. Obviously only time will tell the reliability and durability of the engines - the most important issues. We will be changing to 15" pitch props to reach the required 6000 RPM at wide open throttle and also raising the engines one notch. The only fault I could find is the fairly hard movement from forward gear to neutral. This was overcome, to a degree, by moving one throttle lever at a time. MARINER are aware of this and already have the modification part for the gear box on the way. It must be remembered that these are the first of these engines in the country and any faults found will be rectified before any others reach the MARINER dealers. I find the flush feature on the top of the leg, where a hose can be inserted to flush the engine, to be an easy method for quick use but impractical for my purpose as I would rather flush with the traditional muffs - just in case I damage an impeller. Maybe I'll get used to it. So far I'm pleasantly delighted, in fact quite impressed, but not to let these early trials influence my number one requirement of reliability, I'll reserve any conclusions I may have at this stage. Changed props to 15 pitch to raise the RPM to 6000 at wide open throttle. Raised the engines to give the cavitation plates the required hull clearance. Launched from Simonstown on the False Bay coast in an 8 to 10 knot Westerly wind putting a chop on a relatively flat sea. At 3500 RPM, the first hour running-in speed, we headed down to Cape Point to look for the Snoek and Yellowtail. We arrived at the Point with 20 minutes to spare so turned around and headed back to Buffels Bay. Still not enough time on the motors, so it was back to the Point. (at this stage I'm sure many of the commercial fleet thought I had finally lost my marbles). The motors were extremely quiet and ran with a smooth regular drone and absolutely no vibration. The first of my new discoveries for the day was that I could turn the squelch down on both the VHF and 29Mg radios as there was very little interference. The volume control could also be turned down and signals were more audible due to the quietness of the engines. A pleasure for the eardrums. The RPM was pushed up to 4500 for 10 minutes and still the motors purred on the back of the boat. Obviously there was an increase in engine noise but compared to the 2 stroke motors it was nothing. After the 10 minute run the throttles were pushed wide open and the required 6000 RPM was reached. The torque and thrust of the engines was exceptional. From 4500 to 6000 RPM the boat lurched forward and reached a speed of 36 knots in very quick time. Although one would never use the boat at this kind of speed it was interesting to compare the top end between a 2-stroke and 4-stroke power. The 2-strokes gave a fair bit more top speed but this was undoubtedly largely due to running 19 pitch props as opposed to the 15 pitch currently on the vessel. Another very interesting discovery when we finally started sounding for fish - absolutely NO interference on the Furuno colour echo-sounder. To confirm my findings I increased speed up to 24 knots and still a clear screen, with the exception of anchovy shoals and the bottom. After fishing in Buffels, running back to the Point once again, out to Whittle Rock deep off Millers Point and back to Simonstown the fuel consumption read 62 liters. With the 2-strokes Jabulani would have consumed 100 liters in a run from Simonstown to Cape Point and back - with no running around. This week we take part in the Cape Boat October tournament where we will be running up to 40 miles off Cape Point. This should begin to give a more accurate performance report. Another factor I am extremely interested in finding out - do these 4-strokes raise fish like my Mariner 2-strokes did. That's a whole theory on its own which I will one day put down on paper. Test day 3 - 12th October 2001 The first fishing day of the Cape Boat October competition which, for the first two days was plagued by strong South Easterly winds of 25 knots plus. With the winds having subsided overnight to around 5 knots at Cape Point and a relatively flat sea the boats set out to the Tuna grounds 27 miles offshore. The weather forecast was however for strong winds later in the day. The Mariners never missed a beat on the run out and as tournament control boat, communications with the other boats was a pleasure while running at 23 knots. Jabulani is fitted with an Automatic Trim Control unit which makes boat trim and leveling a pleasure. Switch the unit on, trim out the motors and away you go - and no matter the change in sea and wind conditions, the unit constantly keeps the boat running perfectly. No banging, no leaning - an absolute pleasure for any skipper. The downside of such a comfortable ride into the sea is that with the bow down and running on a level plane, a boat consumes more fuel, but it's worth every litre. I experienced a problem in setting the trolling speed as the throttle response is so fine. A little too much and the boat lurches forward, pull back too much and the boat almost stops. I used a 5 to 6 knot trolling speed at 1800 RPM and found it difficult to get both motors to the same revs without initially concentrating and working the throttle. This wastes time when getting back on the troll after landing fish. This time is better spent with the skipper concentrating on getting the lines in the water and avoiding tangles. However I am sure this is a cable setting and can be rectified. Fishing was poor for all boats with most not even finding a fish. My team managed to find two Longfin (Albacore) tuna of 14 and 18 kg, a small Mako Shark which we released unharmed and a Snoek ????. As the day was generally poor I cannot comment on the ability of these 4-Strokes to raise fish. The 27 mile run home was something the boats did not look forward to. With the winds now reaching 25 knots (50 km/h) the sea was full of holes and kicking up quite badly. Water constantly lashed across the windscreen from the starboard bow and it wasn't long until the water-repellent on the windows had worn off. As we could no longer see the holes and crests of the waves this meant a slow, plowing ride home - very inefficient and fuel consumption rises way beyond normal running. One of the big tests of these 4-strokes is the fuel consumption (or should that be fuel efficiency). For the day we used 190 liters of 95 octane fuel on a 10 hour trip which covered over 80 miles. This equates to the following based on a fishing day and not a point to point run.
As there were many adverse and influencing factors I must take this as being a worst case scenario. The boats running 2-stroke motors consumed between 295 and 384 liters. Jabulani would have consumed around 320 liters for the day with the 2-stroke motors so I would estimate an initial fuel saving of 41%. Test day 4 - 20th October 2001 GOT THEM NOW. I just knew these motors were too good to be true - it was only a matter of time. As stated in the beginning, if anyone is going to find a fault quickly it will be a charter boat. That's why Mariner subject their new design engines to this kind of treatment - so that they can be 100% sure that when a customer finally gets to purchase them, any flaws will have already been identified and rectified. The day started out normally with a nice family charter of Lew Watts and his two sons on board. We ran outside Cape Point where we found a shoal of Snoek and a Bronze Whaler Shark of around 150 kg (300 lb) - nice work Lew. The North Westerly picked up to 25 knots and made fishing unpleasant so we ran back into the bay. To cut a long story short we got back to Simonstown at around 4:00pm and decided to catch a few Squid before trailering Jabulani. When we started the engines to move into the harbour area it happened.... The alarm buzzer on the starboard motor went berserk. I immediately switched the engine off and checked that nothing was blocking the water intakes - nothing there. Off with the cover and check the oil level - all fine. Started the engine again and it idled perfectly and pumped a strong telltale of water. Throttle forward and off goes the buzzer again. Switch off and put the boat on the trailer with one engine. AT LAST I'VE MANAGED TO FIND A PROBLEM WITH THESE NEW 4-STROKES. Well so I thought..... On the way home I contacted Paul van der Westhuizen of Mariner SA to gloat about having finally found an engine fault. "Its got oil and its pumping water, why is the buzzer going off?" was my question, knowing I had him as confused as I was. His reply was as calm as usual "when you get home, find a 12 volt light bulb and solder a positive and negative wire to it and call me". Ok Doc. Light bulb in hand I called Paul. "Beneath the fuse box are two wires, plug in the light bulb, start the engine and count the flashes" Did that and got 2 flashes, a break, then 8 flashes. "Your shift position switch is loose" was Paul's reply (I could almost hear him laughing). And sure enough, the switch situated next to the throttle slide was loose enough not to depress the switch when in gear. It's that simple. A 50c light bulb, two short wires and you can diagnose your engine, it even tells you when all is good - what next? Confidence is growing slowly.
The most unbelievable outboard engines I have ever had the privilege to use - and I have used most. Already over 500 engine hours and they run even sweeter now than when they were new. This is probably more hours than the average outboard does in it's life-time. And a real pleasure on the ears as they are really quiet as church mice and give no interference on the radios and electronic equipment.. Fuel economy is without a doubt the biggest asset of these engines - a full day in the Tuna grounds 35 miles offshore we use an average 120 liters as opposed to the 270 liters with the 2 strokes. A full day running and trolling around False Bay we have yet to use more than 80 liters - less than the small boats with 40 hp motors. These engines are certainly worth the little extra cost up front - this is recovered quickly in your fuel saving. I now have absolutely no doubt that fish are less disturbed by these 4 Strokes than 2 Stroke motors. This I have now proved beyond doubt on a number of occasions, on Yellowtail and Tuna. Sure there are days when fish will just eat but those days are few and far between, and it's those hard days when these Mariner 4 Strokes stand out from all the rest. A typical example was on two separate days last week - Dave regularly skippers Jabulani and employs a style of fishing exactly like myself. On the day he skippered a boat with 2 Strokes alongside me on Jabulani - Jabulani returned with 38 Yellowtail and only 9 on Dave's boat ; same lures, speed, tilt, spread, same everything. A day or so later in the Tuna grounds the fish were a little offish, I called another boat to my area where I had been lucky with regular strikes. I told him our lure makeup and speed so that he stood an equal chance. Jabulani continued to get regular single and double strikes throughout the afternoon while the other boat managed four fish in the same period. With regards reliability - I am going to keep these engines on Jabulani - ENOUGH SAID. Nearly 2 Years Later - 21st June 2003 We have just come out of our busiest season ever and the time has now come for us to refurbish boats, repair whatever's broken, service equipment and make changes for the coming season. It was only the other day I started to prepare the engines for the winter and although I'm not the sentimental kind, I found myself feeling quite indebted to my Mariners for the unfaltering performance this year. We were at sea every day the wind didn't blow too hard, so that's a lot of days. The hour meters now clock over 2'000 hours, way more than the average outboard could hope to do in its life-time. And I am proud to say that the only problem I experienced this season was my fault and that was not checking the batteries. Not a single breakdown, not a beat missed, and all I did for the engines was give them their regular 100 hour services, which basically requires an engine and gear box oil change, new oil filter and lube, not more than an hour's work on both engines. My fuel consumption is incredible and this has added terrifically to my profitability. The premium I paid for the 4 strokes as opposed to the equivalent 2 stroke has way more than been covered in fuel savings. These engines still start immediately at the turn of the key, no priming necessary and no bellows of smoke and noise on start-up. They are still as smooth running and quiet as ever. Over 2 years and 2'500 hours later: For the first time we opened the engines for a check-up. Ok, we removed the cowlings to be more specific. These engines have now probably doubled the average life-span of the regular outboard engine - and that alone says that the recreational boater should never have engine problems. I know never is a big word but if your engines are looked after they should last longer than you will need them. Oh, the reason we opened the cowlings was to check the amount of residue from the fuel had collected in the injectors. Sure there was some but not enough that I had noticed a loss in performance. Efficiency and performance is still unbelievable and the envy of the other boaters on the water. Quietness is still a pleasure and performance still incredible. Reliability is unsurpassed and durability speaks for itself. Practicality has been proven in our every-day operation. Of the 5 factors by which I judge an outboard these engines have come through with flying colours and more. I look back at my skepticism about 4-stroke engines and their reliability and can only smile at my naivety. Until something goes wrong with these engines I will probably not report again so I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Mariner Outboards for introducing me to these work-horses. And to the technicians and marketing personnel who have constantly monitored the performance and my happiness with their product. Paul, you have been a man of your word with regards all I needed from an engine. To you, Jean-Louis and the guys, you have an absolute winner in these engines - well done and thank you. As I warned when we first put these engines on Jabulani - "And now the world knows". Rob.
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