I/O or OB

B

bcurling

Member
Once again I am intrigued by the dialog with the newbie wpreach, (Welcome onboard wpreach, this is a great forum) regarding the engine. My question is this;
Everything being equal, which is better I/O or OB? Is there some outstanding reason in performance, maintenace, longivity, fuel consumption, etc, that sets one type of engine above the other? I am trying to learn all I can about these boats and their engines. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
 
Well my boat was a I/O when I bought it, and I made it a O/B so I have had both

The I/O is cheaper to replace and cheaper on gas, the parts can be easy or hard to find depending what year you have.
Most auto parts will fit, not that they are better then marine parts but they will get you by for awhile.

But IMO a car motor was never ment to be in a boat! everything gets rusted, you have lots of maintance all the time and they nickle & dime you to death!


Out boards cost more to replace, more on gas (not so much the case with new motors) and you need a good Marine repair guy if you have no idea.

But they will out last a I/O and you have alot less maintance o do! They will run pretty problem free if you take care of them for many years!!
And if you have to change the motor, it can be done in a afternoon!!

I switched to OB and I have never regreated it for 1 second!!
 
The main reason I wanted an outboard is I can fish early and late in the season and you don't have to worry about frezzing up a motor and to have more fishing room in the back of the boat
 
Thanks Skools, Macojoe, Vpearch and Randlemanboater. Great advice. I checked out Skools suggestion and he's right. There is a ton of information out there. Randlemanboater, too late to purchase an OB right now maybe later. This was a question that I probably should have asked before now. I just purchased my first V20 (1983). It was completely restored with new custom tank (60 gal.), new fabrics, hardware, through transom drains, and a complete rebuilt outdrive and Mercuriser 170hp with 5 hours. The thing I kept looking at was the height of the transom. The tall transom gives a sense of security. And since I have experience with my current Volvo-SP1 I/O on a 19' Infinity, I figured I would stick with what I knew. I was hoping I made the right choice. If not I'll talk to Skools abouth doing a conversion and hanging a bracket on her and mount a Johnson OB. Again, thanks for everyone's advice and suggestions.
 
One last thing on a Bracket motor, They suck to back up!! The wash from the prop gets pushed against the transom making for a slow backing with very little control.

But I would still do it in a heart Beat!!
 
If you either put a flush kit set up or you trailer your boat an I/O can last very long and maintanence will be be reduced. One friend of mine is doing just that and has put many a long season on his with little expense. His fuel burn numbers are great and the perfromance is exellent.
IMHO the best combo for a boat over all is a inboard with a straight shaft like the Shamrocks. The ride of the boat is vastly improved and you don't have to deal with the outdrive maintancence etc. There is a fellow down at Morgan Marina that has a older Shamrock with this set up on a keel drive and inboard engine, last time I saw him he had over 2G's hour wise on his motor and no problems.
 
Well I have an 84' with a 470 Mercruiser (probably the same motor you just bought bcurling). I love the I/O for several reasons. First is my motor is original and never really gave me any trouble other than a timing issue. It does not use any gas. and since it is a "car" motor, I can do all the work to it myself.

If you want to fish late in the winter all you have to do is open the valve on the heat exchanger and drain the raw water into the bilge. That way there is no worry about freezing. If your motor has antifreeze in her.

I love my I/O. When she goes I already have my eye on another local V with the same motor.  ;)
 
Bill do you have the closed cooling system or not if it closed you dont have to worry as much about the salt water just flush the outdrive ans heat ex. with a muff
 
Yes, it is a closed system. That was one thing that I relly looked for. I have a closed system on my Volvo 140 and it is absolutley worth ever dime. There was a drain plug in the exchanger (V 20) to get rid of the raw water. I removed this plug and installed a peacock valve off of an airplane engine. Works great.
 
Hey Bcurling, Ive gotta 77 v20 cutty with a 170 (470) I/O I just rebuilt. Ive been extremely satisified with it so far. With the cost of gas climbing I wouldnt think of replacing it with anything else. Hang on to what you have , they are very easy to fix. If ya have any trouble we all will try ta help!
 
The V20 is the 6th boat I've owned.
First 4 had outboards, all were old, and all had various issues at times.

Always wanted an I/O, since it appeared that it was close to a "car" motor, and thought that means easier to work on.

5th boat was a 23' Formula with a GM305 V8, OMC I/O.

A year later that pile was sold, and swore to never ever will own an I/O again. Even though I am a retired certified automobile master mechanic, the I/O is actually much harder to service than an outboard. Plus parts prices are unreal. For the price of an intermidiate housing, outdrive, lower unit, (motor NOT included), you can get an entire outboard ready to run and just bolt it on.

6th boat is the V20 with outboard, and life is great again.
 
OBs

I agree with the above. The OB is superior in all ways. A recent test of identical Trophy fishing boats, one with an I/O, the other with a O/B, showed the O/B was superior in all ways, hole shot, fuel efficiency, top speed etc etc.

That said, in California, the 2008 and newer O/Bs will need to be smogged every two years or the engine switches to "trouble mode". The local dealers are licking their chops at having required service. My local Merc dealer averages $500 to $600 to service an engine. I can see why, he had to buy a $30,000 computer and cables to plug into the newer engines. Once the engine is plugged in, the computer diagnoses any problems. Then, the computer sends the report to the State, verifying smog is completed.

I like the concept, but for a small time operator, I'll stick with my funky old I/Os. I can change bellows, grease ujoints, time a points distributor, rebuild the carb, drain the block and manifolds in the spring. None of this is hard to do, none of this cost $600.
 
wpearch said:
The main reason I wanted an outboard is I can fish early and late in the season and you don't have to worry about frezzing up a motor and to have more fishing room in the back of the boat
Click to expand...

I'm looking into hooking up a system like you would buy from a auto parts store to flush your radiator. I have a I/O and that's my only thing but I like mine.
 
Monterey10 said:
I agree with the above. The OB is superior in all ways. A recent test of identical Trophy fishing boats, one with an I/O, the other with a O/B, showed the O/B was superior in all ways, hole shot, fuel efficiency, top speed etc etc.

That said, in California, the 2008 and newer O/Bs will need to be smogged every two years or the engine switches to "trouble mode". The local dealers are licking their chops at having required service. My local Merc dealer averages $500 to $600 to service an engine. I can see why, he had to buy a $30,000 computer and cables to plug into the newer engines. Once the engine is plugged in, the computer diagnoses any problems. Then, the computer sends the report to the State, verifying smog is completed.

I like the concept, but for a small time operator, I'll stick with my funky old I/Os. I can change bellows, grease ujoints, time a points distributor, rebuild the carb, drain the block and manifolds in the spring. None of this is hard to do, none of this cost $600.
Click to expand...

a 30,000 computer? $500-$600 what is the labor rate? dude someone is getting the shaft and thats a fact.i know things are expensive and ridiculous in cali but unless that computer is govt issued and its a standard toughbook with merc software its not 30,000. that is very interesting.
 
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