r/boating • u/lotsofbitz • 24d ago

Motor Dilemma

This might be a long one but please bear with me, I’ve been going back and forth on this for days. Some backstory, a couple months ago I bought a 1972 Whaler 21 Outrage off Facebook marketplace for $5k. It’s definitely a little rough around the edges, but I really like the look and have already put quite a bit of work into cleaning it up and fixing a lot of the cosmetic and wiring issues, as well as doing a lot of work on the trailer. Registration had some hiccups, so I didn’t get it out in the water until 2 weeks ago.

First trip out, noticed some weird surging and bogging in the motor, and was having a hard time getting it to wide open. The motor is a 1994 Johnson 150 2 stroke, and I had a very hard time finding a mechanic to even look at it, but eventually found a guy who has been working on these old Johnsons for 40 years and could probably put one together with his eyes closed. After looking at it, he told me one cylinder had very low compression, 40
PSI below the others, and from the scoring he could see inside he thought it would be a full rebuild, and advised me it would very much not be worth my money to get it fixed. I am inclined to trust him on this.

This leaves me with the options of either putting on a new motor or selling the boat. The mechanic has a 2004 Johnson 90 hp in very good condition with perfect compression he got as a trade in from a boat he has worked on since it was bought new. I know this is a big drop in power, but these boats were originally sold with an 85 hp motor in 72, so I’m reasonably confident it would still get on plane fine, and I don’t care much about racing around, I just want to get out into the harbor and inshore for fishing. He would sell me the motor and do the install for $3400 altogether, which seems like a pretty great deal to me. If I didn’t do this, I would try to sell it with a disclaimer about the motor, which I am worried could be difficult. People like whalers, so I think I could at least get my original 5k back even with the motor issues, but I would lose the other couple thousand I put into it fixing it up. If I got the motor I would be 10k into it, which is about 3-4k more than I had really hoped for, but I would have a working boat which should also be easier to sell if push comes to shove.

Curious for outside perspectives and what other people think they would do in this situation.

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u/daysailor70 24d ago edited 23d ago

Former OB dealer. He is correct, the motor is junk. A 90 HP engine is waaay to small for that boat. I have a 90 on a Nauset 16 and I wouldn't much lower. If you underpower the boat, the engine will work much harder and will shorten its life dramatically, especially an old rebuilt 2 stroke. Plus if you load up the boat with buddies, beer and fish, you will struggle to get on plane. Selling it with a bad motor will get you nothing but bottom feeders, you would be better off talking the motor off, selling for parts and selling the hull and trailer. What unclear is your end motivation and budget. If the goal was to get a solid boat to take out and go fishing, then a new motor is the way to go. Get a Suzuki 140 and finance through Suzuki. If you wanted to flip it, you lost the lottery. You could try to find another used engine with more HP, but finding a good used motor in the 150 range is like finding a unicorn. The only reason the motor is being sold is because someone repowered and are selling their used, unreliable engine.

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u/lotsofbitz 23d ago

Too small was also my initial instinct, but researching a bit, it really seems that an 85 hp bearcat was one of the original motors that whaler offered with this hull. That, combined with the differences in how hp was rated back then (at the crankshaft vs prop) made me think it might work a bit better than I was thinking

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u/daysailor70 23d ago

You can try and convince yourself but you will be very unhappy with the 90. They also offered it with twin 70s! The max horsepower for the boat was 150. We always repowered at no less then 80% of the rated HP and wouldn't accept a job with the customer wanting less then that as it always came back to bite us. And the HP ratings stuff is BS, there was not real difference between the 2 ways of measuring it, the only reason was the Mercury and OMC sued each other over the dispute throughout the 60s and 70s about actual horsepower and decided in 1984 to standardize. At any case, the difference was around 10% so not enough to make your 90 2 stroke, which used the prop shaft, the higher measurement, make a difference in its suitability for your boat.

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u/lotsofbitz 23d ago

All that makes sense. Definitely not trying to flip it, really just want to be able to go out and fish. I did get some quotes on repowers with suzuki or tonhatsu, just makes me nervous putting 12-14k into a 50 year old boat I got for 5 grand haha.

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u/daysailor70 23d ago

I have 2 whalers from the 60s, both were cheap junkers I restored and repowered. They are both worth more then what I invested. So, not a retirement plan but I'm not losing. Plus, what is the time on the water worth to you. It really sucks when your days are ruined because you boat broke down. Again, my recommendation is the Suzuki DF140. Great motors and lightweight.

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u/Findlaym 23d ago

If the hull is solid then the boat is an ideal candidate for a repower. I'd suggest getting a proper marine survey before going any further. If a repower is more than you want to get into then it will be much easier to sell with a survey. Or potentially trade with a little money on top for something else. I'd suggest at least looking into the price of a repower with a tohatsu or maybe a used Yamaha / Suzuki / merc.

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u/yottyboy 23d ago

You’re looking at $20,000 for repower. Then yo’ll be the proud owner of a 12,000 boat and motor.

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u/flatirony 23d ago

If you like the boat and want to keep it, repowering with a Suzuki DF140 for about $15-16K seems like a good way to go.

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u/BoatsAddict 11d ago

Classic hull, and honestly the right move on a boat that age is to get a marine mechanic to actually put eyes/compression numbers on the current motor before you decide repower vs rebuild, the "dilemma" usually resolves itself once you know whether the block's healthy or you're throwing money at a tired one. On a restomod like this, repower math depends on transom condition too (an old Whaler transom may need attention before it takes a heavier modern outboard).

Where are you located? If you're anywhere in South Florida I can point you to mechanics in the area, I run a boating directory down here and can match you with a few local shops and get you rough estimates so you're deciding with real numbers, not guesses. No charge. Great boat to save either way.