GW Islander 268 w/Evinrude Fichts????? Good or Bad??

[kooch1221]

I am looking at getting into boating again and was focusing on the GW Islander. I have found two of these boats(both 1998s) but both have Evinrude Ficht outboards. Both in dual configurations. One 200hp the 175hp. I had heard the Evinrude Fichts were really trouble some initially but I haven't heard much since. Can anyone give me some insight on these engines? Should I stay away from the Ficht outboards? Thanks

 

[BobP]

Two Islanders with Fichts?

Must be the only two ever equipped with these motors !

 

[catch22]

At the risk of offending any ficht owners... I wouldn't want anything to do with them, especially because of the year, (1998).

 

[kooch1221]

Two Islanders with Fichts?

Must be the only two ever equipped with these motors !

Funny you should say that as I found it odd also. I dont seee alot of those motors around either. They both have some hours on them so they must at lest run a little awhile.

The other two islanders I found both had Yamahas on them. One a single OX 66 the other twin Saltwater Series 2.

 

[kooch1221]

At the risk of offending any ficht owners... I wouldn't want anything to do with them, especially because of the year, (1998).

Do you have any real life experiences wiith them or just word of mouth kind of thing? Im curious since I did a search on this site and found almost no threads related to Evinrude Ficht engines

 

[Barlow46]

At the risk of offending any ficht owners... I wouldn't want anything to do with them, especially because of the year, (1998).

Do you have any real life experiences wiith them or just word of mouth kind of thing? Im curious since I did a search on this site and found almost no threads related to Evinrude Ficht engines

Click on this link and scroll down to where "Sal" talks about the engines.
Then go to iboats.com and find the forum for engines and do a search on Evinrude.http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/001794.html

 

[ChampyAdventure208]

I bought a 1997 Adventure with a 2002 Evinrude FICHT this Spring. The FICHT just died with only 80 hours on the engine. The mechanic said one of the pistons exploded into pieces. He said that this engine will hange on his wall of shame at the marina. Now I need to re-power. Great!!

 

[gradytom]

Ahhh, the Ficht Dilema . . .
I have a 98 Islander w/ twin Ficht 150's, and before I bought the boat
did all the research and was scared to death of 'em . . .
But, the motors checked out well, great compression, fairly low hours
and they had the factory upgrade to pinned cylinder heads which helped
minimize carbon buildup, which was the culprit and demise of the ficht.
And the price of the boat package w/ motors made it attractive.
I use XD50, decarb on a regular basis, done all the maintenance (index plugs) and have run them like I stole 'em since
2005 with zero problems.
Some have said if you can get then to last past 100 hours you are home free.
They are pretty quiet, smoke/smell free and really go.
I would love 200's on an Islander.
Can't speak for all fichts, but mine have treated me very well.
BTW - a highly respected evinrude mechanic told me ETECs were basically
rebranded ficht technology.
Good luck, pm me if you have any questions, I've done a ton of research
gt

 

[Drifter80]

gradytom, I was wondering if you could tell me more about the factory upgrade. I have a friend who is looking at a used 208 that has a FICT on it. Nice boat, good price, but the engine is the issue.
Is this a warranty fix? Is this only on engines produced after a certain date? Any info on that would be great. I too have heard tons of BAD stories about those motors but until have never heard about any fixes or upgrades.

 

[plymouthgrady]

I wouldn't take a pair of FITCH's if you gave them to me, esp. pre-2000's. I coincidently was talking w/ my mechanic about FITCH's last night. They were rushed to market w/o proper testing and had inherent problems from the get-go, eventually putting OMC out of business. My buddie had a pair of '99 115's on the back of a Vector and torched them, eventually trading them in (1500 bucks) for a single 225 E-TEC. I think you're potentially looking for problems.
The problem w/ the FITCH's was that the oil senders quit on them. They were pumping oil but not sending it to the head. They were tested at idle and at full bore but not at mid-range, where most boating is done. OMC wanted to beat Merc's Verado's to market-and they did w/ disasterous results.
BTW, respectfully and completely disagree that the E-TEC is a repackaged FITCH.

 

[kooch1221]

At the risk of offending any ficht owners... I wouldn't want anything to do with them, especially because of the year, (1998).

Do you have any real life experiences wiith them or just word of mouth kind of thing? Im curious since I did a search on this site and found almost no threads related to Evinrude Ficht engines

Click on this link and scroll down to where "Sal" talks about the engines.
Then go to iboats.com and find the forum for engines and do a search on Evinrude.http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/001794.html

Listening to Sal it sounds like the 200s where okay? But the smaller one not so good. Funny the Islander with th 175s have like 600 hours on them. I cant imagine someone would want to keep them tah long if they wer etrouble.

 

[kooch1221]

I wouldn't take a pair of FITCH's if you gave them to me, esp. pre-2000's. I coincidently was talking w/ my mechanic about FITCH's last night. They were rushed to market w/o proper testing and had inherent problems from the get-go, eventually putting OMC out of business. My buddie had a pair of '99 115's on the back of a Vector and torched them, eventually trading them in (1500 bucks) for a single 225 E-TEC. I think you're potentially looking for problems.
The problem w/ the FITCH's was that the oil senders quit on them. They were pumping oil but not sending it to the head. They were tested at idle and at full bore but not at mid-range, where most boating is done. OMC wanted to beat Merc's Verado's to market-and they did w/ disasterous results.
BTW, respectfully and completely disagree that the E-TEC is a repackaged FITCH.

thanks for the reply. So far it sounds like the lower horsepower models where the one with all the trouble. Questions is do I want to take the chance with them.

 

[gradytom]

The factory upgrade was to add a "pin" in front of the injector
on each cylinder to help further disperse the atomized fuel for a more complete burn.
It was a waranty fix in 2000/2001, but the motors are no longer supported.
You can tell if you have pinned heads by looking at the spark socket, if you see a hex style fitting adjacent to each spark hole it has a pinned head.
Contact BRP with your engine #'s, they can tell you if a head upgrade was SHIPPED for install. My motors each had an interior tag saying they had indeed been upgraded, verified visually by looking down at the spark socket.
The whole Ficht issue was with excess carbon buildup, had nothing to do with oil senders.
There are tons of different opinions on this, but if oil senders were faulty a modified sender would have been the warranty fix, not a pinned head. They were in fact rushed to market.
Most early Ficht buyers ran standard TCW3 and had problems.
Fichts and ETECs use essentially the same injection technology, thats why ETECs REQUIRE xd100 full synthetic oil . . . and expensive.
Can't run xd100 in a ficht w/o reprogramming the ECU.
Run xd50 along with trustworthy gas, use carbon guard or seafoam, and DECARB every 100 hrs.
Indexing plugs is also great idea for any high performance injected engine but a PITA, I was told not to use spacers by my ficht guru.
They also modified the recommended spark plug in 2001 to a different Champion plug.
Get the factory techs service manual, not one of the consumer grade booklets that ends each paragraph with "see dealer".
Cost about $65.
Do your due diligence and research the particular motor you are looking at, do a compression test to verify each cylinders health (they should read w/in 10% of each other) and don't skimp on the maintenance items down the road.
Good Luck, my FICHTS have served me well for over 300hrs, I don't troll with them beacuse of the carbon issue but have a yami 9.9 kicker for that,
fuel economy is ok, 2.8 mpg at cruise, I can outrun the 2 other Islanders w/yamaha 150's on Lake St Clair no problem, Fichts like it when you put the spurs to em.
Good Luck
gt

 

[plymouthgrady]

Doing a little homework, i fould this thread http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... i_61555469
Basically, at low rpm's, there was a soot build-up b/c of a low flash point temp. That soot in turn absorbed lubricating oil.
Stand corrected- not a sender issue but definately a lube issue.

 

[Grog]

Personally I wouldn't give any value to the engines. I would make an offer based on the hull and 0$ for the engines. You really don't know what the previous owner did or didn't do for maintenance or how they ran it and those engines have had issues. If you can't troll with a DI motor something is wrong. It's a strong buyers market, use it to your advantage.

 

[gradytom]

Agreed Grog
I may have gotten lucky, or at least I feel lucky (knock on wood)
The Evinrudes got me into a Grady at a price I could more easily handle and have worked very nicely.
(Plus the white cowlings look great)

I'd ask if they can get it hooked up to a tech's Evinrude diagnostics program while I was present, it will tell total hrs, % run at 5 or 6 different RPM ranges, health of the injectors, and give an error code log, plus probably more, like a little black box for boats.

If the motors are running strong after all these years (assuming its been run lately and has "normal" usage hours on it) maybe give it a try.
400hp on an Islander would be really cool.
Lowball em and if its a dealer ask for maybe a labor only liabilty
on a 1 yr engine warranty and see how bad they want to sell.
I'm going fishing
gt

 

[kooch1221]

Personally I wouldn't give any value to the engines. I would make an offer based on the hull and 0$ for the engines. You really don't know what the previous owner did or didn't do for maintenance or how they ran it and those engines have had issues. If you can't troll with a DI motor something is wrong. It's a strong buyers market, use it to your advantage.

Thats an idea. Im not sure what a hull only deal should be dollarwise. Do you know approximately what a good repower installation would cost and maybe I can work backwards from there.

Also in your opinion do the FICHTs have any trade in value at all?

 

[Grog]

I would doubt there would be any trade in value but you can always ask.

New or used motors big $ difference.

 

[Bama96]

I wouldn't take a pair of FITCH's if you gave them to me, esp. pre-2000's. I coincidently was talking w/ my mechanic about FITCH's last night. They were rushed to market w/o proper testing and had inherent problems from the get-go, eventually putting OMC out of business. My buddie had a pair of '99 115's on the back of a Vector and torched them, eventually trading them in (1500 bucks) for a single 225 E-TEC. I think you're potentially looking for problems.
The problem w/ the FITCH's was that the oil senders quit on them. They were pumping oil but not sending it to the head. They were tested at idle and at full bore but not at mid-range, where most boating is done. OMC wanted to beat Merc's Verado's to market-and they did w/ disasterous results.
BTW, respectfully and completely disagree that the E-TEC is a repackaged FITCH.

Actually OMC was trying to beat Merc's Opti "Pop", oops, I mean Max to market not the Verado. Think the Verado came out in 04' ish. I had a 150 1999 Evinrude Fix, I mean Ficht. Lost the first power head at 18 hrs and the second power head at 36 hours. There was no third OMC had left the building. I ended up with one hell of an expensive anchor. Would not trust them. If you buy the boat price it with the plan of re-powering w/ used or new. Only value those Fichts have would be for scrap metal.

 

[plymouthgrady]

Holy Cow! Am I that old?! You're right FICHT (FIX-good one!) was vs. the Opti.
Jeez, after typing it a half dozen times, You figure I would have noticed I was spelling it wrong!