Repowering; The Long And Winding Road

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Pacificcoast101

Member
When we purchased our Tomcat in 2010 it came without grommets on the motors. I had never owned an outboard with a rigging hose before, so I didn't know any better. Over the years, the rigging hoses came loose every time we turned the wheel or tilted the motors, allowing saltwater intrusion onto the motors. I tried cable ties, hose clamps, and duct tape with little success. We suffered through multiple repairs, partly due to rust and corrosion.

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Last year Honda announced the latest model of 150 HP motors. After very little debate, we decided to order new motors rather than throw good money after bad. With supply chain issues, the motors took eleven months to arrive. In September, we were finally able to haul our Tomcat out to swap motors.

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It took two weeks before the mechanics were able to get to our boat. Once the old motors were sold and hauled away, the new motors were bolted on and the boat looked great. Looks can be deceiving.

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The new motors are NMEA 2000 compliant, which meant we needed new wire harnesses. It took a while for them to arrive, but once they were installed we learned that we also needed to replace our old gauges.

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The boat was finally back in the slip today. The new rigging hoses do not require grommets. Unfortunately, the new motors didn't come with a small plastic blue terminator for the new harnesses as they should. The new HD-4 gauge is only reading the port motor. A replacement terminator has been on backorder for three weeks. I'm not sure when we can take the boat out again, but at least I can go down to the marina and wash it tomorrow. I stopped at the fuel dock on the way back to the slip and filled the tanks. Once I get the gauge to read the starboard motor I can set up the options on the gauge.

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I have to go to the boat again tomorrow. The greasy footprints all over the deck wouldn't come off with soap. Also, the GPS has no power. The mechanic said he would come down to the slip when he gets a chance. :(
 
Toilet bowl cleaners got the boat clean. The hot wire to the GPS was inadvertently stuffed in a bundle of new wires from the new NMEA 200 system. I was able to pull it out and plug it back in. All better now.
 
The boat is clean and ready to go diving...except for the new NMEA 2000 system. Apparently, the gauge won't recognize the starboard motor until the dealer comes down with a computer with Honda software on it. It's a two-minute operation. I went by his shop today but he can't find his computer. In the meantime, we have a clean boat with two new motors sitting in a slip unused. :(

I'm sure we will love the new motors if we ever get to use them.
 
Phil, you are almost there & it will be worth all the tribulations. My transition wasn’t as bad as yours, but the last was near the same. After the motors being changed & me later adding new chart plotter, auto pilot, radio & nmea 2000, the last problem was installing & making the nmea 2000 relate to both motors with my last addition, the twin HD-4 gages. The nearest Honda dealership, that could do the software upload was 150 miles away in Salt Lake City. We took it to them & they did the software, but still couldn’t get both gauges relating to the motors, as they should, so with few other options, I towed the boat back home & through much trail & error working with the gauges settings got it all working properly myself. Presently, I couldn’t be more pleased with all the changes & soon, I hope you will to. The Honda dealership, I went to sold lots of Honda motors, but had very little or no experience hooking up HD-4 gages to twins. I hope yours does. At least they ended up not charging me anything for the Honda software upload.

Good job writing with photos the change over process thus far.

Jay
 
Pacificcoast101":393y5snu said:
Why did you choose to go with two gauges? A single gauge will read both motors, at least after the software makes them communicate with it.
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Yes one gauge will work with twins & saves about $500, but to me it’s worth the $ to have each gauge dedicated to its engine making them easier to view with more information without scrolling through the different views. I can bring most of the information on the gauges up on the chart plotter & not have any gauges & doing so would have saved a $1000 by uses the nmea shared ability, but would take screen room from the chart plotter & more difficult to set & use, so for me though not necessary, worth the extra cost.

Jay
 
The owner of the dealership was able to borrow a cable and came down to our slip to program the starboard motor with the Honda Doctor H software. He said it only takes a couple of minutes. An hour later, the motor still wouldn't talk to the gauge. I went to the boat this morning and reset the gauge. Suddenly, both motors showed up. I increased the RPMs on each motor to make sure. We now have a working boat instead of a floating paperweight.
 
Merry Christmas after all. Glad you now have a working set of engines and gauges. Quite a thrill following your events. Seems like nowadays what they are able to build things that they cant install or service.

Two comments. First we just bought an electric car. Can't wait until something goes wrong. Second, after some time, the only thing I watch is the RPM. Everything else stays the same.

Boris
 
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