Running the engine at home

[Lt.Mike]

I trailer my boats, always have.
I always flush my engine after every saltwater trip and if I haven’t run it in awhile I like to run it on the muffs at home to be sure it’s good to go.
Problem is on my DT225 besides the ports that get covered by the muffs there’s a rectangular grate on the bottom of the cavitation plate and two more on the sides of the lower unit above it that the owners manual dictates that you cover with duct tape, then and only then can you run the engine on muffs. There’s also a port on the left side of the head to hook a hose to flush the head but you can’t run the engine on it.
Also when running on the muffs I’d often get an intermittent alarm, “check engine” would light briefly and go out. The pee stream would also be hot, almost too hot.
I got tired of doing it that way and picked up a 100 gal rubbermaid stock tank At tractor supply. It was the only one that was deep enough to submerge the lower unit enough to be safe.
Having filled it I left the hose in with a slight flow to counter what the pee stream sprayed out.
It worked great ! Besides being quiet it all ran cooler. The pee stream never heated up in the half hour I ran it. Never had a warning alarm either.
It was easy to set up and take down too.
here’s a few pics...
Mind you it’s a 2 stroke and besides the oil injection it’s also running on premix as per the manual which recommends that after long periods of storage for the first tank.
I haven’t run the boat too much this year and it’s on the last 20 gallons of premix fuel .
I had thought 100 gal.s would a bit much but the length of the tank gives clearance for the engine to trim up and down.

The pee stream is as strong as it is when the boats in the water and it never heated up like it does on the muffs.


Everything behaving itself for once.


100gal Rubbermain




My yard tug. Helps me easily move trailers around in tight spaces.


1953 Farmall Super A

 

[DennisG01]

Looks to me like you made yerself a country-boy jacuzzi!

 

[SkunkBoat]

Yamaha hot tub...for a Zuke!

 

[Lt.Mike]

Looks to me like you made yerself a country-boy jacuzzi!

Lol That would be nasty
Water stayed cool though.
looked like a cauldron but clearly provided more water thru the engine than the muffs do, and I didn’t get sprayed with water or wet having to reposition the muffs over and over.

 

[Lt.Mike]

Ya, also when you flush like this it’s that much more obvious what a 2 stroke engine puts out its exhaust.
Lotta truth I n this meme...


If this engine and I ever part company it’ll get replaced by a Yamaha F200 4 stroke.

 

[SkunkBoat]

Why not a DF200AP from suzuki?

 

[Pat Hurley]

Like that Rubbermaid

 

[Lt.Mike]

Why not a DF200AP from suzuki?

It’s kinda like not reinventing the wheel. The Yamaha F200 weighs 15 lbs more than the 2 stroke DT225 and uses the same bolt pattern. Seen quite a few paired with a 19p stainless prop hung on my generation Overnighter and it’s a decent match. WOT speed is a little less being a 200, 43 mph compared to the 225’s 48 but in the real world there really isn’t any difference. It’s been tried and proven, kinda a no brainer.
The DF 200 is 40 lbs heavier than the DT225 which is already about 100lbs heavier than the engines built in the late 80’s when my bout was built. Weights a big factor when your pushing the limits for what it was designed for. They “say” you can hang up to a 230 hp OB but I don’t think they took in account how heavy they would become years later.
Incidentally the 225 I have now has a stainless 20p prop .

 

[Lt.Mike]

Like that Rubbermaid

It is simple, maybe a little goofy but it works. I think it actually uses less water than leaving the hose fully open on the muffs with water spraying out everywhere.
The lawn wasn’t anywhere near as flooded doing it this way as it usually is and like I said the discharge stream never got warm much less hot.
Did I mention that it’s quieter this way too? On the muffs the DT sounds like a pro stock dragster idling can sound and all. I doubt my neighbors ever heard me running it this time.

 

[SeanC]

My 2006 F250 won’t pump water with muffs. I cut the top off poly 44gal drum and put a drain at bottom. Works great.

 

[DennisG01]

Yup, no question it's quieter running it in a tub! Much quieter. I have a plastic 55g drum I picked up on Craigslist for about $10 that I use for this. I can also hang kicker motors on it with a short piece of a wood as a "transom". Don't have to worry about the muffs sliding off, either, and you can walk away and do other things (although there are muffs that can prevent this, too).

 

[SkunkBoat]

It’s kinda like not reinventing the wheel. The Yamaha F200 weighs 15 lbs more than the 2 stroke DT225 and uses the same bolt pattern. Seen quite a few paired with a 19p stainless prop hung on my generation Overnighter and it’s a decent match. WOT speed is a little less being a 200, 43 mph compared to the 225’s 48 but in the real world there really isn’t any difference. It’s been tried and proven, kinda a no brainer.
The DF 200 is 40 lbs heavier than the DT225 which is already about 100lbs heavier than the engines built in the late 80’s when my bout was built. Weights a big factor when your pushing the limits for what it was designed for. They “say” you can hang up to a 230 hp OB but I don’t think they took in account how heavy they would become years later.
Incidentally the 225 I have now has a stainless 20p prop .

you'd save $10K That gets you a white motor with digital controls for the price of a grey mechanical Yammie.
No belt. Selective rotation (resale value). No guilting to drink Yamaha Koolaid...

And the zukes are pretty

 

[Meanwhile]

I use the same tub and it works great. I'm lucky enough to have concrete under the twins so I use a cheap furniture mover from Harbor Freight so I can push the loaded tub to the next motor. I've occasionally added some salt away but at a low concentration.
I wish my subcompact tractor had enough umph to move my boat on the trailer. Just not enough power on a little JD.

 

[Lt.Mike]

you'd save $10K That gets you a white motor with digital controls for the price of a grey mechanical Yammie.
No belt. Selective rotation (resale value). No guilting to drink Yamaha Koolaid...

And the zukes are pretty

$10k Saved ?
Last I checked I could get a F200 in Delaware for $15k + rigging.
Another thing is the DT I’m running now is not rebuildable having a pressed crank and rod assembly which btw is no longer available so when it goes that’s it. Yamaha, OMC, and Mercury’s are rebuildable. Also when I call my local Suzuki dealer when I had a problem with the first engine I had they basically said wow s**ks to be you, can we sell you a new outboard ?
I ended up finding another ‘03 DT225 with low hours for cheap. It was also 100 digits apart on the serial number. So it was plug and play, all present gauges, cables, etc... fit, easy peasy. I’ve been running that one since.
Been really kind to it too.

 

[Lt.Mike]

I use the same tub and it works great. I'm lucky enough to have concrete under the twins so I use a cheap furniture mover from Harbor Freight so I can push the loaded tub to the next motor. I've occasionally added some salt away but at a low concentration.
I wish my subcompact tractor had enough umph to move my boat on the trailer. Just not enough power on a little JD.

These old tractors were made to rip a plow thru soil so moving trailers are child’s play for them.
It’s pretty short and I fabricated a front hitch for it so I face directly towards the trailer making it easy to back it into its spot on the carport.

 

[SkunkBoat]

$10k Saved ?
Last I checked I could get a F200 in Delaware for $15k + rigging.

hehehe maybe I have twin motors on the brain..sorry
but if you can get a brand new Yamaha F200 i4 fly by wire, or even a mechanical, for $15K + then you should run to Delaware asap.

 

[Lt.Mike]

hehehe maybe I have twin motors on the brain..sorry
but if you can get a brand new Yamaha F200 i4 fly by wire, or even a mechanical, for $15K + then you should run to Delaware asap.

My DT is doing what it should so no need at the moment. It was Rudy’s marine I got that quote from about two years back. I imagine it’s gone up a little since.

 

[Halfhitch]

Yup, no question it's quieter running it in a tub! Much quieter. I have a plastic 55g drum I picked up on Craigslist for about $10 that I use for this. I can also hang kicker motors on it with a short piece of a wood as a "transom". Don't have to worry about the muffs sliding off, either, and you can walk away and do other things (although there are muffs that can prevent this, too).

I thought I recognized you Dennis...

 

[DennisG01]

Nice one! Hmmmm....

 

[Lt.Mike]

My DT is doing what it should so no need at the moment. It was Rudy’s marine I got that quote from about two years back. I imagine it’s gone up a little since.

Also it wasn’t fly by wire, all mechanical controls.
Rather have it that way anyway.