1990 Evinrude 15 RESR

[Tim Murphy]

Dear Board,

I sold my Smokercraft boat last Fall and picked up a Grumman 4.6 that will be a little easier for me to handle solo when the wifey, AKA my fishing buddy, can't go along.

I bought a used 1990 Evinrude 15 to put on it. It was converted to a longshaft but otherwise the factory electric start works fine as does the rest of the motor. I bought it used off a dealer who winterized it and stored it indoors. I put it on the boat and primed the bulb and hit start and it started.

I am wondering if there is anything I need to be aware of with this engine and is there anything I need to watch when I am using it?

I have the motor hooked to a Group 24 deep cycle battery that powers the lights, radio, and depth finder on the boat. They are all on switch controlled circuits so they won't drag the battery down much unless in use. The battery had no trouble turning over a motor that sat for 6 months but I was wondering if anyone can tell me what the alternator output is and if it will keep the battery in a reasonable state of charge if it is run a couple of hours on the weekend?

I have a separate Group 27 running the bow mounted trolling motor so I'm good there.

Regards,

Tim Murphy
Harrisburg, PA

 

[Pappy]

The engine should be run on a starting battery and not a deep cycle but that is water under the dam at this point.
Alternator output is pretty dismal on almost all small engines. The output on yours should be no more than 4a and that figure is at the upper RPM ranges only.
The good thing is that a big battery will make it through a weekend easily.
I run a standard group 24 starting battery on one of my vintage 35hp engines that has zero generator output back to the battery. Will run it for several days with multiple starts each day.