A scary scorpion??

[Melampus]

http://www.lymingtonmarinesales.co.u...2075%20529.htm

What do we all think about this?
I know its old technology but is the the 2003 Ficht too much of a reliability nightmare and general scary prospect?
What is this engine worth were I to upgrade it?

Thanks for your advice

[ADS]

I was seriously considering pooling together multiple student loans and buying that, would need a fair few of us though!
On a serious note, its not that old tech, FICHT is an earlier type of high pressure direct injection / optimax etc, will still be more economical than a carb or efi 2 stroke.

Along a similar lines, relatively old tech EFI two stroke but better than Carb, its in Christchurch and has done very few hours:
http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/view/F100149

http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/view/JBT222
Similar to the above

http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/view/LYM011
got a ficht 150 on it

In responce to your question a 2003 Ficht is probably still worth a sizeable amount of money, a new Optimax 200HP is just under £9k although there are deals to be had..

[Jimbob]

we have a 2000 scorpion, with a 200 fitch (2000 model). When i did my research i found that older engine model had modifications but mine was a newer version with one modifications.

You can see from our running reports in the gallery (serch jimbob) that we have had no problems with the engine. I did however check the service records, good people kept a print of of the ECU and it can tell you if something is going wrong, as example i noticed that the temperature was well within spec but was rising. Also it seems to make a fuss about the correct oil and you can see if its been hammered but the revs readouts.

When i first got it and it was ready for a service i asked powertech to check out why the engine temp was going up a little each time, basically there was a bit of rubbish in the cooling system, since then its been great. As long as you service they run and run.

it did take me a while to get one with a good engine record, but apart from that as i say no issue, not sure if 175 is enought the 200 is OK for the work we do

[Alan]

Originally Posted by Melampus

http://www.lymingtonmarinesales.co.u...2075%20529.htm

What do we all think about this?
I know its old technology but is the the 2003 Ficht too much of a reliability nightmare and general scary prospect?
What is this engine worth were I to upgrade it?

Thanks for your advice

As a previous owner of a 97 Scorp 7.5m I would have no hesitation about the boat itself. I'd probably be Ok with the engine if it had a service history although I would say that 175hp on a 7.5m Scorp is going to be a tad underpowered. 200Hp goes so much better!

20k seems expensive without a trailer though. And that console doesnt have many toys in the way of plotters etc.

[Richard B]

Good advice in all of the above.

A lot depends on what you want from the RIB and how you intend to use it. A Scorpion 7.5 hull starts to work well at about 40kts, so you need plenty of power to get up to that speed. Our Yamaha 200 gets the RIB up to 48kts solo and lightly loaded, or 42kts fully fuelled, four up with luggage. Worth bearing in mind that a full fuel load is quarter of a tonne.

[Rogue Wave]

Ficht's had a few problems as I recall, Ficht Rams were the better engines.

I believe that toob colour is gonna be very hard to keep looking good so have a good look at it and Bid accordingly.

It wouldn't hurt to try a cheeky bid drop the engine onto Boats and outboards and whack an Opti on it.

[Nasher]

The research I did when looking for a cheap but modern replacement engine for my Ocean showed that the later Ficht engines were sorted and comparable to the early Optis in terms of reliability etc.
However many of the earlier engines experianced fires due to problems with the high pressure fuel system.
The older engines were recalled under warranty and revised parts fitted which appear to have cured the issues, although they did appear to be constantly evolving during the production run so there are other differences along the line.
So unless an older engine has been fitted with all the revised parts I'd steer clear. I looked at 3 different 200HP Fichts that all had the fire damage and had never been repaired. Its not worth repairing them now, as putting on all the later parts now costs in the region of £1200

Nasher.

[Jimbob]

2003 model has all the mods, i think its before 1999 where most of the problems described happen from my research.

This guy always trys to get the best prices, but as an indication, i got mine from there 2000 model boat but had more on it. he wanted 24k i paid 20k 1.5 years ago