I might go ahead and run water pressure, as for water temp the Mercury Flagship gauges only have a C-H type gauge. I would rather have some numbers, but its no big deal.

Looked up parts for rigging, and i bout had a heart attack when i seen the price for a outboard to remote harness $280 for 20'. That might be the only used component i use on rigging if i can find one used.

The Rapture props are no longer made. They have been replaced by "Apollo". The 21 might make a spare. $280 for an Apollo stainless prop. Both Rapture and Apollo are Michigan wheel props.

Destroyer if you decide to run premix i can take that oil injection off your hands. :beer:

Speaking of 225 Optimax on a V - should run 50-55 mph. Nice.

If I decide to go that direction you're first in line.

Jason. I kept thinking about it, turning it over and over in my mind. I like the idea of not having to premix gas, but I hate the thought of living under the "will I lose my engine because of a failed plastic gear" cloud. So
I ordered an electric oil injection unit today. http://www.propelledmarine.com/oil_injection.htm I don't know what, if anything, is or is not required of me to remove from my engine. But if I have to remove the present oil pump are you still interested? :head: My engine is a 1991 Merc 200 2.5L.

I believe the EOI uses the old oil pump.

What we need is a boat mounted 50:1 premix unit. Something that you pour your oil into, and it mixes the oil with the gas at a 50:1 rate, then pours it into a remote 5 gallon fuel tank, which the fuel is then drawn out of by the outboard. The remote 5 gallon tank serves as a backup in case, the unit fails you dont immediately burn your engine up.

Maybe i should patent this idea???

I don't think you can patent just an idea. You have to have a drawing of the unit showing how it works I believe. Still, it's a great idea. Something that would automatically sense when your gas didn't have oil in it and would automatically switch over to the reserve tank of premix. Think of how many hundreds of thousands of dollars in ruined engines would be saved. Still, maybe we shouldn't think too hard about this... It might cut down on Spares and Ferms business... that would be bad for them. (But I love the idea of the automix tank)

from what i understand, it's no the oil pump that is the weak link, it's the plastic gear on the crank.

jason, that is why i carry a spare gallon of oil on the boat, with the v having a 60 gallon tank, if i even think i have a mixing problem, i dump the gallon of oil in the fuel tank. i have only had to do this twice in 18 years, once it was a split hose to the engine tank and the other was a bad oil alert module.
the only bad is sometimes the only symptom you get is when the engine seizes...

something i have thought that would help in sensing oil injection problem was some kind of pressure gauge on the oil tank

Exactly. My engine is a 1991. That's nothing for metal, but it's a lot of years for plastic. Although there's no indication that there's anything wrong with the plastic gear, or any part of my oil injection system, I just don't want to take the chance. $397 is cheap insurance in my book.

I am stuck right now on this idea. I need an investor and somebody good with "electric stuff"

We know that fuel, even with a 100 : 1 mix is different chemically than just straight fuel. There are ways to measure it. Without really thinking about it too much, I think a sensor hooked to a microprocessor that measures the viscosity of the fuel several hundred times a second as it flows past might work. (I think that fuel with oil in it would have a different viscosity index than fuel without oil in it). You just have to monitor the thickness of the fuel. If it falls below a set parameter it would send a signal to a solenoid that would switch a valve to a different tank filled with premix in it and sound an alarm. The problem of course is writting the program. The rest is just basic mechanical stuff.