CAN I USE MY OLD CONTROLS AND INSTRUMENTS?

The answer is maybe. If your boat is currently all analog—a pre-digital engine, cable controls and analog instruments—a new motor may not be compatible with those controls and instruments. Some of the newest outboards are digital-only, while others can be used with digital or mechanical (aka cable) controls. Yamaha, for example, has made a point of making some of its V-6 outboards available for mechanical controls specifically for repower applications. The new 1.9-liter Evinrude models are digital but can use cable controls with an accessory converter. In the Mercury line, all Verado models require digital controls, but the new FourStroke V-6 and V-8 models can be rigged with digital or mechanical controls. Instrument compatibility gets more complicated because it can depend on whether your boat is currently rigged with gauges that match the engine brand, or those from another supplier. Repower dealers we talked to suggest that analog controls that are less than five years old are usually still functional and don’t need to be replaced. Unless it’s been abused, a digital control won’t wear out, but a newer version might offer more features.

“I remind repower customers that controls and instruments are their touchpoints on the boat,” DeMott says. “You might feel good about saving some money by keeping the old control and instruments, so now you’ve got new power, but you are looking at old gauges and swinging an old control, and you are going to wish it was all new. And a digital control and power steering are really nice upgrades that don’t add a lot to the total cost of a repower project.”