If you could buy any motor......

[Bamaman]

I've had all the major brands of outboards, except Suzuki. I love'em all.

My current Yamaha 115 hp 2 stroke is the last motor purchased new, and it's a 1985 model. It's never been winterized, the water pump impeller was changed once and the carb's were cleaned twice in 26 years. A $240 oil injection module and one thermostat is all the maintenance done. My only complaint is that a tornado blew the 115 horsepower insignia off the cowling, and a replacement is $115.

If I was buying a new engine without limitations, it'd be the 300 hp Yamaha. While no big hp motor is really fuel efficient, the Yammie seems to get as good of mileage as a 200 hp engine--and another 10 mph on a big tritoon with strakes.

A lot of tritoons will get 43 to 46 mph with strakes. But to get into the 50's, it's sheer horsepower.

I would love to have a big Verado, but I don't know any electrical engineer that specializes in these high tech marine motors. I'm really surprised that any boat mechanics have taken the CAN/BUS training where all the engine modules communicate by computer wiring. They're just too complicated for my simple mind, and I don't cherish spending $4K+ on setup, a speedometer/tach and power steering.

But dollar for dollar, I would go with the new Merc 150 hp motor. There are just so many Merc dealers in my area, and some of them are willing to deal--selling this motor for just under $10K. You'd have to pay $3K more for Yammie of the same horsepower. Nuff said there.

[slingshot]

Yamaha all the way. Mercury lost me when the they threw in the towel and had Yamaha make their power heads for awhile. I like two strokes but they will be dead in a couple of three years after the EPA raises emission requirements to a level that will kill them. Parts are expensive but you won't need them because they just don't break. My Yami is a 2007 and has over 600 trouble free hours. All of the rental boats at my Marina have Yamaha's hanging off the back and one of the mechanics at the marina said they have thousand of hours on each of them and all they do is change the oil for the most part.

[GregF]

Mercury had it over Yamaha when they came out with the big foot. Now Yamaha is making them but I still wonder if the Yamaha foot is as tough as the big Merc.

[slingshot]

yup, that big foot series was hanging off the back of houseboats and pontoons everywhere but I think they're made in China now. I seem to recall the China made motors having an issue with them locking up on this site or that other communist sight we use to frequent. I do like the new supercharged models but I'd wait a few more years before I'd buy one so as to get any gremlin issues resolved first.

[badmoonrising]

If I had the budget for it, I'd go to the Mercruiser diesel

[The_Hellbilly]

I'd have twins

twins.JPG (49.17 KiB) Viewed 1055 times

[LocoCoco]

...I would never own a 4 stroke, they sound like way too much work and I would say that is why most of the pontoon boats have 2 stroke motors.

At the end of the year, I check the lower unit, empty the fuel tank and lines, then fog th motor. That is the extent of my maintenaince...

Don't get me wrong, I love the smell, sound and simplicity of a 2-stroke but for non-portable motors, EFI 4-stroke is the way to go, especially on a pontoon. Idling 2-strokes for hours on end leads to gummed up carbs and carbon deposits. A lot of people like to find ex-pontoon motors since they've never been ran hard, but apparently they're often worse because of scored cylinders from carbon buildup caused by that lifetime of putting around.

For service life, it seems that the older 2-strokes hit 1500-2000 hours whereas newer 4-strokes are in the 3000 hour neighbourhood.

For end-of-the-year maintenance on my 4-stroke, I change the engine oil, change the gear oil (do it in the fall in case there's any water in it), run stabilizer and leave the fuel in it, then fog the cylinders. The only extra step is the oil change.



LC.

[JonCBrand]

I really have no preference on manufacture when it comes to outboards(except for a force)

I think this would be the set up if money was no object. I aboslutely love the stairs up the center toon.

Or the Playcraft Scorpion Extreme 2800 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q9XzsH2A18

[REPETE]

I've dealt with many different motors in my life from 9.9 johnson to 115 4 stroke Yamaha and many in between. The only motor I have ever HATED...and I do mean HATE... is my 50 2 banger merc. I HATE that motor. It's the biggest temperamental POS ever. I thought it was the rigging at first and had the lines re-run. Nope... it's the motor. I've never had a sled, lawn mower, snowblower or ANYTHING frustrate me so much.

I've since heard others complain about these. I seldom hear complaints about Yamahas and I love mine. I also absolutely loved my Johnson. (motor that is)