Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Who has a 20 footer with a 150hp?

I bought a 20' harris cruiser tritoon in the spring with a 115 mercury 4 stroke on the back. Love all aspects of the boat.

Salesman (good friend) mentioned to me last week he has a 150hp mercury 4 stroke coming in (NOT VERADO) with less than 100hrs on it. If all works out, he said we could do a straight trade.

Questions:
-are the 150 mercs as reliable?
-how much worse on fuel is the 150?
-what top speed am I looking at? I currently see 31-33mph. I found a boat test on youtube, harris 200 with 150hp verado top speed 48mph, I imagine the verado is not comparable.

Thoughts/opinion?

Would rather have a Yamaha or Honda but to each his own. I bet that baby is fast!

If that's the new 4cylinder 4 stroke that Mercury came out with 3years ago I would do it. I have a new one on a 22' Harris Solstice tritoon with Sea Legs and I'm getting 37mph. I have 30 hrs on it with no problems.

Might be a tad heavy for a 20 footer and Mercury means trouble

HandymanHerb wrote:Might be a tad heavy for a 20 footer and Mercury means trouble

I just ordered a new pontoon with the Merc 150 HP 4-stroke. All the tests and reviews about that engine are so positive why are you saying it means trouble. Can you share your view?
Thanks Reiner

Reiner wrote:

HandymanHerb wrote:Might be a tad heavy for a 20 footer and Mercury means trouble

I just ordered a new pontoon with the Merc 150 HP 4-stroke. All the tests and reviews about that engine are so positive why are you saying it means trouble. Can you share your view?
Thanks Reiner

Wish you the best, I'm throwing money at electrical parts till it starts running again, but I have an older one, maybe they fixed all their electrical problems or at least have a computer to tell you what is wrong

Hello.
We have a Merc 4 stroke 75 hanging off the back of our toon. In my limited, humble opinion, I equate our 2007 Mercury 4 Stroke to the VW's from the 60's, 70's and into the 80's... When they are running good, they are running GOOD and you wouldn't want anything else but when something isn't just perfect, they are the most frustrating thing to deal with... I know this can be said about most anything but if you ever owned a VW bug or Van or any air cooled vehicle from them, you will know what I mean...

Sincerely,
Rich

Dusto wrote:Who has a 20 footer with a 150hp?

I bought a 20' harris cruiser tritoon in the spring with a 115 mercury 4 stroke on the back. Love all aspects of the boat.

Salesman (good friend) mentioned to me last week he has a 150hp mercury 4 stroke coming in (NOT VERADO) with less than 100hrs on it. If all works out, he said we could do a straight trade.

Questions:
-are the 150 mercs as reliable?
-how much worse on fuel is the 150?
-what top speed am I looking at? I currently see 31-33mph. I found a boat test on youtube, harris 200 with 150hp verado top speed 48mph, I imagine the verado is not comparable.

Thoughts/opinion?

48 MPH from a 150??? Can you link that vid I'd love to see how that is set up.

Merc is selling a ton of those 150s. Half the new toons on our chain have them. Designed to upstage the Suzuki DF150 I was told by my JC/Merc/Suzuki dealer. I would be wondering why the previous owner got rid of it. Problems? Repower? what?

I haven't seen the vid you refer to but I remain incredulous. I have seen the tiny-toon ultralite with the 90 on back do 40 but 48 from a 150 on a boat like that Harris no way unless it has been seriously modified. Something else is going on there.

As for what to expect in speed there are lots of factors as you probably know. tritoon? strakes? underski? Don't forget load, prop and conditions. 35-40ish is the general 150 range most people get from tritoons. This is not to say I know it all or that it is impossible but I've never seen a pontoon/tritoon with 150 power running anywhere near even mid 40s. Most are like me, 38 or so. Some bit faster, some bit slower. I am on the busiest inland body of water in the US per-acre, I bet there are a few hundred tritoons with 150s out there. I get to run around with quite a sampling.

Anyway I would be asking more questions about that trade-up. But if the answers are right, and you are set up too take advantage of it, go for it.

I have a Honda 150 on the back of a Harris 24', and the best I can get out of her is 38 mph (gps) with 2 people and full load of fuel. I don't see how you can get the 48 mph claimed.

Here is the article.
http://www.boatingworld.com/BoatTests/A ... ruiser-200

My boat is almost identical.

The owner of the 150hp is going to a 225hp. Similar to myself, he is considering more power. These are the newer style four strokes and I have heard nothing but great things about them. The 150hp is a 2013.

Forgive me for being skeptical, but that is just hard to believe. It's so far beyond what any one, regardless of boat or motor brand is getting it's one of those "see to believe" deals for me. That toon in the picture doesn't even have outside strakes, which aren't the norm but would help with an unusually high straight line number. I wouldn't say it's impossible...but don't get your hopes too high. I would expect a top speed in line with most others at high 30s to low 40s if all conditions were optimum. Good luck.

Fair enough.

We have yet to hear anyone with a 20' tritoon and a 150hp chime in!?

I have a '09 JC Neptoon 21TT with a '10 Suzuki DF150. I can touch 38, GPS, alone, flat water, NO extra junk (cooler etc) running SS Mirage Plus prop 3x15.3x19P. I don't have strakes but plan to add them in the spring of 2015, which by all estimations should give me about 8-10% boost in top end (and better bow-up, key on our chain where crazed people with cash to burn run 30 ft+ twin engine off-shore boats at 70 MPH in 5 ft of water all weekend. The chop can be unreal).

Anyhoo I would wager that is a simple misprint. If not, that Harris is BY FAR the fastest stock tritoon with a 150HP on the water. I bet they meant 38.2 not 48.2. 48 would be an incredible feat. Did you say there was a video too?

A quick google search reveals the Merc test with the new 150 4S and a 2012 Harris 200PP Cruiser:

https://www.mercurymarine.com/en/us/per ... s=imperial

I think PP stands for performance pkg, which I assume you have as I think it's the only way to get a center toon with Harris. Their test top end is a bit more in line at 40. That Harris seems a bit on the light side, an advantage. My JC 21TT weighs a couple hundred lbs more I think.

If you do it and have a good prop match you will be 39-40MPH, my guess. Also note Merc is going to do everything they can to get #s up, so they will likely have NO GEAR on the boat when testing. No cover, coolers, anchor, bimini, stack o' jackets, etc.

Sounds like you've done some leg work on the trade. If I were you I would go for it, but I wouldn't expect anything near that for top end. You will be disappointed. Our boat was rigged with a 115 but I upgraded to max HP before we took delivery. Best move. I take that back - we shoulda bought something with a 250! 4 or 5 yrs, Playcraft Daytona.

jayw wrote:
Anyhoo I would wager that is a simple misprint. If not, that Harris is BY FAR the fastest stock tritoon with a 150HP on the water. I bet they meant 38.2 not 48.2. 48 would be an incredible feat. Did you say there was a video too?

That is exactly what I was thinking...