Time to re-power: Yamaha or Suzuki ?

[Capt13]

Which one to go with, Yamaha or Suzuki ? ...........or maybe Honda ? Mercury?

I have been a Suzuki fan since I bought a 140hp in 2008.

 

[Fluke Whisperer]

Yamaha or Suzuki, I'd be happy with either one.

 

[live bait]

Never had a Suzuki, when my boat was built guess Steiger had a contract with Yamaha so that's what I got, a 200 Yamaha. So far this is the start of the 4th season & with close to 475hrs no problems so far. I have done all the factory recommended service, even did the water pump & thermostat at 300hrs. They both came out like new, so I won't do that again for a long while. In the spirit of this thread I can't compare it to a Zuk.
John

 

[Old Mud]

ZUK !!.

 

[Dx life Rx fishing]

My first boat had a 90 Johnson that was basically bulletproof for me. Never had an issue. Only had to be towed in because steering cable broke. That was on my 18'

Now I have a larger boat that will need a repower real soon. Hoping I can get this and next season out of it. Since bombardier is no longer, the etec I was leaning towards is now off the plate. I was also hoping to get a 350 and etec is only 300 max.

From the boat shows merc, Yamaha and the Suzuki all have a 350. I hear both horror stories and praise from merc and Yamaha. But in all honesty I have not heard anything really negative on the zukes. Plus I really have not looked into service places for it. I'm in Huntington and I think I recall from a previous post Capt you are not too far. Where would you bring for service here or will that be done down south?

 

[Dx life Rx fishing]

Appreciate you starting this thread.

 

[Roccus7]

Service is the key. Obviously on LI, there are many options, but here I’m pretty locked into a Yommamaha, no Zuke dealers within 75 mi. And Hell will freeze over before I’d consider one of “those” other US motors, they still don’t like getting salty. One was enough for me.

 

[WhatKnot]

My 1999 twin 150 Merc’s were a nightmare, but I did read that the newish 4 stroke 4 cylinders are impressive. That was what I was looking to repower my boat with but than I sold it for other reasons.

 

[Capt13]

I'm in Huntington and I think I recall from a previous post Capt you are not too far. Where would you bring for service here or will that be done down south?

I went to a bunch dealers from Copiague to Moriches. I liked everything about Moriches boats and motors. That would be my choice. American Marine would be the closest, but I would rather make the trip to moriches.

 

[Dx life Rx fishing]

Agree with american marine.

Right now I have a 2004 225 merc efi and it runs very well. It has low hours as per the report i got when i bought it from the guy. It only had 190 hours on it. And the majority of those hours the motor was running less than 3500 rpm. The reason I want to repower is because I feel its underpowered a bit for a 4800 lb boat dry wt. It gets me where I want to go but I'm running higher rpm and burning a lot of fuel than I would really like. I know I dont need to get to my spot super fast but when the boat is fully loaded I feel its sluggish and I can get better performance with more hp.

 

[Capt13]

The 140 I have on the 21' Steiger sips fuel at 4100 rpm (18mph) .......wide open is 6000 rpm (28mph) and fuel consumption seems like its almost double. I went with the 300 so I could run it easy and keep the rpms down .......

 

[Dx life Rx fishing]

Exactly the reason I would prefer the 350 over the 225

 

[Roccus7]

The 140 I have on the 21' Steiger sips fuel at 4100 rpm (18mph) .......wide open is 6000 rpm (28mph) and fuel consumption seems like its almost double. I went with the 300 so I could run it easy and keep the rpms down .......

Glad you posted this, was going to ask WTH you were going to be able to open up the Project Boat to 57 mph??? I've been very gentle with my ponies, keeping my cruising speed to a max of 20 kts. Heck, there really is no reason to go faster and how often do you get sea conditions that allow faster runs without losing some fillings in your mouth??

Crap now I sound like my Dad, "SLOW DOWN!! You're killing me!" as I'd run us out to go fishing in my teen years...

The other "interesting" suggestion we do up here is NOT to use SS props. As my mechanic once said, "When you hit a ledge, and believe me you WILL, it's much better to break a prop than a drive shaft and destroy your engine block. I thought he was over reacting, but I've "kissed" unmarked ledges, ones that do not show up on any charts, a few times. Besides buying a new prop every now and then, the worst engine damage was the leading edge of my skeg looking like a serrated bread knife. The person who bought that boat from me turned around and took out the lower unit on a ledge within weeks of buying her. At times I do miss the sandy shoals of that glacial chit pile, LI...

 

[Capt13]

Crap now I sound like my Dad, "SLOW DOWN!! You're killing me!" as I'd run us out to go fishing in my teen years...

Thats too funny !!! ..... I heard that a hundred times growing up, exact same words !

 

[Fluke Whisperer]

I have a Yamaha 200 HPDI, the guy before me never took care of it, when I bought the boat the meter said it had 260 hrs on it.
The dealer put it on the computer and found that the hours were off by 100 hrs in my favor, but a red flag came up, the boat never ran any higher that 1500 rpm's, the dealer went through the engine and cleaned the injectors and changed all the filters on the engine, they took it out for a test ride, the engine ran great, got up and boogied, but, the engine cut out as soon as it got up on plain, it turns out the pick up tube in the gas tank broke off and as long as the boat didn't go over 1500 rpms it ran fine.
A new gas tank and a few tweaks I did myself, the motor runs like a champ, I like the Yamaha's, I just think they are way over priced, My next engine will most likely be a Zuk.

 

[missberylcharters]

i love my Honda. Super quiet and dependable. You will pay a little more but worth it IMO. There is a reason why they are on the CG and Bay Constable boats.