outboards

[rampage3338]

who has the best outboards? mine are honda and yahama fourstroke. who do thnnk has the best? i have used a all. the biggest POS is the mercury optimax.

[Verado06]

well, the best is merely an opinion. But my favorite is the verado based on my personal performance.

I really like the ETEC line now too and think evinrude has done a great job with that engine.

As for the optimax, the new ones are great and have reported very little issues.

In my experience there are so many criteria to consider before buying an engine especially used.

[rampage3338]

the ones i knew were older ones.

[Don't Panic]

yamaha four stroke, no question

[lcosta02]

I went with the new 300 Verados on the Invincible... I hope they're the best

[ballyhu]

What kind of fuel economy are you guys getting with these large centerconsoles and big twin outboards? I currently have a single diesel inboard but have been thinking of moving to a larger OB boat if fuel costs are manageable. I think I'm gonna be shocked.

[Jesslyn]

I think it all comes down to what you have personally had and what your expirence has been, I have always had Yamaha's and I have never been stuck on the water or had any issues so why switch? I talked to Wiley about moving up to a 34 yellowfin and he said Go with the 350 4 stroke yamahas. So I am good.

[Bill Fisher]

Hey Ballyhu let me know if you want to sell the boat and how will you ask for it.

[Bill Fisher]

From my personal experiences and I have two cousins that are marine mechanics I love Mercury. I have a little 20 foot 1974 formulathat I redid in 2001 with a 94 mercury 200 that and I have never had any problems or been stuck out there. She's been good to me but I love the diesels so I'm thinking of purchasing a single diesel boat or if a good deal with twins comes along. Yamaha are good engines to me they are just not might favorite. The etec's and suzukis I'm hearing are really good.

[Knot Proper]

34 Venture performance Bulletin
rigged with twin 350 Yamahas

RPM MPH GPH MPG
3500 32.1 20.9 1.54
4500 43.3 34.4 1.26
6100 61.3 67.5 0.91

If anyone would like more information reguarding Venture, Wellcraft, Ocean Yachts, or silverton Yachts I would be happy to help.

[Broadbill]

I have the new 300 suzuki four strokes and they have been 100%. They carry a load very well and are very efficient. I had 250 Yamaha four strokes before these and they were great engines as well. I probably would have gone with those again but needed more h.p. for this boat.

[bajakian]

I had 2 stroke carbuereted Yamis for 9 years on my Venture. I put 1800 hrs on them and blew a power head at 1300 hrs in year 5 due to lubrication failure.

I switched to 275 Verados when I repowered. They are more fuel efficient and push the boat better and faster. At over 2 yrs and 400 hrs the only problem has been 2 fuel pump failures in the first 6 to 8 months. I was told that the fuel pumps were redesigned and I have had no problems since. Very quiet and powerful with good torque-Nice for docking and close maneuvering.

[The BEAST]

In the recent past I have had 0 problem with Suzuki and Honda running a total of over 5100 hrs without a mehcanical failure. The Yamaha's are flawless as well although they seem to be very flat in the power curves.

The 300 Suzuki's on my current boat seem to be all they are cracked up to be. Plenty of raw HP throughout the RPM range. Extremely happy with them so far.

[DIRTYFOOT2]

Power Curves? Help me out Jim, I'm not sure what that means.

[The BEAST]

A power curve is the range from idle to WOT where the motor develops increased power through torque and HP. Most motors have a strong range where they build power dramatically and a flat range where they seem to only maintain or build power minimally.

The ECM's are programmed to increase or decrease settings during different bands of the RPM. The different manufacturers try to program the ECM to get maximum power out of their design. However, one motor might develop better power performance in the cruise range of the curve and another may be better in the upper or lower ranges of rpm's.

If you are familiar with the old 2 strokes you know that they were very sluggish in the lower rpm range and built their power in the upper rpm settings.

My Hondas were strong up to 4500 rpm in the cruise rainge but fell flat from 4500-5800. My Suzuki 300's are strong all the way through "the power curve", showing an increase in power throught the rpm ranges. The Yamahas are relatively flat showing no significant increase in torque or HP through the throttle ranges, thus being considered.. flat. Matter of fact their F225 was the perfect example of this and has earned the nickname "sled". The F250 is dramatically better because of this trait. Most of the Japanese motors have followed Honda's lead with their own version of VTEC or variable valve timing. Honda developed this to combat the flat spot in the upper rpm ranges that were notorious of 4 stroke outboards.

[DIRTYFOOT2]

Thanks Jim. I have noticed that effect in the two strokes, but didn't know what it was called.

[ProfessorO]

I once had a mechanic tell me that if you want a 20 yr engine, buy a honda;
if you want a 15 yr engine, buy a Yamaha, and if you want a 10 yr engine,
buy a Suzuki. (He specialized in Japanese outboards). If you look at their
purchase prices, it works out to about the same cost per year. (My 2 friends
ended up with the Suzukis because of a extended 6 yr warranty they were
offering). Any truth to this?? cheers, arthur

[FINICKY]

Do NOT buy Verados. I am on my 7th lower unit. The gears in the lower units fail on long runs like going to the bahamas or the keys. No we do not run the boat hard and the engines are serviced every 100 hours. Mercury does stand behind the warranty but what happens at the end of the warranty period?

[The BEAST]

Professor O,

I don't know if all that is true but from my experience the Hondas are bullet proof. Good thing because their design layout does not make anything easy. To change the high speed fuel filter you have to remove about 20 bolts to split the intermediate housing. Not difficult just a p.i.t.a.

I had 2268 hours on my Hondas when I sold my 04 WorldCat 330TE and they still had the original platinum spark plugs. They got incredible fuel mileage for the load they were pushing with only 450 total HP. No repairs and little maintenance required. Matter of fact I got 750 hrs on water pump changes. I would have stayed with Honda but they are slow in the HP race, wanting to make sure their products stand up to the Honda name. Look for some higher HP models in the near future.

I had 200EFI Suzuki's on my 98 WorldCat 266SF. It had 2600 hrs on it when I sold it and never had a repair wrench on them. That is incredible for 2 strokers. I still had the utmost faith in them, matter of fact my last trip on that boat was offshore on the Darkside.

I put the 300 Suzuki's on my new 07 WorldCat 330TE because they wanted me to showcase the new model with the latest in HP technology which was the 300's. So far I am as impressed with them as with the previous Zukes and even the Hondas. The fuel economy is not that of the Hondas but is not that far off.

I didn't want to use Yamaha because of all of them I have ridden or tested, on a WorldCat have not produced the power or torque that should be evident with the HP rating of the motors. The F225's were absolutely flat and scared me away from them for sure. The new 350's tested on a 330TE comparativly to the Suzuki 300's, only raised the cruise and WOT speeds about 1.5 mph while losing .3 mpg or more. That is an extra 4 cylinders with 100 more HP burning more fuel for 1.5 mph. Flat... Flat... Flat! In their defense I do believe that 48 mph is the maximum hull speed for the 330TE design. To go much over that would take massive amounts of HP.

Finicky,

My Honda rep/engineer told me that the reason why Honda was so slow in marketing BIG HP was that they couldn't find a lower unit that would hold up. Developing HP is not their problem as evidenced by their open wheel racers. They had benched some 350 HP units but couldn't make a lower unit that would last more than 300 hrs. I understand that that has changed and they have bought out a patent on a solid lower unit now.

So far the newly designed Suzuki's seem to be holding up. The new Yamaha 350 lower unit is a basic design off the Volvo I/O V-8 outdrives which is apparent by the size and weight of the motors. This lack of strength in the lower unit seems to be what Mercury is experiencing. Not quite sure but if that is the same L/U of the Opti 2 stroke it would explain the failures when trying to adapt it to the tremendous torque developed in the high HP 4 strokes. My old Merc/Rude mechanic also told me that Verado's had a cooling problem in the beginning and the way they overcame that was to cool the cylinders by increasing the fuel flow which is why they never lived up to the touted fuel ecopnomy numbers they cited at their debut. I hear they run damn good, when they run.

My choices are simply from experience and if your HP choices are equal I would choose 1. Honda... 2. Suzuki... 3. Yamaha
If Honda has a 300 out when I get my next boat I will definitely go back with Honda.

I didn't write the Outboard Bible... just my 2 cents worth of opinion.