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Yamaha 225 4 Stoke or 250 4 Stoke on 2005/2006 Wellcraft 290 Coastal
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Yamaha 225 4 Stoke or 250 4 Stoke on 2005/2006 Wellcraft 290 Coastal
Hi, my searches on this subject have resulted in a lot of conflicting information so I was hoping to get some opinions on which engine would be a better choice of us - a pair of 2005 Yamaha 225 4 Strokes or a pair of 2006 Yamaha 250 4 Stokes.
Here's our situation. We are moving from a 2004 Aquasport 215 Explorer with a Yamaha 200 OX66 (that has run pretty much flawless since day one). We have found two Wellcraft 290 Coastals we like:
(1) 2005 Wellcraft 290 Coastal with Yamaha 225 4 Strokes with 290 hours (out of warranty);
(2) 2006 Wellcraft 290 Coastal with Yamaha 250 4 Strokes with 290 hours (1 year left on warranty).
The advantages of a year newer engine and a 1 year warranty aside for a moment, the better bang for the buck appears to be the 2006 Coastal based on where each boat is priced and the upgraded electronics the 2006 Coastal has).
But, we are not very "handy" as my wife would say so what is tremendously important to us is dependability of the engine if we following the maintenance schedule religiously. I've been told that the reason all the 2005 290 Coastal we've looked at have 225 is because the 250 wasn't "ready yet"? Not sure about that, but Wellcraft clearly started putting the 250's on the 290 Coastals in 2006 instead of the 225's. This makes me wonder if it really was an underpowered issue because I have seen even the obviuosly smaller and lighter 270 Coastal's running the 225 standard.
Anyway, in regards to the 225's my searches have revealed comments like "they are bullet proof," "get run by commercial guys for 5000 hours," etc. In regards to the 250's I've read comments that seem to conflict like "they are still new, not a lot have come back broken yet so the jury is out" and "they proven themselves reliable now."
Our main concern is reliability with a follow-up concern that maintenace costs may be more on 250's (the mainteance question was raised by a 225 owner who said that some major work needed to be done at 400 on the 250 that didn't need to be done on the 225 but I haven't been able to verify this yet).
Anyway, I find myself shying away from the 250's a bit just because of the unknown even though it would sure seem nice to have the extra power. If it helps in the analysis our use will mostly being cruising to the sandbars and overnights on the boat with an occassional fishing trip 10 to 15 miles out every 1 out of 5 times on the boat.
Just don't want to make the wrong decision and end up with problems in the future. Thanks for any suggestions or advice.
They are right about it not being ready around that 2005 time frame in terms of release and availability. I would personally opt for the 250's....in the long run it will help with resale and on a boat that size the 250's, which are strong 250's, would be a better choice.
You couldn't go wrong with either engine. That aside, I own twin F225's and they're great. I also mated on a 290 Coastal with 225hp Evinrude two strokes and it seemed underpowered. If it was me, I'd opt for the F250. The year warranty doesn't hurt either.
My heart says 250's. But besides that, the 2006 290 Coastal was more bang for the buck when you consider it is a year newer, at least 1 year on the warranty, and electronics wise had dual E-80 Raymarine screen and auto pilot (while the 2005 Coastal has a single Garmin 2210 GPS/Chartplotter which my research shows has been discontinued).
Hesitation came from reading a post where a guy was really unhappy with his Yamaha 250 and detailed the problem he had at I believe 180 hours, 200 hours and 220 hours. Of course, that was just a single individual, and of course, now I can't even find it to show it as an example.
You couldn't go wrong with either engine. That aside, I own twin F225's and they're great. I also mated on a 290 Coastal with 225hp Evinrude two strokes and it seemed underpowered. If it was me, I'd opt for the F250. The year warranty doesn't hurt either.
Mud Runner, from what I heard, those Evinrude two strokes actually were more powerful than the Yamaha 225 4 strokes which, if true, would make that 290 Coastal you mated on feel even more underpowered with Yamaha 225's I guess.
Perhaps the answer is as simple as that's why Wellcraft started putting the 250's on in 2006.
O.K., the comments from everyone are really helping out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Glen E
3. 250 makes 250 or greater hp, the 225 makes 208 per the EPA
Glen, I just want to make sure I understand what you are saying in the latter part of the above sentence. Do mean the 225 only puts out 208 horse power?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Glen E
there is no question which motor to get unless you can steal the 225's
Actually, the 2006 Wellcraft seems more like the steal. Right now there is about an $8,000 price difference in the boats and the 2006 Coastal is a year newer, 100 less hours on the engines, and has the much better electronics I mentioned in an above post).
Go to Yamaha Motors website, click on Yamaha Performance Bulletins.
You can compare the same boats rigged with 225-4's and 250-4's. I like to use Regulator as they are heavy, deep V's that require a lot of HP.
The 225-4's consistently out perform the 250-4's in "time to plane" and "fuel mileage". Yamaha 225-4's are also quieter. Yamaha Performance Bulletins used to report noise levels. This stat has been omitted in recent years. The only time F-250 shines is WOT which is around 2 MPH faster.
I'm with Glen, 250 hands down. The power is much better and the newer technology on the 250 increases overall performance. That is not a light boat and I'd go with the most HP I could.
We have several twin Yamaha powered boats at work. When we repowered them from 225's to 250's, they were like totally different boats. The acceleration was MUCH improved. I've been running F225's for thousands of hours at work, I wouldn't buy one if I could hang a 250 on the boat. There's nothing wrong with them, they just lack power. Like someone posted, they are rated around 210 hp.
The one year of warranty is worth a little extra too.
Go to Yamaha Motors website, click on Yamaha Performance Bulletins.
You can compare the same boats rigged with 225-4's and 250-4's. I like to use Regulator as they are heavy, deep V's that require a lot of HP.
The 225-4's consistently out perform the 250-4's in "time to plane" and "fuel mileage". Yamaha 225-4's are also quieter. Yamaha Performance Bulletins used to report noise levels. This stat has been omitted in recent years. The only time F-250 shines is WOT which is around 2 MPH faster.
I really hope you're being sarcastic here. Either that, or you have no idea what you're talking about. I run these engines every day. They're both great motors, BUT the F250 will walk ALL OVER a F225 on the same boat...no question. The 250 is one nasty SOB...lots of power. I've run two strokes on the same hulls as the F250 and the F250 hangs with the 2 strokers any day of the week and performs better in lots. No major work on a 250 at 400 or 500 hours outside of OCV Filter changes(F250's have VCT hence this service). That's not a major job and frankly after just changing a set at 550 hours I'd leave them go. Outside of routine plugs, oil, anodes, filters, etc. the only service required is a timing belt change at 1000 hours.
Both great motors. I have had and run both. Currently have F225s and love them as much as my F250. The F225s do seem quieter. Remember you need to run 89 octane in the F250 due to the variable camshaft timing. Bottom line which boat makes you the happiest? Which one is cleaner? I like the fact you have some warranty on the F250s. Peace of mind when buying a used boat.
I really hope you're being sarcastic here. Either that, or you have no idea what you're talking about. I run these engines every day. They're both great motors, BUT the F250 will walk ALL OVER a F225 on the same boat...no question. The 250 is one nasty SOB...lots of power. I've run two strokes on the same hulls as the F250 and the F250 hangs with the 2 strokers any day of the week and performs better in lots. No major work on a 250 at 400 or 500 hours outside of OCV Filter changes(F250's have VCT hence this service). That's not a major job and frankly after just changing a set at 550 hours I'd leave them go. Outside of routine plugs, oil, anodes, filters, etc. the only service required is a timing belt change at 1000 hours.
If you can get a set of 250's, do it.
Good to hear. I am leading towards the 2006 290 Coastal as it is really the best deal. The only negative is the dealership handling that boat on consignment came across as less than trustworthy at times but that's an entirely different problem.
Recently worked on a gentleman's boat here in Wanchese who has a 2002/3 30' Pursuit W/A. He recently updated from a pair of F225s to a 2-yro used set of F250s. I asked about the performance differance and he replied "what differance" he stated with what Fish Factory posted above in that the F225s were quicker to plane but that the F250s were a few mph faster at wot. He then said who the hell drives their boat at wot. He was going to try a set of 4-bladed props to try and get the to plane time back, never heard back from him.
Took a look at the Yamaha Performance Bulletins but didn't see the Regulator combo you referenced. I don't see a Wellcraft Coastal bulletin so I was trying to find a comparable Walkaround or Express combo.
I know this is a really stupid question to ask at this point, but, I've always assumed that if you were looking at a Yamaha Performance Bulletin for a boat with 2 engines, the numbers (i.e. gallons per hour) were for for both engines. Put another way, in this bulletin - http://www.yamaha-motor.com/assets/p...t-f250btxr.pdf
this is saying this Pursuit will burn 17.3 gallons per hour at 4000 RPM total - NOT per engine correct.
Big assumption on my part all this time and I'm about to have a heart attach if that was wrong.
NOTE - I just had a moment of panic and now realize for sure it is considering both engines, not one.
Yamaha 225 4 Stoke or 250 4 Stoke on 2005/2006 Wellcraft 290 Coastal 
Lotta BS here......
