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View Poll Results: What outboard would you buy......
from my experience Honda & Yamaha have the best support & warranty. Honda is great but missing some models & lack a large 250 or 300. Suzuki performs great but when something breaks it is very hard & slow to get parts. etec & merc no thanks have nothing to say. Yamaha over all today has the best support & product range if you look at it from an over all engine company. Keep an eye on Honda they have been having a lot of new stuff show up the past 2 seasons.
Honda is left behind as it stops at 225hp. I have a Honda 225, but would be forced into a Yammie if I wanted more hp.. I want more hp, and 610lbs on my transom can get me more horsepower in todays lineup... In my area, the most reputable shops are Honda and yammie dealers- I like Suzis and they have a good reputation, but there is poor service around here.. Etecs are barely in the running and Mercs are few..
It has surprised me that Suzuki and Merc have neck and neck for almost the whole thread. I am more suprised that Yam has almost a three to one advantage and this also has been fairly consistent the whole thread.
The verbiage has been mostly beneficial to Suzuki whereas the votes are going to Yam.
Yamaha got the message for the new engines show 47A at idle. Someone's listening.
I am not so sure. More output is good but in my view Yam missed the boat with their new models by not installing a high amp output belt driven generator (what some would call an alternator). They still are using a permanent magnet generator.
Think about the belt driven generator. Less parts and weight. Less to go wrong. Easier to trouble shoot and remove and replace. Higher electrical power output. Less cost. More efficient since engine power is only used to create electrical power, as needed. No heat that needs to be dissipated via a heat exhanger attached to the rectifier/regulator. Less chance of an electrical fire due to an overheated r/r.
Yam seems to be stuck in their motorcycle past to a certain degree. And what's up with all those damn throttle bodies that need to be sync'd and linked?
Etec is worse. They have two charging systems that give 25A each at 2000rpm, but at 1000rpm they are puny with 5A each. The lowest there is.
Huh?
All V6 E-TECs have a single 133 amp alternator. They do use a lot of electrical energy to run their tricky injectors but they have a DEDICATED 50 amps electrical output which runs rings around most but maybe not anymore all other outboards.
I have a 225HO which has the same quoted alternator output as the 150. While it is rated at 50 amps, I draw well over that and it still holds 14.4 volts, from memory all the way to about 55 or 60 amps output.
I run heated seats, 5 by 70 watt lights plus 2 by 130w lights plus lots of other accessories all at once. Even at idle the output is excellent, I don't have any trouble running everything I want to run at idle, but from memory the voltage does pull down a bit at idle with all that switched on.
Back to the thread's question. If you were limiting yourself to 150hp on a big boat, you'd want the one with the most torque. The 150hp E-TEC punches way above its weight and HP. At 150hp and 175 the small block E-TEC would be an excellent choice. At 200hp the 200HO would be hard to go past too.
Reading this thread, so far everybody has been pretty complimentary to everything. People have preferences and different engines will prove to be better for certain circumstances (needs, dealer, boat, use etc)
Practical considerations tend to govern the decision on which outboard to buy. Cost and the availability of service are perhaps the primary concerns. The following is a summary of the boat engines with which I've been acquainted.
Tohatsu 5 hp 2-stroke (on a 22' Sea Sprite sloop)
The boat actually came with an early-1960s vintage Evinrude, which I knew would have to be replaced. The Tohatsu never broke down, but the dealer had to cannibalize the showroom model when a friend broke the gearshift lever on a similar motor.
Volvo MD1 Diesel (on a 26' International Folkboat)
The Volvo survived incredible abuse. I was very fortunate that there was a competent diesel mechanic a few blocks from the marina who was willing to come to the boat to work on the motor.
Suzuki 225 HP 2-stroke (on a 23' Steiger Craft Block Island)
The nearest shop that would service the Suzuki was a thirty-minutes drive away. Parts availability was a problem. When I had problems with the Suzuki, I didn't attempt to get it fixed due to dissatisfaction with the availability of service.
Mercury 250 HP 2-stroke (on the same 23' Steiger Craft Block Island)
I would have loved to get a 4-stroke, but it would have cost as much as I paid for the boat and I was concerned about adding more weight at the transom as the scuppers were already too close to the waterline. It was recommended to me that I contact a gentlemen who lives nearby and rebuilds Mercury 2-strokes. He provided me a rebuilt Mercury at a small fraction of the cost of a new motor. The best part is that he makes house calls to service it.
I also have a circa 1960 British Seagull outboard. It hasn't been run in years. I see parts for it are still available over the Internet. It will make a good project someday. I should also mention a 3.5 HP Tohatsu (or was it a Nissan?) dinghy motor that drowned under my brother-in-law's house during hurricane Isabel. It was reliable, but the availability of parts probably would have been an issue if it had broken down.
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Last edited by interloper; 12-29-2009 at 07:24 PM.
All V6 E-TECs have a single 133 amp alternator. They do use a lot of electrical energy to run their tricky injectors but they have a DEDICATED 50 amps electrical output which runs rings around most but maybe not anymore all other outboards.
I have a 225HO which has the same quoted alternator output as the 150. While it is rated at 50 amps, I draw well over that and it still holds 14.4 volts, from memory all the way to about 55 or 60 amps output.
I run heated seats, 5 by 70 watt lights plus 2 by 130w lights plus lots of other accessories all at once. Even at idle the output is excellent, I don't have any trouble running everything I want to run at idle, but from memory the voltage does pull down a bit at idle with all that switched on.
Back to the thread's question. If you were limiting yourself to 150hp on a big boat, you'd want the one with the most torque. The 150hp E-TEC punches way above its weight and HP. At 150hp and 175 the small block E-TEC would be an excellent choice. At 200hp the 200HO would be hard to go past too.
Reading this thread, so far everybody has been pretty complimentary to everything. People have preferences and different engines will prove to be better for certain circumstances (needs, dealer, boat, use etc)
Greg
I used to be a fan of the ETEC specs. 133amp total. Dedicated 50amp for charging? what's not to like? But the missing part of the equation was when does that 50amp come on line? At what RPM? So I called up Bombadiar, and hung on until I got a knowledgeable tech. The answer was not exciting. 50 amps from 25 amps each out of two circuits with full power available at 2000rpm.
So what's available at idle? Less than 5amps per charging circuit. What about 1000rpm (sometimes troll at that speed)? About 5 amps, per circuit. Those were the answers. Call and confirm if you like. Saltwater trolling at higher speeds, you're probably fine, but in my game - no go.
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I used to be a fan of the ETEC specs. 133amp total. Dedicated 50amp for charging? what's not to like? But the missing part of the equation was when does that 50amp come on line? At what RPM? So I called up Bombadiar, and hung on until I got a knowledgeable tech. The answer was not exciting. 50 amps from 25 amps each out of two circuits with full power available at 2000rpm.
So what's available at idle? Less than 5amps per charging circuit. What about 1000rpm (sometimes troll at that speed)? About 5 amps, per circuit. Those were the answers. Call and confirm if you like. Saltwater trolling at higher speeds, you're probably fine, but in my game - no go.
Unfortunately the information you were given is not accurate. I have one of these motors. I can tell you that I get well over 50 amps of usable power out of a single engine out of a single circuit. I think there may be a way to configure a dual battery per engine setup which may use smarts to split it to 25amps per battery. But if you have a single charge circuit you get the full 50+ amps.
At idle it is nothing like 5amps. E-TEC really does have as good an alternator as the best outboards, if it isn't still the best.
I can't quote what I get a 500rpm idle because I can't remember but I did measure it once. I think it was 20 or 30 amps at 14.4 volts and there is more from 1000rpm. By 2000rpm you do have the full 50 amps and at a few more RPM there is more even though they don't say so.
Unfortuantely it sounds like BRP missed your sale due to a tech that gave dud info.
I used to be a fan of the ETEC specs. 133amp total. Dedicated 50amp for charging? what's not to like? But the missing part of the equation was when does that 50amp come on line? At what RPM? So I called up Bombadiar, and hung on until I got a knowledgeable tech. The answer was not exciting. 50 amps from 25 amps each out of two circuits with full power available at 2000rpm.
So what's available at idle? Less than 5amps per charging circuit. What about 1000rpm (sometimes troll at that speed)? About 5 amps, per circuit. Those were the answers. Call and confirm if you like. Saltwater trolling at higher speeds, you're probably fine, but in my game - no go.
But they are ALL like that. They don't put out full power unless they are spinning fast enough.
I can't tell you how happy I am to have REAL alternators on outboards these days. I do not miss the days of having those tiny little useless charge coils under the flywheels. Shore power used to be a must just for reliable batt charging.
^^^^^ I want to stay on point as for not going above the 200hp motor, but I've got to say, twin 250 E-Tec's will not only easily out run those 4 stroke motors but will also get at least 12% better fuel economy, (22.4 gallons per hour with the new E-Tec's) and every drop of fuel counts when 50 miles offshore. The 4 stroke set weighs at least 250lbs more than the E-Tec's, E-tec's are the lightest motor in there class these days also. E-tec's for the win.
Nice picture. Just curious, why is there no drain plug in the back of your boat?
I'm going to guess that what your looking at is an integral fiberglass engine bracket. I bet if you lowered the camera, you would see a "step" below the bottom of the bracket where the plug resides.
I'm a little suprised that Yamaha is doing so well. I think people are voting for resale value, and there's nothing wrong with that. The way some folks around here buy and sell boats, I guess it's all about resale. Irronically, I seem to see more threads about Yamaha Problems than anything else. I guess that's because there are so many out there.
Huh?
