they are just brilliant

I would be looking at yamaha there not the market leader for no reason although honda and suzuki are very good.

are bloody quiet and have very good economy. For me, a 200hp engine would be 4s all the way.

Truthfully, I dont think you can go wrong with a Honda, Suzuki or Yamaha 4st. Get the best value for money that you can (purchase and servicing), differentiating them would be splitting hairs. 

you summed it up well huggy.

Go the Murcury 2 stroke optimax direct injection my dad has had 3 all on different boats, he sold the last to his brother with 400 hours, it now has 800 hours and has never missed a beat. the Econemy is the best youll get. we have a 200 hp at the moment on a 6.2 m Carribean reef runner. the econemy on it is about 1NM per Litre. it gives us heaps of grunt and a top speed of 47 knots. Weve never had a problem with them and they look good too. they are awesome. The 4 strokes are okay but they havent got the grunt and if you want power then you need to go an engine that is much bigger than the optimax for the same amount of grunt. the opti's are light and smaller than the 4 stroke. they are definately the best option.

thanks guys

i have heard that the 4st needs to be bigger h/p to get the same grunt as a 2st.

as with motor bikes you need a 450 4st to keep up with the 250 2st,

they race 125 2st against 250 4st, and the same with the 450 & 250.

i have been hearing a lot of good things about the suzuki 4st, more power in a smaller package compaired to the hondas.

does anyone know the weight differances?

The 2s in some cases has an advantage in weight, but 200hp is 200hp - the difference will be in torque and power delivery between a 2s and a 4s.

200hp

Suzuki (4s) - 263kg

Honda (4s) - 272kg

Yamaha (4s) - 272kg

Yamaha V MAX SHO (4s) - 229kg

Yamaha V MAX HDPI (2s) - 218kg

Mercury Verado (4s) - 231kg

Mercury optimax (2s) - 225kg

E-TEC (2s) - 196kg

E-TEC HO (2s) - 235kg

thanks huggy

you say 200h/p is 200h/p

so does the 4st offer grunt so to speak or is it the same as the bikes.

in the bikes we are talking cc, but a 250 2st will kill a 250 4st, no comparision whatsoever.

cheers

a 2s will have more "holeshot" - thereby it will take off quicker due to its greater torque. But the 4s will get your boat moving no worries.

The bikes are a different story.

mate it sounds like a boat shop in here. If your buying a new engine then you can expect not to have any problems for a very long time if you keep up with services. ive never worried about speed or torque. What i really care about is fuel efficency. And you can safely say most new fourstrokes are extremely efficent. I have a mercury and have never had any issues. Ive spoken too a few motor service mechanics and they tell me unbiasly

suzuki

mercury

Honda

Yamaha

are all on par(4 strokes)

the mechanics told me thet get very few major problems with these motors. They are all pretty similar and are easy and reasonably cheap for service and parts.

they also told me to stay away from the optimax and etec. Dont know why? But i took there advise

hey fisho ron got two 150 yam 4 s pushin 4 tonne no worries quick of the mark and does 36 knts flat  done 1140 hrs now and still run like new yes i might b biased but ill never have anything but yamaha

send Paul G a pm as he not long ago repowered his boat with i think a 2oo hp from men on boats

the optimax is direct injection and like the E-tec uses much less fuel than any other motor, we get over a NM per litre and that is in the  chop, 30 mile off shore.

there was a similar post to this one a few weeks back.

i upgraded my last boat to a suzuki 200hp 4 stroke. 6.5m haines.

the father in law has the same boat, fitted out the same with a 200 hp optimax.

 the optimax always won out on economy.

the 2 strokes are lighter, and if your running them on a ali, i reckon thats an advantage, less weight hanging off the back.

the 4's are nice and quiet and perform great, but if i was to repower my boat, i would be looking at the etec or optimax.

suzuki has tried to shift some of the weight forward in the 4's by using an offset drive shaft which is meant to move the weight more forward over the transom. dont know if it works or not, but it sounds good.

if you do decide to go a 4. seriously have a look at the suzuki's.

Ron i would consider a 150 hP four stroke Yamaha.. Few reasons. Southwind is a Yamaha boat and for consistency, yes all motors ( especially the 4 strokes ) are good. But yamaha possibly would have the best dealer network for support, best resale second to none. ( Its a fact that 45 % of all new motors sold are yamaha's so that has to stretch over to used motors and popularity or resale) I like the dealer your using currently and i think he is possibly one of the best around ( In WA anyway) for my experience.

Yes you will lose some power from what you should of had. As i said i think you may have been down on power already anyway. The slightly less hp on that boat made it more user/driver friendly in a heavy sea. Biggest issue with smaller motor was the extra fuel consumption but with a 4 stroke you'll solve that issue anyway.

I think the weight of a 200 or a 225 may be just too much. Considering you already thought the boat was a little bum heavy anyway.

Before anyone whinges. Yes i did sell yamaha's for years but have absolutely no affiliation with any outboard company anymore. In fact my biggest motor i personally own is a mercury anyway.  

ron my preference would be the 4st  yammy ,honda ,suzi , in any order if you want a quieter and less oily smell, some of the 200 and 225 vary in the engine constuction were some have variable valve timing etc in the 225 and not the 200 so i would do some checking before buying , and then the new suzi 225 sounds great with the offset power head but it comes at a cost, theres the weight diference going to a 2st and in my opion the ETEC would be the leader , lighter in weight , cheaper to buy but you have the oil smell and probaly save $ 3 to 4k which is alot of fuel,  you indicated the boats 6.55 , what type? and the other point would be re sale should you decied to sell 

everyone stop making it sound like the 4 stroke will barely push the boat, the four stroke will be very economical until u reach high revs in which case a 2 stroke might be a good choice, first this outboard 4 stroke servicing thing is a joke, have you watched a evinrude etec add or something?, all the 4's need are regular oil and oil filter changes and they'le be fine, sure 2 stroke cheaper serviving BUT what about all the 2 stroke oil, in that size go 4 stroke, the direct injection 2 stroke isnt as simple as a conventional 2 stroke outboards, its pretty complicated, the 2 stroke will have more holeshot, but believe unless youre racing dont worry about it,

also if youre going 4st, best bet would be a yamaha 4 st, wont let you down

and yes in dirt bike for 2 strokes kill 4 strokes, but in outboards it really doesnt matter as most of the time in wa conditions you wont be to "holeshot" to 40 knots when you 40 miles out in the rough

for the etec guys they make sound like 4 strokes are snails, what cars do you drive

wasnt that V8 that sped past us at 200km a 4 stroke? lol

 Dont let anyone tell you 4 strokes are gutless or slow off the mark. Weve got a 300 Suzuki 4 stroke on a 24 foot fibreglass centre console and it is anything but sluggish. Does 43 knots flat out and has averaged 1.35 km/litre over the last 12 months.  Who cares if it takes 6.8 or 7.4 seconds until your on the plane ? ?

Mate I'm running a four stroke Suzuki 90hp on my 5.4 quinnie and had a similar set up with a 6m pacemaker and 2stroke Evinrude Ive found no difference in power ie initial takeoff thrust which is what you want on the high sea. It's very quiet and uses buggerall fuel compared to the 2stroke but that was an older motor. The other lovely thing is no fumes , don't think I'd ever go back to 2 stroke.

Just had 100 (total hours 267) hour service about $735 for oils, seals and impeller.

My 6.4m (Bertie reefrunner) glass boat weighs around 2.2 tonnes with 3 guys, gear and fuel (300 litres) on board. 

She'll run 15 ltrs / hour at 21/22 knots and 20 ltrs / hour at 30 knots.

I have her propped for torque and find that she'll lug really well coming home with big seas from astern - just planing over the swells then up the back of the one in front.

It has plenty of sprint speed and a stab on the throttle of 200 rpm is noticeable to the point you have to let passengers know to hand on.

I like the quiet and fumeless operation. Yes it is heavy and does weigh the boat down at rest. Have fitted a planing plate to it and this helps me hold the plane down to about 12 knots with the motor trimmed right in.

I have had 2 strokes previously and were very happy with them. Price of initial purchase and servicing cost / complexity / backup would be my future drivers for a motor purchase. 

Hope this helps. 

700 bucks what!, to change the oil and impeller, you should get a manuel and just do it yourself, shouldnt be that hard

unfortunately as much as we would probably prefer to do the servicing ourselves....extended warranties on motors may become invalid especially if servicing hasn't been carried out by an authorised agent and something goes wrong?

I have 6.87 Tournament(mustang) and I have no oil smell ,great ecomony ,will do 50+ knots ,uses bugger all oil about 1 litre per 100klm .I like the four strokes as well but value for money for me was the etec.Shop around get lots of prices and challenge them on there prices you will be amazed at the discounts they wil give.

solly

hey solly you get your boat from waterworld in wangara

any new motor will be great

i have a 175 honda on my haines. mate of mine has 200 yammy 4st on his commodore. both are excellent motors. honda is a touch quieter.

if you're doing much trolling, i'd go 4st.