Info Merc Opti 150

I have a charter boat captain friend who swears by his Merc 225hp Verado 4 stroke. CT[/QUOTE said:
i have never heard that phrase before in my life and i am not joking either. i can tell you this much about the verado's i would shy away from the ones that had non-forged internals. i would like to say they are either the 06 or 07 and older.
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I don't know much about Verados other than that they are heavy, but can get a boat out of the water twice as fast as other four strokes fo the same HP. A huge disadvantage is that they are supercharged and will use twice as much fuel as most four strokes. Don't believe me; google mercury and yamaha marines. Click on engine tests and find a suitable comparison. They are pretty accurate. I am a pretty big Merc fan though. Optimaxes are my favorite. The older ones can get you in a bind though.
 
the problem with the verado is that you have to be just about married to a dealer. All the new engines require more advanced diagnostic equipment, but a lot of that stuff is ready available. The verado stuff is dealer only(right now anyways), the engine has to be set up by a dealer(electronic shift and throttle). All the new engines are going to be or allready are this way, you will have to go to the dealer for anything. Not a bad thing if you have a good dealer(it helps if you buy the engine thru your local dealer), but for those that don't have a good dealer, it sucks. The days of rigging your own new engine are over. Yamaha and Suzuki 4 strokes can be rigged by anyone that knows how to rig an old style 2 stk(just dont add double oil for break in). But for the Verados and E-Tecs, you will have to do everything thru your dealer. If you are spending that kind of money on an outboard, you better have a good dealer iin mind, otherwise you're going to be stuck with an engine that can't be serviced
 
Verado's aren't bad on fuel at all. I've been able to run several and they are nice for certain. Even the 150 Verado tips the scales at about 530# if I can remember, so it is not suitable for a v-20, otherwise it would be at the top of my list.
 
Good info on the verado. Thanks guys. Looks like either Yammy or Zuki is the best fit if you want 4 stroke with Zuki looking really like a winner. I like the price!

CT
 
Airslot said:
Verado's aren't bad on fuel at all. I've been able to run several and they are nice for certain. Even the 150 Verado tips the scales at about 530# if I can remember, so it is not suitable for a v-20, otherwise it would be at the top of my list.
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The latest VERADOS are not that bad on fuel, the older models(i believe mid 06 and older) are not gentle on the prescious liquid gold. VERADO owners on several forums are trying to see if there older engines can be updated with the newer electronics because of the 20-30% economy increase of the newer engines.
 
what about a 200 EFI Saltwater Series? A friend of mine has one [year 2000] on a 20' Robalo CC. Although the boat is seldom used I don't think there has been any problems. That motor seems to have a lot of power.
 
phester said:
what about a 200 EFI Saltwater Series? A friend of mine has one [year 2000] on a 20' Robalo CC. Although the boat is seldom used I don't think there has been any problems. That motor seems to have a lot of power.
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They be some rock solid engines, but THIRSTY!!! If you don't boat that often though, it isn't a huge deal breaker. The OPTI's are nice, but prior to 03 they were hit or miss.
 
There we go; another vote for Mercury! I'll bet that thing has some power. Other than Optimax those EFI 1.5L-3.0L are the best they make with Verado a close third. Compare that to a Yammie F200 that may get a little better gas mileage but not near the power. As for the original question "Merc Opti 150" the older ones seem to have too many bells and whistles, and weren't good for those who didn't go boating often. But today's Mercs are getting much more user friendly.
 
from what my research has shown me none of the new engines are user friendly, the warranties on all the current engines are effected by a owner installed engine.
the warranties have to be registered by a dealer/authorized service cetner. They have to answer some tech questions about the set up, rpm prop etc. All of them, Suzi Yammie and Etec. Even the two stroke carbed yammies are this way now.
I do like the improvements the new tech has brought us. But I do not like the fact that they are very much computer controlled, which eliminates regular guys doing much diagnosing and repairing. A lot of it is so sensitive to minute program/electronic variances that it makes it like cars today. Buy it and run it until the warranty is finished and then get rid of it otherwise you will be taking major hits in labor and parts.
These hits will make it worthwhile to swap out in the long run.
In fact you go on any of the major fishing sites and that is exactly what most serious fishing guys are doing, they are unloading either the whole boat or the motor and repowering just before their extended warranty is finished.
In some ways it makes a good straight inboard more attractive, the engines can be bought new for less than half the price, a lot of the work you need to do you can do yourself and has a lot of crossover to the automotive industry. Yes you can buy a new engine with all the full computer control but you can also buy simpler set ups with carbs or basic fuel injection setups.
I do not like being taken out of the loop with products I buy for a lot of money, nor do I like being dependant on a 115 an hour mechanic to diagnose and repair the engine
 
I don't think I/O's fall in this ball park because they are a pain in the Balls to work on outdrive wise and every buddy of mine that has had one has had to have work done on the outdrive constantly, every year something that costs him hundreds and hundreds of dollars
JMHO
 
I/O's are fine for there application, but not the best for a boat that stays in the water for extended periods. The big outdrive killer is outdrive corrosion in the exhaust cavity from the inside out. Unfortunately you can't get in there to paint it or protect it since it is unaccessible. Also you have dissimiliar metals constantly submerged in saltwater. Outboards are easier to maintain as they can be trimmed out of the water and don't have to stay submerged in it. Up until DFI's and 4 strokes, the choice was easy for economy until recently. Now outboards are pretty much dominating most categories. On a V-21 though, you only have the outboard option due to the built in set-back.

And WILLY makes a good point in regards to current technology, they have gone the way of automotive and have become to complex for the average shade tree to work on. Even doing a tune-up now is involved since indexing is required for electrode clearance and proper burn. N/A 4 strokes have a slight edge in not being as complex, but not by much. And as emissions get more stringent in 09 they'll only get more and more sensors to contend with. And the rumor is by 2012 they'll even have catylic converters in outboards, possibly even sooner as MERCRUISER is already working on prototype cat converters for the 6.0L I/O there working on.
 
When I bought my Johnson 140 4-stroke, I installed it and the dealer sent off the warranty stuff for me....but I don't know if that is general practice for Johnson dealers or just this one.....and that was in 2003 also.
 
Randleman there are still a few dealers that will do that for you, but the manufacturers clearly state in there warranty that a dealer MUST install it for the warranty to be active. There are dealers out there that will say they installed it and not actually do it, and then if they need a warranty repair they may not actually have a warranty. This has happened in the past when a dealer got caught not installing the engines and the manufacturere found out and yanked there dealership license from them and voided all of the warranty's on the engines they had supposedly installed for people. I don't remember the dealers name, but I know SUZUKI did this to one and then the dealer had to pay for all of the warranty repairs when they got taken to court.

And I had heard KOMIFORNIA was requiring kitty's, but didn't know for sure. Just wait until they hit outboards with them, this ought to be interesting.
 
i think Ed's was one of the big reasons the manufactures started clamping down on loose motor sales. They were selling motors everywhere, for prices that no one could compete with, local dealers were getting pretty pi$$ed about it. Chat Lee was selling some loose engines as well that stirred up some local dealers. As particular as the new engies are about set up, it has to be installed by someone who knows what he's doing(being a dealer doesn't neccesarily mean that they know what they are doing). A lot of the early E-Tec issues can be traced back to improper set up, and a lot of opti's popped from being over propped. Improper set up can break an owners opinion of the expensive motor he just payed for. And its not just dealers, I've seen plenty of prerigged boats(OB's, I/B's and I/O's) that were improperlly rigged by the manufacture. A good dealer can make the difference.
 
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