just wondering everyones thoughts on what size engines to get, I have a 25ft gw and i was thinking of twin yamahas 225 or 200 4 stroke but i am seeing 150s on alot of 25ft boats. any thoughts oh yeah they will be mounted on a transom bracket.
1977 25 ft GW Kingfish
- Thread starter jnkfarrow
- Start date
Which 25 Grady and what year? The Sailfish will require more engine (200 or 225s) than the Journey/Voyager (twin 150s sufficient).
Is the bracket already on it or are you putting it on? I don't think they were available with one. The Kingfish was a 25 with I/O right? If the bracket is not already on what is the I/O power?
the bracket is not on yet but we had mercruisers 5.0 liter got corraded with salt water, we alread tore them out and are in the stage of fixing the tramsom. No kingfish were not made with outboards, Grady white actually had 3 models in the 25 ft range in that time the sailfish which were outboards, kingfish which were i/o and the swordfish which was a sea drive stern. all same length just different engines. So we were just seeing what the best power outboard wise would be. thanks
Frank said:
T-200s are the way to go!
Is this 1977 hull really worth all the effort and expense to refurbish in this way?
For you guys with the skills and the time/$$ it must be very satisfying to
restore a nice old boat to it's old glory or BETTER !
From my research and experience and frankly to my surprise there is little to no performance improvement between twin 150's and twin 200's. The jump increases weight disproportionately (by 237lbs for twin 150 – 200) due to the change in block from a four cylinder to a six and the increase in HP just covers the weight increase from a performance standpoint. Even the increase to 225's is not all that impressive and certainly not worth the $$ in my book. Go into the performance data on GW and Yamaha's sites both will confirm what I am saying.
I am somewhat familiar with the Kingfish (check the sig. line) What are you going to do with the boat? I had twin 170 Mercruisers in mine previously and now repowereed with a single 496 Mercruiser. It is wonderful with that motor. I am always curious about brackets on these boats. I considered a bracket for mine but these boats were never designed for a bracket so in the end I went with another I/O. I have seen a couple of 25's on the market that have been changed to brackets and the same couple of boats come up for sale fairly frequently. I have not seen them recently so maybe they found a home. I don't know if it has anything to do with the ride quality with the bracket or not. My boat with the 496 is lighter than before and runs really great. The ride is somewhat different than with the twins. Not better not worse just different. I cruise faster also. Have you looked into replacing with twin V-6 I/O? I'm sure that would be cheaper than brackets and outboards. My motor box was too narrow for the modern 6 I would have to enlarge the motor box and the deck opening - hence the single.
I just don't like i/o after seeing what salt water does to them and taking the engines all apart while tearing them out, i want outboards. We are completly redoing the whole boat, reconfiging the cuddy to have an , instead of captains chairs puttin a bench on one side just updating an awesome hull and boat. They just don't make the gw 25ft the same, it seems the cuddy is super small and the fishing room is just ok, with the i/o out the fishing room is gigantic and the cuddy seems to be so big and comfortable, don't you think,we really looked for a hull we liked and when we came across this one it was perfect. Just want to bring this old boat back to its original glory or even better with all the fun stuff like electronics ect we would like to eventually take it to the keys bahamas. What kind of seas have you been in and felt comfortable?
I really like mine that's why I repowered it instead of looking for a newer boat. I have owned mine since 1987. As to the engines to each his own I guess, Mine were original and lasted 24 years, in salt water five to six months a year. Mine were fresh water cooled and perhaps yours were not, anyway yours were over thirty years old. Not too bad. I will be curious how the bracket effects your boat to me it is a lot of weight way behind the boat. But I am just guessing. I find the "how big a sea" thing to be a little subjective. We have all kinds of sea conditions here and I know the boat will take a lot larger sea than I am comfortable with and I have been out on some really crappy days. I really enjoy mine. This season I took out all the trim and redid that and removed all the cabin windows - replaced the plexiglass in the front ones and had those frames powdercoated. Put new kitty fur on the side window tracks. Yesterday I replaced the drain for the fish box between the seats that exits at the water line to starboard. The windows are all back in and resealed etc. Hope to launch in a couple of weeks. I like the bench idea that will afford you some good storage under. Good luck with your project.
Tashmoo - there should be a considerable difference, in mostly hole shot, and some top end.
Many don't notice (nor care) of the difference in acceleration until they have to come back thru a difficult inlet on the way home with wind against moon tide current - and they have to hit the hammer when a following sea wave wants to overtake them from astern and they wallow around instead in the trough looking up at the wave's top while praying for dear life and to Saint Acceleration for mercy, instead of blasting off like a bat out of hell - the way I like it.
Stay on the back of the wave ahead of you and keep the one off the stern - need tremendosu power (torque) in such moves especially when water is churned up white.
The other issue is fuel economy, the smaller undersized motors will be less efficient particularly when the dealer uses a belt and suspenders approach for lack of HP and props the boat for speed (boat spec advertised top end) and the owner finds the WOT rpm below motor manuf spec, which makes the hole shot performance even worse, and compromises the warranty since the motor is effectively "overloaded".
Lower initial purchase price is the only thing good about underpowering, that's why it's done soley.
For the OP's question, Yamaha used to offer the HPDI 175 Hp and 175 OX66 before it, they no longer offer these minimum motors for the Sailfish. Never seen one equipped by Grady with 4 stroke F150 twins, or 150 HP 2 strokes.
If anyone doesn't know what "belt and suspenders" mean, let me know.
Many don't notice (nor care) of the difference in acceleration until they have to come back thru a difficult inlet on the way home with wind against moon tide current - and they have to hit the hammer when a following sea wave wants to overtake them from astern and they wallow around instead in the trough looking up at the wave's top while praying for dear life and to Saint Acceleration for mercy, instead of blasting off like a bat out of hell - the way I like it.
Stay on the back of the wave ahead of you and keep the one off the stern - need tremendosu power (torque) in such moves especially when water is churned up white.
The other issue is fuel economy, the smaller undersized motors will be less efficient particularly when the dealer uses a belt and suspenders approach for lack of HP and props the boat for speed (boat spec advertised top end) and the owner finds the WOT rpm below motor manuf spec, which makes the hole shot performance even worse, and compromises the warranty since the motor is effectively "overloaded".
Lower initial purchase price is the only thing good about underpowering, that's why it's done soley.
For the OP's question, Yamaha used to offer the HPDI 175 Hp and 175 OX66 before it, they no longer offer these minimum motors for the Sailfish. Never seen one equipped by Grady with 4 stroke F150 twins, or 150 HP 2 strokes.
If anyone doesn't know what "belt and suspenders" mean, let me know.
I've seen some <1990 Sailfish (or equal) with 150's (2 stroke). If it's a striped down version (port a potty, small fresh water system, no microwave,...) 150's could do it. All the newer "comforts" add weight so you need more power. You will notice a difference between 150's and 200's.
the 25's can usually handle up to 400hp total and normally come with 300hp or twin 150's....you don't want to max out as the extra HP and weight will put your transom at its max allowable load. The I/O boats were not designed with a transome to hold a torque load like a boat that came with outboards from the factory. Transom thickness and stringer position and attachments are different for the type of engines that they are designed for. If you are switching to outboards from I/O, you MUST make sure your transom rebuild is strong enough and properly tied into the remaining structure/stringers to hold that torque. A bracket adds even more load than standard outboards, never mind I/O. I suggest you call GW customer service and speak with an engineer about this.....they will help you if they can, but will most likely talk you out of changing engines unless you do some serious fiberglass work.
richie rich said:
We are actually have it all engineered to work, thanks for the input, we actually got the boat very inexpensive and are bringing it back to its old glory or even better.
ok here is the before pics, now mind u she was beached we bought her on ebay from an insurance auction for 900 ALREADY SOLD THE SUBMERGED engines for 400 so we paid 500 total can't wait for the after pics!
This is when we picked her up
[hopefully i will finish the transom this weekend will post more pics tuesday
This is when we picked her up
[hopefully i will finish the transom this weekend will post more pics tuesday
