Looking to buy a new-to-me boat, and have started zeroing in on this model. Use will be mostly family cruising, sandbarring, skiing and tubing, and some fishing (from nearshore up to sixty miles or so offshore). Budget will likely allow something post 2010 up to maybe 2018 or so, based on what I'm seeing price-wise. Just looking for general thoughts from those with experience. Possible feedback I'd appreciate: best power option, things to look out for, offshore feasibility (e.g., has anyone added rodholders, outriggers, etc.)? Appreciate any help y'all can give. Thanks.
225 Tournament/Freedom Owners
- Thread starter Road Trip
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Mustang65fbk
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Welcome aboard, I can't really give you any advice specifically on the 225 Tournament/Freedom, though I do have a 228 Seafarer which I really love. The years that you're looking at from 2010 and newer are going to be out of the range where the Yamaha outboards had something called a dry exhaust corrosion issue. So you should be good to go and not have to worry about that being a potential problem. I always recommend that anyone use one of the two sites below to have an accredited marine surveyor inspect the boat for/with them to make sure it's in the condition it's described as being in. I can't imagine you'd want to spend $40k+ to buy a can of worms right? I've always been a firm believer that with any higher dollar purchase to have someone go over the item and look to make sure it's in the condition it's described to be in, from homes to boats to cars, etc. The surveyors will usually charge oh maybe $400 on up to $1k depending on what you have them do, but they can look at the hull, inspect it for water intrusion or damage, get the hours on the motor and so on. Imo, it's money well spent and will give you a bit better peace of mind on your purchase. My boat has a Yamaha F225 on it, of which it'll top out around 45 mph, and your boat is going to be even a little bit lighter than mine since it's an open bow. So, unless you're wanting to go over 50 mph, I would think that an F225 would be just fine, though if you wanted to go faster you could always look for one with an F250 on it. My boat has the baseplates for outriggers but we don't use those out here in the Puget Sound, so I couldn't really give you any advice on those. I will say though, there's a company out here called Burnewiin that makes some really great rod holders and mounts for things like downriggers, etc. I bought them, of which they aren't cheap, but I think they look great on the boat, and give it somewhat of a "factory/oem" look but while also looking a bit overkill as well.
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Visit www.SouthMountainYachts.com They have a 2013 225 for sale. Yamaha 300 with less than 200 hours.
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I owned a 205, the little brother of the 225 but the same configuration. I found that the boat is a "sit down" boat for the driver. You can run it standing up but the throttle and wheel position is more suited to the sitting position. The head is in the dog-house just forward of the port passenger seat. It is too small for anyone over 10 years old. If you are lucky enough to be married to a "5 gallon bucket girl", you're a lucky man and you will be fine but if you are doing the cruising/sandbaring with "prissy ladies" , you will cuss the head. For power, the 250 should be considered minimum if you are planning watersports. Max power listed for the hull would be the sensible choice. Make sure you get a 4.2 liter motor not the 3.3 liter. I think the 4.2L came in around 2010. For me that would be a must. Don't consider the older version of the Yamahas.
I had this for a year or two. Great boat, and with the 300 it would just touch 50 mph light. Just a guess, but the Yam 250 would be adequate power.
I redid the dash with help from New Wire Marine, updating the chartplotter and moved the VHF. The bracket helps it feel like a much larger boat.
I redid the dash with help from New Wire Marine, updating the chartplotter and moved the VHF. The bracket helps it feel like a much larger boat.
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I had a 22, with the motor on the transom, for about 10 years. It was definitely not a 60 mile offshore boat, and would not have been with a bracket.