I am in a repower dilemma myself. I have the glorious F225's on my 265 and while all the exhaust upgrades were done on time and I dodged that bullet, this winter when winterizing the engines, I found that corrosion ate through the thermostat housing on the engine block of the stbd engine! The corroded area was cleaned out nice and patched and will presumably hold for some time to come. However, I intend to do regular 100mi (one way) runs to the canyons this season and onwards and just dont like the idea of having this looming in the back of my mind while out there. If I were just running inshore, I would not be considering a repower, engines only have 800hrs and otherwise run good and I would run em till they died. With all that said, I got a quote from my local dealer on twin F250's 4.2L all digital rigging back in late Dec, with a forewarning that the engines may be hard to come by, as Yamaha is experiencing a shortage of engines in the 200-300hp range, due to increased demand (the reasons for this have been beaten to death on other forums and so much nonsense was thrown out there on 'other forums', i would rather not touch on this topic, unless it's an intelligible conversation. There is a shortage of engines, period. Thats the situation, whatever the cause!) and dealers may be waiting anywhere from 6-9 months for fresh inventory. Today is Feb 22nd and it is status quo on the inventory ETA. My natural gravitation was toward yamaha; been running them for a long time, many models on many boats, some with problems, others without. However, this prolonged wait period gave me time to think and research several different avenues and arrive at several different conclusions, though as of today, I have not yet made a firm decision any which way on my repower dilemma.
The g2's i have read plenty on and they are truly getting fantastic reviews and the warranty they are throwing out there speaks volumes, i hope! They were my next best choice for a while. However, while at the NY boat show last month, I went to see a local boat repair shop/engine dealer I know and while we were exchanging hello's etc., I noticed a Suzuki 250 four stroke being displayed in their booth, which caught me by surprise as they specialize in Downeast rebuilds, cat, cummins, etc. engines and I knew they worked closely with Yamaha (though not a dealer). So I proceeded to inquire about the zuk's and they told me they were now an authorized dealer and started boasting about the products. They know Im no dummy and I know they are solid guys and this was not a typical sales pitch scenario and I purposely did not bring up my predicament with the F225's. The booth got busy quickly and I asked them to slap together a ballpark number on what a repower with 250's/digital controls would look like and to text it to me when they had a chance. I took their feedback, went home and started researching. Honestly, there is not as much out there as there is about he G2's and Yamaha's (of course), but pound for pound what I did read leaves a pretty amazing impression, with very very little negative comments about these engines at all. I then proceeded to talk to other guys I know and just about everyone had very good things to say. Side by side comparisons actually show that the Suzuki's are more reliable and more economical (all around) than the Yammis. A weeks or so later I got the text from my guys and the Suzuki's came in 10k less than Yamaha. Hmm...
While contemplating all this engine crap (given the expenditure involved and that I want to put in a new high-end electronics package and that I intend to run offshore more often), it also crossed my mind to get into another, bigger, boat, though I absolutely love my 265 and only wish they made the same boat w/ the folding transom door in a 30' or 33'. I always had a thing for the CC's, never owned a big one (over 19'), but just love the fishability of them. I started looking hard the 336 Canyon. Yes, big change in direction! However, I figured let me really lay it all on the table, as lord knows I will end up in a bigger boat sooner or later. In combing through the available boats and literature etc., I start learning about the extensive F350 issues and of course, all the 336's are powered by those engines (I know it's not all series builds etc. but the ones I can afford are in that range). I mean, really, Yamaha, REALLY!? But here, as opposed to their shameful F225 stance, they supposedly stepped up to the plate and warrantied (I dont know or have confirmation that they warrantied all the problematic engines or just reported ones while still under warranty) the problem and will replace the flywheels as needed, which, BTW , is every 80 hrs of operation between 3,800-4,200 rpm (not exact rpm range, but close). For me, putting 300hr + a season = 2 flywheel changes a season and 2 trips to the shop. No thanks!
So, given the horror stories of the F225 and my own experience, the F350 issues, several other engine model issues and yamaha's stance on the problems and the lack of inventory (which is a result of the economic upswing and confidence this past year and all the big name boat builders increasing their orders by up to 50% of what they initially committed to, which in turn left dealers short. In order to meet the demand of the big boys, the dealer allocations were depleted, thus leaving the repower customer screwed. Money talks, it's a story as old as time!), I am really wondering why may of us continue to or contemplate to reward this company. So many have become a slave to this brand, while there are other and probably better options out there AND more affordable (purchase price & maintenance) and regrettably, the brand awareness is weighing in on my decision to repower, as I fear when it comes to resale one day the lack of yamaha will have it's effect on potential buyers.
Sorry for the ramble, at home and under the weather and otherwise getting cabin fever, spring can't come soon enough r at least temperate weather to get out and work on the boat. Appreciate all feedback on the Suzuki's and anything else.
