Just Repowered My 1999 228G with a Suzuki DF250

[Mustang65fbk]

Thank you so much guys! You are right the numbers do not lie! The 200 seems to be the smart choice! The yammi vs suzuki comes down to price competition and access to service! 3 to 4 k less seems hard to walk away from. Obviously two great engines. I like the larger displacement on the zuke at 200 hp vs the yammi. Any thoughts or advice? Again I thank you in advance for your opinions and advice

Are you able to trade in your existing motor to lower down the price at all on a new one? I'm sure your current motor still has some sort of value left to it. Also, $20k seems a bit high for a Suzuki 200, have you looked around at all? I know it's a bit of a drive but there's a place in Florida called Riva Motorsports and Marine that has two different versions of the Suzuki 200 brand new for either just under, or just over $15k, depending on which version you need. Might be something worth looking into as it could potentially save you $3-5k, or maybe even slightly more...

Types of Boats - Boat Trader

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Types of Boats - Boat Trader

Discover different boat types and classes including popular manufacturer brands. Use Boat Trader to find out which boat or yacht is right for you.

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[RhodeI]

Are you able to trade in your existing motor to lower down the price at all on a new one? I'm sure your current motor still has some sort of value left to it. Also, $20k seems a bit high for a Suzuki 200, have you looked around at all? I know it's a bit of a drive but there's a place in Florida called Riva Motorsports and Marine that has two different versions of the Suzuki 200 brand new for either just under, or just over $15k, depending on which version you need. Might be something worth looking into as it could potentially save you $3-5k, or maybe even slightly more...

Types of Boats - Boat Trader

Discover different boat types and classes including popular manufacturer brands. Use Boat Trader to find out which boat or yacht is right for you.

www.boattrader.com

Types of Boats - Boat Trader

Discover different boat types and classes including popular manufacturer brands. Use Boat Trader to find out which boat or yacht is right for you.

www.boattrader.com

Yes, New England prices and cost of living are high. Any way you cut it travel time and expenses would cost $1500. I havent started negotiating price as i have just started looking. I am going to shop a 6 hour travel radius for the best deal i can find. This would be doable for a couple of weeekend trips. My engine is in excellent condition and low hours. If the trade in isnt reasonable i will sell it outright. I am also going to check out some winter boat shows.

 

[glacierbaze]

I know this is an older thread, but rereading it, I am surprised at the low cruise mpg numbers posted after re-powering with four strokes. I am getting three with a 20 year old 225 OX66, and would not want to spend all that money just to get 3.2, or 3.4. Is anyone getting 4+, and in what size boat?
My only four stroke has been a 2000 Yamaha 115, on an 1801 Parker, and maybe I was spoiled by 5 miles per gallon.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Yes, New England prices and cost of living are high. Any way you cut it travel time and expenses would cost $1500. I havent started negotiating price as i have just started looking. I am going to shop a 6 hour travel radius for the best deal i can find. This would be doable for a couple of weeekend trips. My engine is in excellent condition and low hours. If the trade in isnt reasonable i will sell it outright. I am also going to check out some winter boat shows.

I’m not exactly sure where at in Connecticut you’re located but from Hartford, CT to Riva Motorsports in Florida is right at 1,500 miles each way. If you’re like me in that you’re a bit frugal, don’t mind a road trip and the weather is decent then you could likely do the whole thing in 4 days. But it very much depends on the total cost involved, in that if you’re saving $3k but it costs you $2k or more to do the trip then yes, it’s not really worth the hassle. That being said, if you’re saving $5k on the motor and it only costs you $1.5k to do the trip then a savings of $3.5k is something I’d definitely consider doing. Especially if you’re up for a road trip, have the time and the driving conditions are good.

If you drive 3k miles, are averaging 10 mpg and with gasoline close to $3 a gallon then you’ll spend around $900 on fuel for the entire trip. Leaving $600 for food, lodging and so forth, which I think is completely doable. My first ever cross country road trip for a boat I did two different days of driving at 1,200 miles each. That was an insane amount of driving each day and was done in the summer when it was still light out until 10 or 10:30 at night. So you could drive longer distances later on in to the evening. With it being dark at around 5 though, you could still average 10-12 hours of driving a day though, and at 75 mph you could get in 750-900 miles of driving per day. Which isn’t an insane amount or not doable at all. If you did a minimum of 750 miles a day then you’d be back on the evening of the 4th day and would need lodging for 3 nights and food for 4 days. If it saved you $3,500 in the long run then I personally would still consider it. $3,500 will go a long way in terms of gas, new electronics and so on. I just did a cross country road trip for my current boat in early October and the one day I did 840 miles of driving, and would’ve gone further had it not been dark and being unfamiliar with the area.

 

[RhodeI]

I’m not exactly sure where at in Connecticut you’re located but from Hartford, CT to Riva Motorsports in Florida is right at 1,500 miles each way. If you’re like me in that you’re a bit frugal, don’t mind a road trip and the weather is decent then you could likely do the whole thing in 4 days. But it very much depends on the total cost involved, in that if you’re saving $3k but it costs you $2k or more to do the trip then yes, it’s not really worth the hassle. That being said, if you’re saving $5k on the motor and it only costs you $1.5k to do the trip then a savings of $3.5k is something I’d definitely consider doing. Especially if you’re up for a road trip, have the time and the driving conditions are good.

If you drive 3k miles, are averaging 10 mpg and with gasoline close to $3 a gallon then you’ll spend around $900 on fuel for the entire trip. Leaving $600 for food, lodging and so forth, which I think is completely doable. My first ever cross country road trip for a boat I did two different days of driving at 1,200 miles each. That was an insane amount of driving each day and was done in the summer when it was still light out until 10 or 10:30 at night. So you could drive longer distances later on in to the evening. With it being dark at around 5 though, you could still average 10-12 hours of driving a day though, and at 75 mph you could get in 750-900 miles of driving per day. Which isn’t an insane amount or not doable at all. If you did a minimum of 750 miles a day then you’d be back on the evening of the 4th day and would need lodging for 3 nights and food for 4 days. If it saved you $3,500 in the long run then I personally would still consider it. $3,500 will go a long way in terms of gas, new electronics and so on. I just did a cross country road trip for my current boat in early October and the one day I did 840 miles of driving, and would’ve gone further had it not been dark and being unfamiliar with the area.

To be fair and analytical you have to calculate in the depreciation on the truck for adding the 3000 miles! I thought that if there were a real $4000 difference, it could be worth the road trip! With that said I will negotiate hard with our regional dealers here keeping in mind a new engine does need a home for service! When I was younger I would maintain everything myself. You pay a little more at the end of the season for winterization and power washing, oil/gear case filter changes however you have a record of "dealer serviced". You will absolutely get that money back on saved depreciation if you sell, trade or happen to fall in love with your next boat!

 

[Mustang65fbk]

To be fair and analytical you have to calculate in the depreciation on the truck for adding the 3000 miles! I thought that if there were a real $4000 difference, it could be worth the road trip! With that said I will negotiate hard with our regional dealers here keeping in mind a new engine does need a home for service! When I was younger I would maintain everything myself. You pay a little more at the end of the season for winterization and power washing, oil/gear case filter changes however you have a record of "dealer serviced". You will absolutely get that money back on saved depreciation if you sell, trade or happen to fall in love with your next boat!

I can't imagine adding 3k miles to your tow rig is going to depreciate the value of it anymore than just driving it regularly would. I don't know about you, but my tow rig doesn't see anywhere near the 12k-15k miles, or whatever the average driver puts on their vehicle a year, like my daily driver does. So, if I do have to take the occasional long distance trip and tow my boat somewhere, I'm definitely not going to lose sleep over it. Lastly, even if it did depreciate the truck somewhat in value, it's not going to be thousands of dollars worth of depreciation and it's not like it's something that I'd be doing every weekend driving 3k miles or more.

 

[glacierbaze]

I’d be more concerned about only averaging 10 miles a gallon.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

I’m sure there are much newer and more fuel efficient pickups out there. The times that I’ve driven cross country with boats I’ve used 4 different vehicles and none of them got much over 10 mpg. The first was a 1995 Ford F-250 with a 7.3L diesel motor. The second time I rented a brand new Ford F-250 with is it a 6.7L diesel? I’m not sure what the newer trucks are but that was in 2018. Most recently was a U-Haul truck, which with it being a box truck definitely didn’t help out at all in terms of fuel economy but I believe it was an Eco-boost motor? Currently I drive a 2010 Toyota Tundra with a 5.7L gasoline motor and all will get 18-20 mpg on the highway when not towing, yet they were all around 10 mpg or so when towing my boats back across country. I’m sure on flat ground with the wind at your back or having optimal conditions that you could likely get closer to 15 mpg, but I’m just going off of what I experienced and more of a “worst case scenario”. Again, I’m sure newer trucks probably will get 15 mpg or more when towing a larger sized boat like a Grady White, this is just going off the experience that I have towing boats cross country.