Re- power 2001 Advance

[mschaumy]

I've owned my 2001 Grady Advance for going on 10 years now. I've finally made the move to re-power the boat. Currently I have twin Yamaha 115 four strokes with roughly 2000 hours. The last few years the motors have been nickel and diming me and I would really enjoy the peace of mind of reliability at least for a few years. I run the boat in the central Chesapeake Bay region with a lot of short fishing trips with the occasional family day trip with multiple hours travel time. I am considering going with Suzuki outboards. There are few local dealers and service centers locally, not to mention they are roughly 2/3 the price of new Yammies. The boat is rated for 350hp. I want to re power with 150s or possibly 175s. The dealer advised that both motors are the same weight at 530 lbs each, so I might as well go with the 175s. Does anyone have any experience with this motor combo? The new engines will weigh 110 lbs more each than my existing set up. Should I be worried about transom issues with the added weight? I've always felt the 115s to be under powered especially with full tank of fuel, ice, coolers and a load of passengers. I would love the extra power and reliability, but I've only seen these boats with 150s. Will the boat sit much differently in the water? I leave the boat in a wet slip for the season. Any advice or experience is greatly appreciated. Fuel consumption and speed number hopefully?

 

[family affair]

Because the 2001 247 has the short running surface, you might want to reconsider the zukes. The 257 has the full running surface for more buoyancy to support the additional weight of 4 strokes. Yours does not. I had a 248 - the same hull as yours. Because of the tendency of that hull to run bow high, I was reluctant to even consider repowering to twins from a single 225 ox66. However, if I did, the only 150's I would consider for that application would be Mercs. They are far lighter than the zukes, easy to maintain, efficient, reliable, powerful, and the price isn't bad either... if you can find them.