Repower Questions

[blindmullet]

Just took the Grady down to Marathon for the week. Hit the humps getting her into 1200ft of nice blue water. I did have another boat with me as I have a '93 225 Yami (only has 400hrs). Motor didn't like trolling into that massive rip out there and I had to be on the throttle all the time. I wanted to use this motor for awhile longer, but I'm think of selling it while it still runs strong. I ended up burning a ton of gas because of the weather and it always feels like this boat is under powered.

'93 Yami 225hp weighs 397#

'93 Yami 130hp x2 weight 714#

MAX HP = 300

Most of the 4 strokes seem like pigs.

'Zuke 300 = 604#
Zuke 250 = 580#
Verado 250-300 = 635#
Yami 300 = 562# (This seems the best for the 4-strokes)

Etec 300 = 507#
Etec G2 300 = 537#
Merc Opti 250 = 505#

Am I worried about the weight to much? Anyone running a 2-smoke Opti/Etec on a 24-25 Grady with a bracket?

:hmm

 

[buguy]

Can't help you much, but I feel your pain. I have a 230 Gulfstream with twin 2000 Johnson 150's. I went out Saturday for my first real ocean run. I have no clue how far I went (I was back and fourth to some artificial reefs). I have a 130 galllon main tank and burned though 3/4 of a tank. Owch. I guess fishing a Grady isn't a poor mans game. I'd like to repower but it would take a lifetime to make that cost back up in fuel. I believe because of weight I would go with a new 2 stroke myself. I do think that 4 strokes would bring more come re-sale time though. Quiet operation would be nice too .

 

[jbrinch88]

I'm currently running an 88' 24' Grady Offshore (open transom) with an 07 225 E-Tec. Boat has plenty of power for me and I think it's a perfect match. I don't have gph numbers but it seems to be pretty frugal on fuel and oil. I top out anywhere from 40-45 mph (going by GPS) depending on conditions/trim/fuel running at 5500rpm. I usually cruise around 28-32mph at 4-4500 rpm.

This past weekend I had a full tank of fuel/6 people/coolers etc. and it didn't seem to make a huge difference. Took a few more seconds to plane off but other than that I generally ran the same numbers.

I tend to run with 3/4-full tank of fuel fairly often, the local gas dock is a few miles away so I always fill up when I'm in the area. I can fish locally (inside 3-5 miles from dock) 2-3 times a week for a month and still have over 1/2 tank of fuel (100 gal tank). Sorry no accurate numbers but I'm happy with it and haven't cared to calculate it.

I've had the boat for almost a year and knock on wood have had no issues with my E-tec. Has approx. 750 hrs or so. The only thing annoying are servicing/indexing the spark plugs. But thankfully it doesn't have to be done too often.

 

[chrisk]

I just did what you are looking to do. I have a 1992 24 Explorer with a bracket. I went with the Yamaha VMAX 250 (SHO) with the 25" shaft. This is the third motor in 25 years (225 stroke and 225 four stroke prior). The boat has never run this well. I can now power through swells effortlessly and the boat will top out at 45 -46 MPH.

The best part about this motor was that I was able to use the original controls as this is not a throttle by wire motor. Saved about $3000 in parts and rigging. If you are moving up from a two stroke, you will see an increase in weight but for me, this motor weighs less than the 225 four stroke.

Very happy with the results. Wish I had done this years ago. I am just down the road from you in North Port. I can answer any other questions you may have.

Chris