Yamaha repower questions

[LouisR]

Well I can now confirm that whilst my boat was first sold and registered in mid 2002, it is a 2001 model 282 Sailfish made in November 2001 based on the Hull ID Number (thanks for the threads on GreatGrady that allowed me to unravel this). I will send the Hull ID Number to GW to try to figure out if the hull is rated for 450HP as my manual says or 500HP as indicated to Deep Blue above.

 

[Fishtales]

I had twin F225s on a 2002 Sailfish. It was plenty of power. You can do F225, 250 or 300s in my opinion. I'd shop for price if my hull was 15 years or older. Just me....

 

[LouisR]

I had twin F225s on a 2002 Sailfish. It was plenty of power. You can do F225, 250 or 300s in my opinion. I'd shop for price if my hull was 15 years or older. Just me....

Yes, on an old boat it will be a price based decision mostly. Hull still in great shape though.

 

[Green Mountain Grady]

I'm in the midst of a refit project which includes a repower with my 1991 Tournament 225. After looking at the options I decided to go with a Yamaha f250 mechanical setup as all my gauges, binnacle and rigging were Yamaha and about 18 months old. While I liked the Suzuki option, at the end of the day in addition to already being Yamaha rigged, I didn't go that way as there are no authorized dealers here in Vermont in case I had an issue. I was worried about getting an engine in time as well but the Yamaha dealer I used got the engine for me in about 4-5 weeks. Total cost for the engine including taxes was just under $23,000 (doesn't include rigging).

 

[Legend]

I got a pait of that exact engines 2 years and have been extremely happy with them. The power and thrust will impress you. Good luck with it

 

[LouisR]

So the latest question results from my communications with Grady White customer service (who are great). They said that on the 2002 and later model Sailfish, they raised the scuppers to accomodate the heavier 4 stroke engines making the boat sit lower in the water. Has anyone needed to make a modification to their scuppers after repowering with 4 strokes?

 

[brdawg2001]

Open your mind and go zuke..repowered my 273 chase last year with DF 250 and could not be happier..flawless

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

I repowered in the spring of 2017. The 4.2 liter motor is noticably stronger than the 3.4 liter in the low and mid RPM ranges. If you can afford to go digit , I would . I went digital and love it. There is some value in your old motors , if they run well and they do not suffer from dry exhaust corrosion issues.

 

[Fishtales]

Don't think you can go wrong with Yamaha or Suzukis as long as there is local service.

 

[LouisR]

OK, well just to complete this thread early in 2020 I repowered my 2002 282 Sailfish with two Mercury 250HP Four Strokes. Unbelievable balance and power with these engines. With the 282 out of the water I also completed a complete refurbish, installed fuel filter water alarms, electric steering, digital throttle, wet sand/cut/polish of the hull, new Grady White decals, added a 3D sonar to the existing gadgets and upgraded the power electrics (mains, earth, busbars and circuit breakers and batteries) to sort our power problems I have had ever since adding my 2D sonar to the boat a decade ago. The boat has come up like new and after 60 hours use on these new engines and upgraded electrics I can say with certainty that I am very happy with the outcome.

I was impressed by Yamaha and I was almost convinced to go with Suzuki by my local mechanic who loves them, but I went Mercury V8.

Why did I go Mercury V8? I looked at all the other 4 Stroke engines on the market and they added substantial weight down the back of the boat. The Mercury 250HP V8 Four Stroke's are almost identical weight to the Yamaha 200HP HPDI 2 Stroke's that have been replaced. Equivalent Yamahas would have added over 350lbs to the back of my boat and the scuppers were at water level as they were, so more weight would have led to potential scupper problems and water in my boat especially with a few people fighting a fish down the back. The later model 282's had their scuppers raised by 1.5 inches to overcome the weight of new 4 stroke engines at that time, but these Merc V8's nearly 20 years later are as light as the original GW spec 2 strokes. Very pleased.

A lesson with the upgrade is that adding lots of modern gadgets to a basic old boat eventually overloads the amps drawn thru the old power system and the batteries simply overload and most of the problem is too small cables and circuit breakers heating up, replace these and all is fixed.

 

[Cregan13]

I second calling Central Marine down in Florida. Ask for Karl Neiger. He sold me a pair of F300s last year, and I could not have been happier with the price or the level of service he provided. I live in NC, and he had them shipped up for right around $500 in freight costs. This will also allow you to shop around to get the best deal on the install. Let me tell you, the quotes I got to have them hung varied WIDELY. I think the highest quote I got - just for labor - was $9,000. In the end, after shopping around, I paid more like $3,000. If you currently have mechanical controls and buy mechanical engines, it also saves money as the installation is a lot simpler without having to re-rig new connections for the digital engine and control. Obviously, you also wouldn't need new gauges, controls, rigging, etc. I went from mechanical to digital, and I think most of the labor hours spent was in running the new connections.

In regards to selling, I sold the 250s that I took off the boat, and it was not that hard. Craigslist, THT, FB Marketplace, etc. will all work. In the end though, I sold them to a friend of my mechanic. It seemed to me that people in the boat business were the most serious potential buyers. If there are some boat yards and service shops around that will let you put a flier up, it would be worth your time.

Good luck!

 

[RussGW270]

Good to know about the mercs. I like the Zukes, but the weight of the 225’s mean I would have to downgrade to 200s. Not a fan of 10k more to go with Yams.

 

[usmm1234]

Suzuki should not be overlooked. The fly by wire 250’s are great. I’ve logged about 1500 miles on mine. They have been fantastic so far. My son had 2 Suzuki’s on previous boats. He’s got a 200 Yamaha now. He’s selling it with 180 hours on it to go back to a Suzuki. He has had all kinds of trouble trying to link everything on the Yamaha Command Link. Suzuki’s backbone system is far superior and easier to work with.

 

[RussGW270]

Oh, not a problem with the zuke, it’s the weight. The 225 and 250 jump to 606lbs, more weight than any other. Can’t see myself going lower to cut weight or higher to get the same hp is all.

 

[usmm1234]

Oh, not a problem with the zuke, it’s the weight. The 225 and 250 jump to 606lbs, more weight than any other. Can’t see myself going lower to cut weight or higher to get the same hp is all.

10-4

 

[LouisR]

Good to know about the mercs. I like the Zukes, but the weight of the 225’s mean I would have to downgrade to 200s. Not a fan of 10k more to go with Yams.

Yes, to me it all became about the weight for my older model boat. On a newer boat I might have made it more about price, but the Mercs were about the same price anyway....but I had to wait 4 months for them to arrive. Demand for them was high if after the 250HP and 300HP engines.