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2011 250 SHO, any issues?
Guys I just sold my G3 HP200 that had a 2004 HPDI 200HP and I'm going to buy a used glass boat. I loved my 200, never had an issue. One of the boats I'm looking at has a 2011 SHO 250 with 297 hours. Is there any years that are better or worse than others? Anything I need to be concerned with on that year model? I hear all good things but one guy on another board said his SHO 250 blew with less the 300 hours and he spent $10,000 for a new PH. After hearing that it got me concerned so thought I would do a little more research but not seeing much on this board.
Thanks for any advice and help
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I have a 2011 250 on my FX 20. Love it. The engine has never had any issues running. However, in October, 2016, with 285 hours on it, I was fishing a tournament and my partner in the back said we had an oil sheen in the water behid us. We just continued to fish and I ran it as I always would figuring that whatever was going on might show itself before we made it back to the landing. Well it continued to run fine all the way back to the trailer that afternoon. After I pulled my boat out the water we pulled the cowling off and seen oil all over under there. Turned out to be that the actual block had a hair line crack in it right where it was "forged" together at. Was about a month out of warranty when this happened. Yamaha didn't hesitate to send brand new power head free of charge to my dealer and paid around half of the labor costs to swap it out. Cost me about $500 for brand new power head installed. Have around 392 total hours on it now, so a little over 100 hours on new power head without a hiccup. I know people that have over 400 hours on their SHO's with no issues whatsoever and I have a good friend who has had two power heads go in about 3-4 years. Pretty much like any engine made in my opinion, some will seem bullet proof and some will have issues. I honestly think that the quality of fuel you choose to run in it matters and firmly believe that if you do not let the engine warm up properly before going on long WOT runs is the life or death of it. It doesn't matter the engine either about letting them warm up properly, 2 stroke or 4 stroke, Mercury or Yamaha (there really isn't anything else), the colder the ambient temperature is the more you need to let it warm up before holding the hot foot to the floor or you will kill it. I honestly believe that the SHO is absolutely the baddest, strongest, and most reliable bass boat outboard that exists. Hope this helps you out. Not any real technical detail but real world experiences and honest opinions. I wouldn't have anything else on the back of my boat.
Last edited by tmayon; 02-08-2019 at 03:01 AM.