pro's and con's of a 2004 Yamaha 150 VMax?

[215Combo]

I'm used boat shopping and have now come across a boat with this engine. It's on a 2004 Ranger Reatta V180

Any feedback on this motor?? Good or bad??

[allen656]

Hi all...mine runs great...carbs or injected and was it maintained? the only issue with my carbed motor is cold starts and the choke which I think in pretty common with that motor

[21XDC]

Great motor.

[Triton4us]

Running same motor, Great motor only problem is cold starts and drinks gas. Might have gone to the 4 strok if the had a 175 engine just to save gas and no oil??

[215Combo]

It's a 2S and carbed. Looks to be well maintained.

[PolarKraft195]

The 150 VMax carb outboard is as bullet proof of an outboard that money can buy
VERY STRONG motor. It's a 2.6L, and will push an 18 ft boat faster than ANY 150 DFI out there
My Champion 183 is getting around 2-3 mph faster than the other's 183's with DFI's on the back.

DO NOT hesitate buying a 150 VMAX carb motor.

What ya save in purchase price will buy you PLENTY of gas for years to come

They are a little "cold blooded", but with a little practice, they're not hard at all to start.

[slapshot]

I'm with the rest, the carbed 150 is a beast. It's one of the strongest running motors I've ever run. We had one at work and it ran like a scalded dog. They are a bit thirsty at WOT.

[215Combo]

LOL!! aren't they all thirsty @ WOT??!!!

anyways....the Reatta is out of the picture.

Now my focus has turned to an 08 or 09 Stratos FS 486 with either the 150 Vmax, a Merc 150 Opti, or a Yami 150 4S.

Whatever we buy we plan on keeping the boat for a while and I think over the long haul, the DI or 4S motor will be cheaper.....I think

[21XDC]

Make up your mind.. The 150 v-max has 2.0 gears and will out holeshot the rest of the pack.

[JOHN202]

Thats a great motor.If there is any warranty left the thats even better. I would buy it.

JOHN202

[215Combo]

LOL!!! Yea I better make up my mind before my wife changes her minds and nixes the potential purchase!!!!

Seriously.....the better MPG's of a DI 2S or 4S are front and center in my mind....especially when we plan on keeping the boat for a long time.

[Jigdaddy]

I am no outboard pro but do read a lot and fish a lot so here goes......I currently own an 05 150Vmax on a Ranger 185. Love the motor...strong, reliable, but the fuel is not great.

But.....

From my experience the DI motors are easily comparable to 4-strokes at running speeds. Saying that, the Opti is the leader in mpg over the HPDI. But, I think the relative simplicity, reliability, and reputation of the Vmax would convince me to purchase it over the Opti. If you want to see the savings.....write down how often you use the boat and calculate gas. I fish every saturday and normally spend about $40/day in boat gas (160/month). If the 4S is half that (it's probaly less)...you save $80 a month. To me, I prefer reliability. Plus, the purchase price delta between VMax and Opti is probably substantial. Divide it by 80 and that's the payback.....if you have no problems. I love the Vmax.

[215Combo]

What you are saying is something I've tried to get a decent handle on in my mind. I'll use the boat 5 months up here and use about the same amount of gas you do per month. But with the Opti will I save 50%? If you use a 30% savings that equates to $48/month X 5 months is a $240/year savings.

If memory serves the Opti or Yam 4S is $2000 more than the Vmax. 8 year payback...that's a long time!

[Jigdaddy]

Your momma taught you well.

I would be seriously surprised if the Opti gets 2X better mileage then the Carb'ed model. My guess is at WOT a carb boat gets about 4 and the Opti gets 6. I could be wrong.

Bottom line....your on the right track. Personally, I am about initial cash layout. I can use that extra $2k somewhere else.

[flipNfrog]

I agree with the previous post. I ran a 150 Pro V for years and it was a workhorse from day one. I bought it when it was 9 years old and ran it myself for another 6. Just sold the boat to get into something newer and that engine ran as good as the day I bought it!

[ghind]

The opti will use half the gas. Seriously. So will E-TEC.
HPDI is not as economical.

The difference is the Opti and E-TEC have stratified combusion mode under 2000rpm. Like everybody else, I said I spend almost no time under 2000rpm. However, like everybody else, my printout proves I spend about 50% of my time under 2000rpm. Very few people really spend most of their time above that. Maybe if you are running 1 hour out to the shelf or something but most people are surprised at how much time they spend at low RPM.

A carb 225 will idle at about 5 litres per hour. My E-TEC idles at 0.7 litres per hour. that alone makes quite a difference to your overall per hour fuel consumption.

The carby Yammies are great, reliable engines. I've done lots of hours in mine. If I wanted a Yamaha I would get a 4 stroke as that is where Yam puts its effort.

In the two stroke market I think E-TEC is by far the best overall product. It is as smooth and nice and as good at all areas as anything out there. The Opti is OK but not nearly so smooth, quiet etc.

Nothing wrong with any of the motors you mentioned.

Also, often mentioned is the running costs and payback. Maybe engine mfgs have done themselves a disservice promoting that.

Why don't you still drive a 20 year old car? Why upgrade, the gas savings on the new thing would never pay off the extra depreciaton etc? There is a lot more to the overall package than gas savings but they are a huge bonus.

The gas savings do mean you can double your range or have a boat that handles better due to half the gas being carried.

The lack of noise and smoke, turn key starting etc are fantastic.