Mercury 200 EFI vs Mercury 200 Optimax

[Vitamin Sea]

Hello to all Ausfishers, long time reader, first time poster.

I'm hopeing that you guys' can help me with a making a decision that my wife and I have been procrastinating about.

I have a Haines Hunter 19C, oldie but a goldy in good condition, a couple of weeks ago the trusty '91 175 Johnson decided to die on the way to Tangalooma

Have decided to purchase new motor, tossing up between the 200 Opti and the 200 EFI, am looking at a price difference of $4600 between the 2 of them.

My boating / fishing is usually out of Moolooaba ( banks ) or Moreton Bay, inside and outside.

Could you guys' please provide some advice on the Pro's and Con's of each motor, feedback from personal experience with them would be greatly appreciated.

PS: Am getting hydraulic steering fitted at the same time as the donk, Hydrive Bullhorn, any comments?

Thanks

Bill

[PADDLES]

billy, $4600 buys a heap of petrol. also factor in the interest on that $4600 (if you're borrowing the money). work out your hours of use for the year and figure out if it's worth it for you to spend the extra money. there'll be a "crossover point" where if you do enough hours per year the extra expense in purchase price and servicing will be paid for by the fuel savings. good luck with your decision mate

[Bashir]

Lot of money to spend on an old boat, if you want to save a lot of $$$, I have a 2001 200hp efi and its for sale, PM me.

[Vitamin Sea]

Paddles, appreciateyour input, agree about the $4600 buying a lot of petrol, my initial thoughts also.

Do about a hundred hours a year, would take quite some time to make up the difference in juice....

However, I do continually whinge about how much fuel a convetional 2 stroke in the upper HP takes to feed, would hate to look back in 6 months and say why didn't I get a DI when I had the opportunity!

That's why I would like to hear from you guy's who have these motors to give me the facts, which we all know are hard to come by when we are talking to dealers!

The boat, well she is old but in very good nick, don't see the point in spending 60K on a flash new one that won't do it any easier or better than what I have now

Bashir, have sent PM

Cheers

Bill

[snelly1971]

Hi Bill i have just fitted my 6m plate with a low houred 98 v6 200 Mercury...very happy with it....getting around 50 NM for 70 liters.....i had a 96 yamaha 200 before this and the mercury seems to be alot more responsive...(EFI) i suppose and idles around alot better with less smoke.....The optimaxes are nice but as the others said $4500 is alot of fuel to save...
Cheers Mick

[Wayne_Red]

Hi Bill
I can't comment on the motors as I don't know about the opti's. I used to run a 200 yam 2s. You may not get the $4600 back in fuel saving or it may take long time. But the cost of a new motor plus $4600 is soon forgotten. Every time you fuel up a big standard 2s you will feel it in the pocket for years to come. As you said, old boat but you like it and will probably keep it and the new motor for a long time.
Regards Wayne

[Vitamin Sea]

have just fitted my 6m plate with a low houred 98 v6 200 Mercury...very happy with it....getting around 50 NM for 70 liters.....i had a 96 yamaha 200 before this and the mercury seems to be alot more responsive...(EFI) i suppose and idles around alot better with less smoke.....

Snelly, 50nm out of 70 litres is good going in my books, my average trip to the banks is about 120 k's for about 140 litres of fuel, expensive day out....what saving would you get from a Opti?

But the cost of a new motor plus $4600 is soon forgotten. Every time you fuel up a big standard 2s you will feel it in the pocket for years to come. As you said, old boat but you like it and will probably

keep it and the new motor for a long time.

Wayne, couldn't agree more, it's the everyday costs that hit us, once it's bought it's bought

thanks blokes

Bill

[Shanoss]

I put an 04 200 suzuki on my haines 213. Nothing like a new motor on an old hull. For me it was about reliabilty and range. Go with the efficient one.

[snelly1971]

They reckon 20 % better with the opti but all depends on how you drive it too i suppose....went down the coast last weekend here for 3 days and burnt 420 liters but i was carrying about 750 kg of gear...done about 20hrs all up which i thought was quite good...had to travel 60 nm there + return rest of the hours were just mainly idle to low rev.....cheers Mick

[snelly1971]

Yep Shanoss....saving at the moment for a 250 Suzi...$23,500......i cant wait....

[Shanoss]

Yep Shanoss....saving at the moment for a 250 Suzi...$23,500......i cant wait....

crikey mate. that is bloody cheap! the 200 cost me 22000 and i thought that was cheap at the time. good buy for that amount. You'll never look back. Well, you may look back at everyone behind you but thats about it

[snelly1971]

An AB diver here has recently opened up Active Marine....i am mates with him and off course Tassie is mainly all Yamaha`s so he is trying to get a bit of the action.....i have been in a couple of 23-27 ft Noosa Cats running twin 250.s and am very impressed so as i said ....i getting one eventually.....

[Shanoss]

Its funny how States seem to have preferred brands. I remember when i lived in Darwin just about everyone had a Yamaha. Come to think of it, Qld seems to have the same thing. Maybe yamahas are still the biggest?
Anyways, I'm very happy with my zuki.

[litenup]

Bill, I have 19C with 200 Opti. I haven't had rig long, just had pod fitted and putting it back together. Opti gets same fuel consumption as 130 Honda that I had on previous boat(1.2 lt per nmile). Opti has a better resale value. The big difference to me is range, I don't have to carry as much fuel. I have a mate with 175 opti, uses 1 lire per nmile on old 18 ft Cruise Craft. I recon 175 would be heaps, and uses smaller block. I fitted 200(2nd hand), but would have been happy to find 150-175. Before you fit new motor get the transom checked by a fibre glass repairer, mine seemed alright but it wasn't. Have a look at a 4 stroke. The dealer could be offering a bigger discount on the EFI to clear stock.
Cheers Pete

[snelly1971]

Dont worry i think the tide is turning here...there is alot of crabby 4 stroke yamaha owners here having various problems with there motors.....there is probably 6 ab boats now running suzi`s and give it twelve months and the word will spread....gossip spreads quick in a little place....and Bar Crushers are very popular here with most of them running Suzi`s.......