Best current 300hp motor

[mustang5]

Hi guys,

I have a 28ft Sharkcat with a couple of 10yo 300hp Yamaha 4 strokes with 2200hours.

The boat is going very remote and I am contemplating upgrading to new outboards for maintenance and safety reasons.

Dont get me wrong, the current motors are faultless, and have not given one bit of issue their whole lives (Touch wood).

However, there is always that inkling saying "now is the time".

So, the question here is, what is the current best outboard motor in the 300hp ultra long leg range at present?

I have quotes incoming from Yamaha and Suzuki, however are there any others to consider? And which is the best?

Thanks guys.

[Noelm]

I don't think there is a "best" these days, I would check the specs, weight, engine capacity then price and availability, weight being a quite important factor with twins.
edit......another thing to compare is warranty, and I mean real manufacturers warranty, not some shady add on third party warranty that lots advertise.

[ranmar850]

What brand will have the best dealer support where you are going?

[Corry]

For our new boat my preferred option will the ProXS, but I'm bias as I have one on our 5m and love it enough that I'm not keen to look at anything else.

But should come down to specs and dealer support.

[purnong]

What brand will have the best dealer support where you are going?

That's probably the most important thing these days really, I bought my new motor based on a good dealer that is reasonably close by
It certainly makes it easier for servicing and any enquiries I've had to make with them, Oh and it's a Merc if anyone was curious

[Noelm]

He said in his post that the boat will be "very remote" so any dealer might be a long way off.

[ranmar850]

I did note that, but sometimes in remote areas, you will have a dealer, the only one for a long way. If he's moving around all the time, the point becomes moot.

[Noelm]

On the dealer thing, it's probably more likely to find a Yamaha dealer "somewhere" followed by a Mercury dealer, that said, both Honda and Suzuki are just modified car engines, so, does that make the possibility of getting some kind of help better? Mind you, all new engines are in a way, just "car" engines!

[Flex]

I know the yamaha is reliable but it’s very thirsty.
I am getting a 7m boat built and been researching the 300hp performance the last few months .
From what I’ve gathered the yamaha economy is well behind the others .
Significantly behind all the other brands.
All the performance bulletins and talking to other doing exact boat comparisons. And Yamaha is the one engine(300hp) I’m definitely not buying.

For a heavier sharkcat the Suzuki gearbox ratio is immensely helpful and is likely the most economical 300hp engine .

Murcury is a fantastic motor, from what I have researched not quite as economical as the Suzuki/250honda but not far off.

It’s faster though but it’s fair bit expensive than others

[tunaticer]

Have you thought about a diesel OXE or the CXO300?

[Monza]

The 300hp V8 Mercury Verados are getting good reviews and much more economical than the previous supercharged 6’s.
https://www.goodtimesmarine.com.au/p...roke-v8-verado

[ranmar850]

I know the yamaha is reliable but it’s very thirsty.
I am getting a 7m boat built and been researching the 300hp performance the last few months .
From what I’ve gathered the yamaha economy is well behind the others .
Significantly behind all the other brands.
All the performance bulletins and talking to other doing exact boat comparisons. And Yamaha is the one engine(300hp) I’m definitely not buying.

For a heavier sharkcat the Suzuki gearbox ratio is immensely helpful and is likely the most economical 300hp engine .

Murcury is a fantastic motor, from what I have researched not quite as economical as the Suzuki/250honda but not far off.

It’s faster though but it’s fair bit expensive than others

I'm actually a Mercury person, if I have to be tagged as something, but the 300 Yamaha isn't bad on fuel. Anything is thirsty when the hammer is down. I have a mate with a 300 Yamaha pushing a 2300 Caribbean. These are a heavy hull, hull weight ( whatever THAT is) quoted at 1550 kg. Doing the same run, at the same speed, he uses 1.4 l/nm where my Reefrunner ( hull weight 1050kg, so a full half tonne lighter) uses 1.2 l/nm with a 150 Merc 4 stroke. So He has twice the HP, pushing a much heavier boat, and is using , what 15% more? This is at 3400rpm for him, 3900 rpm for me, doing 21-22 knots. Of course if you want to run the things at 4500 rpm, they will drink.

The 300 Yamaha has a well-earned reputation for being a high-hours motor, commercial operators running them to 3500 hours before trade-in, and the motor showing up perfect on diagnostics. I have seen some stuff lately about starter motors failing suddenly, apparently not unknown.

[Noelm]

Have you thought about a diesel OXE or the CXO300?

Over weight, over priced and slloooowww.......

[Flex]

I'm actually a Mercury person, if I have to be tagged as something, but the 300 Yamaha isn't bad on fuel. Anything is thirsty when the hammer is down. I have a mate with a 300 Yamaha pushing a 2300 Caribbean. These are a heavy hull, hull weight ( whatever THAT is) quoted at 1550 kg. Doing the same run, at the same speed, he uses 1.4 l/nm where my Reefrunner ( hull weight 1050kg, so a full half tonne lighter) uses 1.2 l/nm with a 150 Merc 4 stroke. So He has twice the HP, pushing a much heavier boat, and is using , what 15% more? This is at 3400rpm for him, 3900 rpm for me, doing 21-22 knots. Of course if you want to run the things at 4500 rpm, they will drink.

The 300 Yamaha has a well-earned reputation for being a high-hours motor, commercial operators running them to 3500 hours before trade-in, and the motor showing up perfect on diagnostics. I have seen some stuff lately about starter motors failing suddenly, apparently not unknown.

I have done alot of direct comparisons on Ausie and USA websites and they yamaha is super reliable and fast but its definitely not as economical as others.

One example is cruisecraft 685. there is a direct comparison between a 300 yamaha and 250honda . The honda is about 20% better on fuel and the test boat was more loaded in the honda.
Troll through USA performance bulletins and its definitive.

Also, the boat im having built ive managed to chat to about a dozen different people on outboard choice, the 4 boats identical to mine that run 300 yammies are definitely more thirsty than suzuki and honda, (merc seems to smidge behind the suzuki and honda but its gearbox ratio for speed probably hurts it a smidge)

Im not sure if its gearbox ratio, or suzuki and honda run a better lean burn or a combo of both, but in the 250/300hp range they are slightly more economical I believe. Yamaha is ever so slightly faster at the top end though due to different props it has to use.

On all the USA webpage performance bulletins, suzuki seems to have an economy edge across its larger models when compared to the rest.