Upgrading to Mercury Optimax

[butters]

Hi all,

Long time reader and follower, first time poster.

Just after some people's experienced opinions on 150HP and 175HP Mercury Optimax outboards. Please only FIRST HAND experience!!

I have a Trailcraft 660 Trailblazer with a 2006 150HP Mariner (Mercury) EFI 2 stroke outboard (2.5 litre V6).

I am looking at swapping this motor out for a similar age 150 or 175 Optimax.

The only reason for this swap is to gain better fuel economy, as the EFI has plenty of power and reliability, starts first kick everytime etc etc.

Does anyone have experience with fuel economy figures ie. litres per hour, or litres per kilometre with these motors on a similar boat?

Also does anyone have any real comparisons between these motors and the same size four stroke (Verado, Honda, Suzuki or Yamaha)? Fuel economy figures, servicing cost, noise levels etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Nick.

[fisho8]

Mate they are a great Motor On the offshore trips I do out to the cape I use between 69-80ltrs of fuel for the day being a 2 stroke you do get a bit of noise but it is bearable and they are very reasonable to service and reliable I have never had a drama with mine.

Here are some vids I have got over time to give you an idea and performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIcO-ADrEhU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSIFTZucTMA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQhpGhJLn80

Hope this gives you an idea I get about 28-33lph at 4000 rpm but this will depend on the weight of your boat and how loaded up with gear you are to. I am running a 18p enercia prop on mine to which has improved the fuel economy to. Check out the 150hp four stroke to they are very well priced compared to the opti's to. My boat is Whittley 2100 Walk around (6.4mtrs)

[soulfish]

Nick I used to run a pair of 150 optis on a noosacat, then I bought another noosacat with a pair of 150 yammies on same hull size.They are quite economical with identical fuel use as the yammies but the optis were heavy on oil, some bigger trips would use 7litres=$70 at the time. I definantly prefer the four strokes now but I think the yammy is only 10kg or so heavier when you take the oil resovair into account plus no noise & fumes

[Cheech]

I did similar last year and picked up a second hand 150 optimax similar age to what you are after, to replace my old yammie 2 stroke. Boat is a 21ft glass Swiftcraft. I am getting around 1.5k per litre.

[ozynorts]

What sort of oil use Cheech? I have the yammie 115hp 2 stroke and it likes oil and fuel a lot.

[wags on the water]

The last time I went to buy oil I was told Quicksilver didn't make Opti oil anymore and Mercury had their own Opti oil. Since changing over my Opti now produces that dreaded blue smoke - This is the first time (in its life - 540 hrs) that a different brand of oil is being used.
Apart from that I have a 200 Opti on a 21' cruisecraft and get between 1km/L to 1.4km/L depending on how you drive it and the conditions.

[Cheech]

On the new optimax I use Optimax DFI. Just picked some up from Brisbane Marine in Duffield St Clontarf for $100.00 for 10 litres.

In my Yammie I use to use Castrol super Outboard Plus. I always got it from Whitworths as they seemed to be one of the cheapest around. The last 20 litre container I got was $150.00. I found it very good and never smoked. I still have about 10 litres left actually. According to teh opti manual I could use this in my optimax as well, but have been told by enough people that I should stick with the optimax dfi to convince me.

Make me an offer on the Castrol and I can bring it up in September at the M & G :).



What sort of oil use Cheech? I have the yammie 115hp 2 stroke and it likes oil and fuel a lot.

[lee8sec]

Nick, what is your current fuel usage like with the 150 efi 2 smoke ? Leigh

[ozynorts]

If you have 10lts left and you got it for $150 then I am happy to pay $75 for it if that is ok.

[Brisbane Marine]

Nick,
If you go onto our website www.brismarine.com.au and go into the news section there is a Outboard Test Section.
Although there is not one there for the 150 Optimax there is alot on there for Optimax Engines in general.
Some good tests and results.

[Brisbane Marine]

Nick,
Sorry Mate misleading information. If you go into the Pro XS Section there is some 150 Optimax Tests in there.

[MarkM]

My 150hp Opti (10 model) on a Lightning 6m walkaround gets me 2km per Ltr. A bit noisy, but tolerable, has heaps of grunt. Get the smartcraft gauges with it, its great.

[Cheech]

If you have 10lts left and you got it for $150 then I am happy to pay $75 for it if that is ok.

That's outrageous! I refuse to take anything over $60.00 :) See you at the cookoff.

[ozynorts]

That's outrageous! I refuse to take anything over $60.00 :) See you at the cookoff.
Even better, thanks for that. See you in (according to boony) 66 days.

[butters]

Thanks guys for all the info. Much appreciated.

Leigh i am currently getting around 0.9 - 1.0 km per litre. (thirsty i know)

Cheech and Fisho8, do you know roughly how much your boats weigh on the water?

[butters]

And MarkM your weight? I carry 250 litres of fuel so my main aim is better range.

Cheers.

[fisho8]

Thanks guys for all the info. Much appreciated.

Leigh i am currently getting around 0.9 - 1.0 km per litre. (thirsty i know)

Cheech and Fisho8, do you know roughly how much your boats weigh on the water?

I can't say what it would exactly weigh on the water but on the trailer full of fuel it weighs 2,050 kgs boat and trailer the hull weighs on it's own 930kg plus 200ltrs of fuel so I would say 1000kg's plus. Sorry Mate I have really not looked into it so any info I give you will be only speculation as far as weight on the water goes......all I know is my boat will plane on it's own length no worries has plenty of low down torque and plenty of power up the top end the sound of an opti at WOT is awesome.

Cheers Mick.

[butters]

Thanks Mick

[Tickleish]

I can't say what it would exactly weigh on the water but on the trailer full of fuel it weighs 2,050 kgs boat and trailer the hull weighs on it's own 930kg plus 200ltrs of fuel so I would say 1000kg's plus. Sorry Mate I have really not looked into it so any info I give you will be only speculation as far as weight on the water goes......all I know is my boat will plane on it's own length no worries has plenty of low down torque and plenty of power up the top end the sound of an opti at WOT is awesome.

Cheers Mick.

Yes - I love the sound of my Opti.

coming back from the wrecks on Saturday around 4pm TOTAL glass out sitting on 4500RPM with only the 6 inches of boat in the water do 35 Knots. The best trip home & Quickest I've ever had.

4500 is not WOT but its a sweet spot for the OPTI.
l

[Cheech]

I don't know boat weight either, but similar to Mick, mine is about 2T on the trailer.

[hard2catch]

I have a Signature 610c and 175 opti.Its sweet spot is around 4500rpm-1.7km/ltr@55kph.WOT 5800rpm -1.1km/ltr@80kph.I generally do 140km round trip when I'm out on the water and use about 2lt of oil.2005 model opti and never had an issue except snapping an alternator bolt which luckily didnt cause any damage but you need to keep an eye on them.

[FisHard]

I have a Signature 610c and 175 opti.Its sweet spot is around 4500rpm-1.7km/ltr@55kph.WOT 5800rpm -1.1km/ltr@80kph.I generally do 140km round trip when I'm out on the water and use about 2lt of oil.2005 model opti and never had an issue except snapping an alternator bolt which luckily didnt cause any damage but you need to keep an eye on them.
I'm interested in the oil use you quote here. Based on your fuel economy, I would assume you'd use about 90-100l for your 140ks. By using 2l of oil, that's roughly 50-1. That's the same as I pre mix for my 94 model Mariner 2 stroke. I would have thought with the technology in the Opti it wouldn't use as much oil due to the variable ratio. Hmm interesting. Ps, I'd love a new Opti!

[MarkM]

Butters, That figure was an average of my last trip. Did 60km for 30ltrs fuel at the end of the day. Weight is only a guess, tank is 160ltr but usually only run with about 100ltr in it. I would say about 12-1300kg fully loaded.
HTH.

[hard2catch]

I might be wrong about the oil use.I would normally use around 70-80ltr fuel for this trip and only fill the 10ltr oil bottle occasionally so not really sure how much I would use each trip.The opti uses much less oil than my old boat with a 90 merc saltwater 2st.

[butters]

Has anyone got any experience with Verado's?

[John_R]

I did similar last year and picked up a second hand 150 optimax similar age to what you are after, to replace my old yammie 2 stroke. Boat is a 21ft glass Swiftcraft. I am getting around 1.5k per litre.

Hey - that's my Opti!! I have a Merc 150 4 stroke now - similar performance and a bit better economy than the Opti. Plus it's really quiet.