Mercury 200 EFI vs Mercury 200 Optimax

[Vitamin Sea]

Hi Blokes

Thanks to all who have offered opinions/advice.

After speaking to the wife this morning she thought that we should get the more modern/fuel efficient/smokeless motor, so a new 200 Opti it is

Shanos: Looked at the Zuk, but another 4K, cannot possibly justify $22000, fitted motor alone.

Pete: A 175 Opti would do it for sure, but the 200 is only about 1K more, I consider that you will always be better off with 3 litre block as opposed to a 2 1/2 litre. Hope that transom is good!


Thanks again to all, hope that it will be kind to us

Bill

[Wayne_Red]

Congatulations Bill, wife always knows best.
take some photos of it when fitted and show us how it looks
Wayne

[Vitamin Sea]

Thanks Wayne

I will see if I can bum a didgi from someone and take some before and after shots.

Not a decision easily reached, even with the The Minister for War and Finances' blessing ( sort of )

Cheers

Bill

[landi]

hey vitaman sea,
I have a 5.7m tabs with a 135opti on the backat around 3k rpm I get nearly 2klm/ltr out of mine with an adult passenger. I can trawl off the shelf for up to 6hrs, travel there and back and put in $40 worth of fuel at the end of the day. Thats why Ive got an opti. Runs well on standartd unleaded. No smoke and the savings go back into my pocket for the next trip out.

[PADDLES]

good on ya billy, that'll be a top rig with the optimax on it. if you're doing 100 hours a year it'll be definitely worth doing it.

as an indication for you, i did the calcs i mentioned earlier (hours of use savings versus extra servicing costs and higher purchase price) for myself (5.5m glass boat with 135 2s) and i needed to do at least 60 hours a year to make it worth it financially.

[litenup]

Sorry missed the bit about steering. I fitted Hydrive bullhorn at same time as Opti. It's great, was given advice to go Hydrive over Seastar when it was 200hp.Cheers Pete.

[Nepenthe]

Good choice with the Opti, a mate of mine installed a Merc 200 efi on his new 6.2 Pacific CC and traded it on a 175 suzuki after only 20 hours, that baby was way too thirsty efi or not, chewing 45-55 lt per hour at 20 knots. Another bloke I know has the 200 Opti on a 20ft glass half cabin and quotes 25-30 lt per hour at the same cruise speeds.

Cheers Nep

[Vitamin Sea]

Hi all again
The dealer strongly advocates the use of Premium Unleaded, specifically BP Ultimate, not so much for the 98 Octane, but the fact that the fuel doesn't have the crap (dirt) in it that the others do...

What do you fellows think?
Bill

[just_cruisin]

How long are you looking to keep the boat for? The re-sale of an opti will sht all over an EFI.
Opti= Smoother running engine, great fuel economy
EFI= cheap, noisy, average fuel economy.
How do the weights compare?
What binnacles etc.. come with each?

My 2 cents!

[PADDLES]

billy, you're going to start another pulp vs ulp argument here

i'd give mercury marine a call to see what they recommend if i was you.

i understand that bp ultimate is one of the best fuels (according to some of my motor mechanic mates) but some of the other premiums are made up from all sorts of ingredients. do a bit of a search on here there's been plenty of debate on the issue, especially ethanol as a fuel additive.

[Steve B]

Mate, smart move going the Optimax. I was also weighing up the options between 4stroke and Opti. I know this is smaller than yours but it might give you some comparison. I just run in a 90hp Optimax on a 5m plate side console with plenty of extra weight (makocraft frenzy). I filled the 90 litre fuel tank and did 170km (according to GPS)up and back at monduran at various rev ranges as per manual. I still have just under half a tank left! I reckon I only used 50 litres!!!! No smoke, very quiet and gets up out of the hole at pace! topped out briefly at about 45MPH at 5500 rpm. I am sure that will get faster as it wears in.

Down side the oil is a bit expensive. I haven't checked to see how much it used yet, I have heard they range between 100:1 and 300:1

all the best steve

[Vitamin Sea]

billy, you're going to start another pulp vs ulp argument here

I Know Paddles, thought of that after I posted, should have joined in the current debate, good advice re; Merc Marine, thanks

Steve, time will tell, will be christened this week end one way or another, even if I have to go in the river to break it in!

Cruisin
I'm intending for long time use, better half has other ideas'
Re-Sale was one of the main factors

Cheers

Bill

[Graybags]

Remember,extra money spent now will mean more fuel savings with the optimax. I run a 115 optimax and it it is clearly leaner than my old 90 hp yamaha.Fuel will increase in price over the years as well.....

[mcgilld]

Vitamin Sea -
I'm the mate with the 175 opti - range was my biggest consideration - in Mackay the reef is a minimum 55nm. There was no second thought on which was best for myself . I'd gets as good, or better, fuel consumption than my old carb 75 Merc on a much samller boat. If range is an issue for you then i'd go for the opti - otherwise i'd do my sums on the 4600.
By the way, the dry weight of my Cruise craft is only about 50kg lighter than a 19C. Holeshot down low is remarkable and it pulls over 40Knots with a 17" prop. You may not need the 200 unless you're really loading up.