I've Found A Good Deal On A Boat, Only Concern Is Motor Thirst..... 2024
retiredbosn reply :
OK, found a great deal on a nitro 911cdc, it's in great shape. Problem is the huge 225 Merc, just how thirsty will this beast be? The last bigger engine I had was a Johnson 140 with carbs, that thing was awful on gas
Way2slow reply :
Some of that's going to be determined by if it's efi or DFI. If you turn them loose, 225 horses are going to eat, At mid RPM ranges, the Opti-Max, is suppose to be better on fuel than the efi motor. The Verado is suppose to do better than both of those. I'm not a Merc guy, so as for how they burn, don't know.
Dwight Hottle reply :
What year is the motor. Is it a pro XS? I can tell you the fuel consumption on my 2008 merc 250 pro XS is very reasonable, comparable to a 4 stroke.
retiredbosn reply :
Sorry its a 2000 efi
jbh3 reply :
That's a big boat and will need all those ponies to run efficiently. The 3 liter 225 EFI's were good engines. Have it checked out by a good Merc shop and get the service up to date. Your mileage will be very dependent on how hard you run it. Same as with your old 140. Good luck.
Trek reply :
So it's a 2000 Nitro and you can get a great deal. Think about this a minute. That boat is 15 years old and your worried about the motor ? Merc has been around a long time and makes a great motor. It is a efi and not a carbonated engine so you got that going for it. In my opinion 15 years ago Nitro made as cheap of a boat as they could. I don't think so as much today but their older boats had cheap wrote all over them. I would worry more about the boat then I would the engine. At least the engine can be fixed if needed.
retiredbosn reply :
On 3/6/2015 at 7:00 AM, Trek said:So it's a 2000 Nitro and you can get a great deal. Think about this a minute. That boat is 15 years old and your worried about the motor ? Merc has been around a long time and makes a great motor. It is a efi and not a carbonated engine so you got that going for it. In my opinion 15 years ago Nitro made as cheap of a boat as they could. I don't think so as much today but their older boats had cheap wrote all over them. I would worry more about the boat then I would the engine. At least the engine can be fixed if needed.
Not worried about reliability of the Merc at all, just don't want to burn $100 bucks in gas every trip.
Trek reply :
On 3/6/2015 at 7:32 AM, retiredbosn said:Not worried about reliability of the Merc at all, just don't want to burn $100 bucks in gas every trip.
Again. I would worry more about the boat.
gardnerjigman reply :
On 3/6/2015 at 8:30 AM, Trek said:Again. I would worry more about the boat.
Zero help for what he is asking...
slonezp reply :
Being that it's not carbed is a big plus. I realize the EFI is not the same as the Opti but, my 225 ProXS sips fuel compared to my old 90 ELPTO.
thomas15 reply :
There is no such thing as an inexpensive to operate boat.
retiredbosn reply :
On 3/6/2015 at 8:22 PM, thomas15 said:There is no such thing as an inexpensive to operate boat.
You are correct sir, just i've never considered am engine that big before, have no frame of reference.
BassnChris reply :
I just bought a 2009 Procraft 210 Superpro with a 225 Optimax.
I have only had it out twice......and just to run it around on the water.
2 trips is really not enough to formulate a solid response to your question......but...I do know that it has burned less gas than my 2001 Merc 150 XR6 carbed motor would have burned in the same 2 trips.
tomustang reply :
On 3/6/2015 at 8:59 PM, retiredbosn said:You are correct sir, just i've never considered am engine that big before, have no frame of reference.
That's a big heavy boat, I believe it's 21.5ft, those 9 series are like caddilacs. basically you would burn a lot more fuel off the bat vs other combos, but I would say it's worth any consumption.
Fishes in trees reply :
the Nitro CDC. Wasn't that the center console version of the Nitro? As I recall, those were ok boats, the top of the Nitro line at the time. If it has been well taken care of, I wouldn't worry about the hull.
As I recall, and mind you I've never owned a Nitro, only ridden in one a few times and listened to parking lot talk about boats, where the NItro's had questionable quality was in the little things. Like lower quality hinges on the bin lids that would corrode over time. They used a lighter grade of vinyl on the seats than some other boat makers did. Low end to mid-grade bilge pumps and live well pumps rather than the top of the line.
All that being the case, the one guy I knew who had one liked his A LOT. He told me he felt much more confident and secure running in the 2 to 4 foot choppy water that is fairly common on Table Rock and Stockton Lake in the spring.
My advice is overall, that seems like a good boat - have fun in it. You probably will burn more gas, for a while anyway, but that will be mostly due to the fact that it is a new to you boat and you'll have fun just driving the boat for a while.
S Hovanec reply :
Just because it has a big motor doesn't mean you have to feed it. Stay out of the deep throttle and it won't be that thirsty. Just like a car, it's all in how you drive it. You can take a car that will get 35mpg and MAKE it get 20mpg just by being heavy footed!
retiredbosn reply :
Just talked with him again, cruising around 50 and staying out of it, he said a tank will last 5-6 trips. Its got a 50 gallon tank though.
jhoffman reply :
50 gal /$4 gallon = $200
What are you towing that massive thing with? Its gonna eat fuel too.
tstone reply :
The Merc EFI motors suck fuel compared to an Opti.
curtis9 reply :
On 3/7/2015 at 4:45 AM, retiredbosn said:Just talked with him again, cruising around 50 and staying out of it, he said a tank will last 5-6 trips. Its got a 50 gallon tank though.
How much riding does he do each trip? I know I have days I fish one area most of the day and don't ride at all, and other days I ride all over the lake.
retiredbosn reply :
He's a runner and gunner, so allot more than I do on a normal day.
retiredbosn reply :
On 3/7/2015 at 6:21 AM, tstone said:The Merc EFI motors suck fuel compared to an Opti.
Yeah seems like everyone likes the Opti, maybe I should go with my original plan and get a new or at least newer engine. The.911CDC had tons of room and storage, that's the downside of a new hull can't afford a.21 footer
WIGuide reply :
The 225 EFI's aren't terrible on gas. Obviously it's not going to be as efficient as a four stroke, and a lot depends on how you run it. Compared to the the Optimax the EFI sips a little more gas, but the EFI's are a bit more potent of an engine. No matter motor you get, the more the horsepower the more it's going to drink. I wouldn't put too much of a thought into it. If you like the boat and you can get it for a good deal I'd say go fior it.
Way2slow reply :
If you are wanting to get a 20-21 ft boat, the minimum size motor you are going to want is a 200..
Couple of things to remember. The hull requires a certain amount of horse power to move it. It going to require a certain amount of torque to get on plain, and if it takes 100 hp to push it 35 mph, and 200 hp to push it 65 mph, that's not going to change, no mater what motor is on it. Just how efficiently the motor will do it is the variable there.
From that, you decide what motor is going to best fit your needs. If fuel economy is a major issue and you figure 40 mph is a good cruising speed, then you look what motor is going to push that hull most efficiently at 40 mph, and still have the torque to get on plane.
Now to fit that bill, you are looking at a 3.0L to 3.4L, that is either a Diret Fuel Injected two stroke, or a four stroke.
Now is when you start rationalizing, just how much is the cost of the best motor I need versus just how much fuel economy do I want to give up for a less expensive motor. Then it's how old of a used motor do I want to take a chance on, know the older the motor the more fuel it will probably burn. Not saying as a motor ages it burns more fuel, just the fact the didn't have the technology designed into them for fuel economy the newer motors have.
So, do you buy a much newer, much more expensive outfit with a gas sipping motor, one of the older cheaper, carbureted or EFI gas guzzling motors, or something in the early to mid 2000 models that has all the engineering issues they ran into building these new gas sippers.
Also remember, a smaller motor does not automatically mean less fuel consumption, it can actually burn more tnan a bigger motor. It has to work harder and take a lot more throttle input than a bigger motor. Making it work way above its peak efficiency range, where the bigger motor does the same job with ease and stays well within its peak efficiency range. Remember, it's going to take the same amount of power from any motor you put on it to run a certain speed, so it's how efficiently the motor will deliver that power at that speed.
J Francho reply :
My 99 Pro Max actually isn't too bad on gas, so long as I dont run WOT every day, all day. No actual numbers, but a 25 gal. Tank will last me a month of weekends on most lakes.
Way2slow reply :
You also have to remember, it takes a whole lot less power to push that hydro rocket than it does to push one of the bigger lead sleds like many of these large boats, so fuel consumption will not be comparable between something like a Bullet and heavy Nitro. If you want to get true comparisons they have to be similar style boats.
I can tune my 325 hp hot rod motors to only burn eight gallons per hour at 45 mph on my Javelin Renegade 20DC, which is actually a little less than my Evinrude DFI, but that motor has had over 100 hours of port work to make everything match and burn properly. That also changes to about 23 gallons per hour when I'm start feeding all 325 of those horses, but then you are running 80 mph so that's not as bad as it sounds.
The newer motors are built with a lot more quality control in the casting design to make them more efficient than the older motors. That's why I can take a mid to late 90s 225 Johnson and not change even one factory installed part, and with a die grinder, make it burn a lot less fuel and make 290-300 horse power, and still have more bottom end torque than when stock. I can do the same with the 200, but with most of those you have to change carbs and intakes.
NO! I will not do anybody's motor that happens to read this. I'm not in the business of working on others stuff.
J Francho reply :
My point was more about running WOT, not hull design and weight, which is also true. You want to run and gun full throttle, you're going to pay irrespective of hull weight.
Way2slow reply :
Sorry, wasn't trying to step on toes.
All I meant was, it may only take 75 horse power to push a Bullet at a 45 mph cruising speed, and it may take 100 hp from the same motor to push a Nitro at the same 45 mph. It just simply means it's going to take more fuel for that motor to make 100 hp to push that Nitro, than its going to take to push a Bullet. It's also goiing to take a lot more fuel to get the Nitro on plane than its going to take to get something like a bullet, so just jumping from spot to spot a 1/4 mile apart will burn way more gas if you do that many times a day. That's why I was simply saying if you want to find out approximately how much fuel a certain motor is going to burn, it just needs to be from similar style and weight boats.
Now, if you throw out the speed and compare rpm to rpm, then fuel consumption is going to be about the same in gallons per hour once it's up on plane, it's just one boat is going to be covering a lot more distance than the other for the same amount of fuel burned, assuming both are propped to turn the same rpm at WOT. At WOT, you might be running 80 and him running 68 but the motor is going to be using the same amount of gas. You are just not going to run as long to get there.
J Francho reply :
No, I get that. No toes crushed. At WOT, I can burn through a tank in less than an hour in my boat. Big difference in gas consumption, but not a huge difference in speed. WOT = ~78, where as most of my cruising around is about 45-55. Speed limit on the Bay's here is 25, BTW.
retiredbosn reply :
Decided to go with a newer boat, with an Optimax motor. I'll post details after I pick up the boat.
J Francho reply :
Congrats!
retiredbosn reply :
Thanks, just signed the paperwork, now I wait. Using a out of state lender and we are overnighting paperwork back and forth.
From my research the 225Optimax is much more fuel efficient than its competition and especially older motors. I know its still a beast, but I'm not a speed freak and think the way I run it I'll be fine.
Dwight Hottle reply :
On 3/13/2015 at 11:49 PM, retiredbosn said:Thanks, just signed the paperwork, now I wait. Using a out of state lender and we are overnighting paperwork back and forth.
From my research the 225Optimax is much more fuel efficient than its competition and especially older motors. I know its still a beast, but I'm not a speed freak and think the way I run it I'll be fine.
Sounds like a winner. Just remember to warm it up before taking off & let it cool down before hutting it off. If it has a smartcraft gauge it will give you engine temps.
Trek reply :
On 3/14/2015 at 12:42 AM, Dwight Hottle said:Sounds like a winner. Just remember to warm it up before taking off & let it cool down before hutting it off. If it has a smartcraft gauge it will give you engine temps.
I have a 225 Optimax. With any motor I've ever had I warm it up in the morning. But I've never heard anyone say let it cool down before shutting it off. Now I never run it wide open and shut it off. I normally idle into a spot. Never have watched the temp on when to shut it off. Just wondering if others do that.
You will have a break in period with a new motor. With mine they told me to trim it all the way down and plow at different RPMs for so many hours. I've had mine for five years now and love it. Most of my lakes around me are smaller lakes so I only run it for short bursts. A 50 gallon tank will last me for a month or better.
Dwight Hottle reply :
On 3/15/2015 at 12:42 AM, Trek said:I have a 225 Optimax. With any motor I've ever had I warm it up in the morning. But I've never heard anyone say let it cool down before shutting it off. Now I never run it wide open and shut it off. I normally idle into a spot. Never have watched the temp on when to shut it off. Just wondering if others do that.
You will have a break in period with a new motor. With mine they told me to trim it all the way down and plow at different RPMs for so many hours. I've had mine for five years now and love it. Most of my lakes around me are smaller lakes so I only run it for short bursts. A 50 gallon tank will last me for a month or better.
Let your engine get up to operating temp before WOT for me that's about 120 degrees. The advice about cool down for a minute was directed to guys who run at WOT to their spot, kill the motor & immediately trim it up out of the water to proceed with their electric trolling motor. The lack of water circulation can lead to premature failure of a hot engine. I have a 2008 250 pro xs still running strong with about 520 hours.
Trek reply :
Well for me to run a motor like that would be asking for trouble. It just wouldn't make sense to do that.
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