Which Engine For My Tritoon?

[High Cotton]

I have a 22' Bentley Tritoon that I'm in the process of replacing the Merc 90 4-Stroke. My boat is rated for a 175 and I'm looking at a couple of options. We enjoy pulling the kids on a big tube that 3 or so can ride. That coupled with 4-6 more people on board pulls the 90 down pretty well and gas efficiency goes way down. I'm considering a Merc 150 4-Stroke and the Verado 150 and 175's. I'm gonna stay with the Merc's so I don't have to buy new controls. Any thoughts or experiences with these engines would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Fleetwin]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

I'm very happy with the Merc Four Strokes we've owned and own.

Max the HP. Just becasue you have it doesn't mean you have to use it all.

 

[The Rooster]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

I have a 22' Bentley Tritoon that I'm in the process of replacing the Merc 90 4-Stroke. My boat is rated for a 175 and I'm looking at a couple of options. We enjoy pulling the kids on a big tube that 3 or so can ride. That coupled with 4-6 more people on board pulls the 90 down pretty well and gas efficiency goes way down. I'm considering a Merc 150 4-Stroke and the Verado 150 and 175's. I'm gonna stay with the Merc's so I don't have to buy new controls. Any thoughts or experiences with these engines would be appreciated. Thanks

Welcome to iboats. I'm a bit biased, but don't discount the Optimax DFI 2-stroke. Generally speaking, they are lighter, cheaper,faster, and just about as fuel efficient at normal cruise speeds. Mercs DFI Optimax technology has been around for nearly 16 years and well proven. We've owned the 90, 200, & 250 on our last 3 barges and never any issues. Good luck !!!

 

[High Cotton]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

Welcome to iboats. I'm a bit biased, but don't discount the Optimax DFI 2-stroke. Generally speaking, they are lighter, cheaper,faster, and just about as fuel efficient at normal cruise speeds. Mercs DFI Optimax technology has been around for nearly 16 years and well proven. We've owned the 90, 200, & 250 on our last 3 barges and never any issues. Good luck !!!

How loud are they? I have a shot at an 09 Optimax 150 with 168 hours for $6450. Don't know if this is a good deal for the hours or not...

 

[The Rooster]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

We haven't found them intrusive at all, but most would say a 2-stroke is a bit louder than a 4-stroke. Actually I believe they are about the same decibel level, just a different pitch, if that make some sense. Good luck !!!

P.S. - Not a bad price for that 09 150 hp especially if you can get any warranty on it. Either way, have a Merc. tech hook up to the computer to check its history & any error codes.

 

[steelespike]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

At wot a 90 will use about 9 gph(gallons per hour) Whether pushing a barge or a little runabout.
A 150 will use about 15 gph at wot. Of course you may not have to run wide open.
The 150 may be loafing operating at the speed of the 90,but will be using more fuel if operating faster than the 90.
One thing about the 2 stroke is it may out perform a 4 stroke of the same hp, especially low end performance.
A 2 stroke has a power stroke every rpm, twice as many as the 4 stroke, one reason they may be a little noisier.
The 4 stroke has about 4 times as many moving parts.
The 4 stroke has more complicated service intervals.

 

[MaPaHa]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

I can't say one way or another about the motors mentioned but I've been building up my 22 foot tritoon hoping to run in the upper 30's and cruise easy around 30 mph. My last change was a re-power from an older Evinrude 140 hp (about 125 in today?s standards at the prop) to a mid 90's Johnson 150 and that got me what I was looking for (right at 40 mph), and it cruises nice in the low 30's. With the 140 we could tube fine but not ski unless it was wide open and not real good even then. It just didn't have the speed, and I hate to run one wide open and here it struggle. I should add that the pontoon has lifting strakes on all three tubes.

Personally I wouldn't go less than a strong 150 hp and you won't go wrong with the max hp of 175. I bought the '94 Johnson 150 with the entire boat and trailer for $ 2,800 but it had a blown out lower unit that I replaced with a new SCI lower unit for less than $1,000. I've put the 140 on that boat and I'm going to sell it this spring and try to get most of my money back. It's a Javelin 17.8 foot fish and ski boat that looks good for it's age and runs in the mid 40's mph.

Just throwing out the idea that you might buy a whole rig this time of year and swap motors if they are the same build and the wiring harness and cables are the same (as in the case of mine). Maybe I just lucked out. I'll also point out that it's like building two rigs so the amount of work is double when it comes to propping out and getting it ready to sell. You would know about the motor but not the boat you would be selling and may have to work on it some. On the other hand, you could just buy a motor and then sell yours.

Good luck

 

[lakegeorge]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

We have a 2012 Merc 150hp 4 stroke and I wouldn't buy another one. The first one blew up as the dealer was testing it and the 2nd one can only get 5,200 rpm's ( eng. is rated for 5,800 rpm's ) Dealer has tried several props & motor heights and they all ran the exact same mph & rpm's.

I know other people have had good luck with this engine, but I don't care for mine.

 

[The Woo Woo Kid]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

We have an DFi Optimax 135 on our 22 ft w/strakes. It gets great gas mileage IMO. Never had a 4 stroke to compare with but our motor is quiet and it's easy to winterize.

 

[High Cotton]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

Thanks for the replies... I talked for nearly an hour to a dealer which also races mercury outboards and he's about convinced me to go with the 175 Optimax. He just explained about how more expensive the 4 strokes will be to work on after the warranty expires and says the Optimax's are about as clean environmentally as the 4 strokes. He said if you're gonna putt around then go 4 stroke as the Optimax's performed better at speed and were just as fuel efficient. He also said that most engines are guaranteed +/- 20 HP and the Optimax's, 175 for instance, guarantees 205HP at the prop! Would lifting strakes help? What are the benefits of them? My boat doesn't have them.

 

[Old Screwball]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

Put the biggest motor your transom will hold. You don't have to run full throttle, but it comes in handy when you want.

 

[MaPaHa]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

When I added my center toon it had strakes on it, but the outer toons did not and I ran a year or so with them just on the center toon.

The closest comparison I can give is when the boat was a twin toon (without strakes) the '78 model 140 hp just hit a wall at a certain point and I don’t think it would have mattered how much hp a person would add, when it hits the wall of lift vs. drag that's about it, period. Beyond that point you are just wasting gas and putting stress on everything needlessly with no reasonable gain. When I added the center toon with strakes it helped get on top of the water, but the increase in speed was minimal with the additional weight of the new toon. I then added the strakes on the outer toons and improved the ability to get out of the hole but again, minimal improvement in speed but keep in mind it was really about a 125 hp motor. Maybe 3mph total improvement so far.

When I changed the motor to the real 150 hp I saw a huge improvement in speed that I'm sure wouldn't have been there without the strakes. This I think is because the boat had the available lift but didn't have the motor to realize the full potential of the boat. I would say without a doubt that the size of the boat, weight, strakes vs. no strakes, and the hp is a science of lift vs. drag and every boat is a little different.

I would change the motor first and see how it runs and whether it will do what you want it to. There will be a point of no return referred to as "the wall" that you will hit at some point and throttling up past that will only waste gas with no reasonable return. If you can do what you want below the wall then have fun with that. If you want to get through the wall and get on top of the water and/or improve the ability to turn sharply then it will take adding strakes to realize the full potential the boat with the 175+ motor.

What I'm trying to say in another way is if you added strakes to the boat with the existing 90 hp motor, you may see a slight improvement in speed, a better/higher ride and improved turning. The reason you wouldn’t see much improvement on speed is you wouldn't have enough hp to make the boat perform, and let’s say hypothetically you got a 2 mph difference. On the other hand, with the 175 hp+ you will get more of an improvement because you have the hp to take it to the next level. In theory you can put 737 wings on a 50 passenger regional jet for additional lift but without adding hp it’s not going to do much good. Not really but you get the point.

It’s anybody’s guess what the difference would be with the strakes vs. no strakes. Maybe 3-5 could be as much as 10 mph. My guess would be 7 or 8 mph. If you get the new motor on and find out you can only do 30 mph propped out right then you may have the chance to get to 40+ with strakes. On the other hand if you get 34-37 mph without strakes then you’re gain with strakes may only be 5-6mph. That’s why I would try it first. You’re only additional expense with adding strakes later is propping it out again.

If you add strakes find a welder that’s done it before and knows what they’re doing. I don’t know how old the boat is but you will be on your own as far as warranty goes. The shop that did mine knows what they’re doing with pontoon boats but the welder they assigned the project to did a poor job and burned holes behind the strakes and I'm still fighting leaks. The shop is going to make it right but I think we're going to cut them off and start over in the next month or so. I’m sure you will hear several members advise against adding strakes and/or throw out warnings which should be considered for sure.

So there’s 5 years of trial and error that hopefully will help someone.

 

[High Cotton]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

MaPaHa, Thanks for the reply. Who did you use on your strakes? I'm in Pine Bluff. Thanks

 

[MaPaHa]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

High Cotton

I sent you a private message on this site.

 

[The Woo Woo Kid]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

Strakes also give you quite a bit more gas mileage. On my 22 ft boat, 26 inch toons, strakes inside and out, the front 1/3+ of the boat is out of the water when under way. It has no splash getting on board unless it's a big wave I hit and it's windy. Even then it's very little and very rare. With my 135 OPTIMAX, it will hit 41 mph. Strakes rock.

Suntracker figures up to 41% faster and up to 34% better gas mileage with strakes.

Sun Tracker High Performance Pontoon Boats - YouTube

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

I suggest you sign on to Pontoonforums.com and ask this question.

The 2 stroke vs. 4 stroke question has been talked about in the past, and most will go with the 150 hp 4 stroke. In recent years, the Yamaha F150 has been the standard of the industry, as Bennington is the largest purchaser of Yamaha outboards worldwide.

4 strokes are just so smooth, quiet and better suited to how people use pontoons/tritoons. Top end speeds are often the same (vs. 2 stroke), but the 4 stroke is generally more fuel efficient. 2 strokes are preferred on bass boats, however.

The Mercury 150 FourStroke came into the market 2 years ago, and it's a fantastic motor. It's also a great engine when repowering as they can be bought for $9,995 online--about $2K less than a Yamaha. They also have a repowering rebate (sales incentive) through March.

If your boat had underskinning and factory lifting strakes, you'd probably be looking at 40-41 mph @ 6000 rpm's with an Enertia 15 pitch stainless propeller.

Lifting strakes are the only way to go on any pontoon boat with 115 hp or more. They get your nosecones out of the water which improves speed by about 5 mph, and they just make any boat so more seaworthy. Manufacturers spend quite a bit of time engineering strakes, and I would suggest ordering a set of OEM factory strakes through a dealer. You'd want a high quality welder to install them, as it's easy to burn through a toon. If your boat is not underskinned with aluminum sheeting, you want that done, too.

 

[High Cotton]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

Well, I'm still in a dilemma on what motor I should go with. I went to the AR Marine Expo this past weekend and some of the dealers said I should go the Merc 150 4-stroke over the 175 ProXS Optimax on the tritoon thinking I wouldn't see enough gain in speed and the 2 stroke would be more expensive to operate, ie. injection oil and gas. I can say, there was not a single toon there with a 2-stroke engine on it. They all just seemed to act like I wouldn't be happy with the 2-stroke because it was meant to be run wide open all the time (meant for bass boats, not toons). I was quoted the best prices there from a dealer there that was $990 cheaper than the next closest one. The cheapest quote I have had on the 150L 4-stroke $11K + tax (motor, SS prop, and install) and 175 ProXS $12K + tax (motor, SS prop, 3 gal oil reservoir, and install). These prices include the rebates going on now and 5 yr warranty on either motor. Help me pick...Thanks

 

[The Rooster]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

I don't think you could go wrong w/ any of those choices. Main thing is you'll be stepping up to V6 power on your triple tube barge and you will appreciate the difference over the 90 hp. Seems like they are giving good incentives on the new 150 4-stroke. Curious if they quoted you a price on the 150 Optimax Pro XS ? In the long run you will probably do better w/ a 4-stroke for resale value. Good luck !!

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

You have not said whether you're going to be putting strakes and underskinning on your present boat.

These are really prerequisites to repowering. You don't want to waste a fine new engine plowing water. You'll still hit a wall on top speed.

You just won't believe what 150 hp, strakes and underskinning will do to seaworthiness of your boat.

 

[High Cotton]

Re: Which Engine For My Tritoon?

You have not said whether you're going to be putting strakes and underskinning on your present boat.

These are really prerequisites to repowering. You don't want to waste a fine new engine plowing water. You'll still hit a wall on top speed.

You just won't believe what 150 hp, strakes and underskinning will do to seaworthiness of your boat.

My barge has the underskin but no strakes. I'm hoping the 150 will perform well enough so I don't have to invest in strakes.