Thread: Mercury optimax

from all accounts Dave . they aren't bad

Just use the proper stuff.

Disclaimer: I used to work for Boat City and dealt with LOTS of Mercury motors.

Here are my thought for what they are worth (most likely bugger all)

The best outboard is the one you already own/trust.

For example my boat has a 2001 150hm Yamaha SWS II on the back. Has done just over 800 hours. last of the Carb'ed models.
I know its complete history and have known the original owner for many many years. He was finatical about having the maintainance on the whole thing "just right'
Now I take a bit of shit from people cause its not a flash harry 4 stroke but from what i can see its not really worth changing unless I were to buy a complete new boat.
Mine cruises at 30mph burning 33 l/ph
Idle/trolling speed of 8-9mph i burn 12l/ph
Flat tack is 44mph burning 80l/ph
Best fuel economy is 1mile to the litre but in actual fact only possible in flat calm/no wind
Average distance traveled per trip (over last 4 years ) is 60nm and average fuel burn is 65l-80l

my friends have 2013 150 yamaha 4 stroke and a 250 2014 4 stroke on similar sized rigs to mine.
Yes they don;t have to buy 2 stroke oil. They absolutely shit all over me in fuel economy when trolling / idling
We all burn very similar at cruise and flat tack

So for me to match them I need to spend approx 30k on a new motor but in my books even if I were to manage to spend that much on fuel/boating I still don't have to find it all at once or borrow it and in the grand scheme of boating its bugger all anyway.

If I just wanted to eat fish I would buy it, much cheaper

So by all means buy the newest motor you feel you can "trust" when you buy the boat but in my view its not worth replacing it just to gain better fuel economy unless you are doing a huge lot of hours mostly at low revs such as game fishing.

just my 2 cents

Originally Posted by Gerbs

Just use the proper stuff.
Attachment 29057
Disclaimer: I used to work for Boat City and dealt with LOTS of Mercury motors.

yep, burn what ever it has burnt up till now. I use Yamalube, expensive but has been used from get go in my motor and who am i to tempt fate changing

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

I did mean to also say, if anyone decides to go two stroke, I would suggest a basic carb. model and be prepared to burn a bit more juice.

Mikee
Would be interested to know what fuel monitoring system you run.
I'm running a direct link from the motor to my sounder. But can only get fuel flow. No liters per km etc.
It's a bit scary watching the fuel flow when you have the hammer right down. I can get mine up to 60 liter an hour.

Was on a boat the other day with twins (300hp Yamaha 4strokes) Flat tack in a 12m cat was 41knots and fuel burn at that speed was 245l per hour

I run the "round" Yamaha Factory gauges, seem accurate to within about 1-2 litres per fill.
I might add I can pull start my motor with dead flat batteries too
We used to sell Lowrance fuel flow kits for outboards when we were the agents for Lowrance, but they weren't what I would describe as wonderful. They could not cope with long periods of motor at Idle (only on some motor brands) where the fuel pump was not constantly running. Others they were fine. You would need a GPS or Speed into your gauge to get L km if it can do it. Some will also give you your range at current speed.
I just hang a bit of paper over my fueal flow gauge now. You would never go fishing if you look at it all the time and I found you get obsessive about getting the max economy and the ride suffers as the 2 things are not mutually comparable sometimes

Originally Posted by mikee

Was on a boat the other day with twins (300hp Yamaha 4strokes) Flat tack in a 12m cat was 41knots and fuel burn at that speed was 245l per hour

I run the "round" Yamaha Factory gauges, seem accurate to within about 1-2 litres per fill.
I might add I can pull start my motor with dead flat batteries too
We used to sell Lowrance fuel flow kits for outboards when we were the agents for Lowrance, but they weren't what I would describe as wonderful. They could not cope with long periods of motor at Idle (only on some motor brands) where the fuel pump was not constantly running. Others they were fine. You would need a GPS or Speed into your gauge to get L km if it can do it. Some will also give you your range at current speed.
I just hang a bit of paper over my fueal flow gauge now. You would never go fishing if you look at it all the time and I found you get obsessive about getting the max economy and the ride suffers as the 2 things are not mutually comparable sometimes

I once ran a 100ft skiff in the Med that burnt 1000l/hr (diesel). That was annoying as we couldn't get from Nice to Mallorca without stopping in Menorca. It was about 15min between the two Balearic Islands once fuelled up again. Twin 32L diesels and a throttle happy skipper was an expensive exercise. 100m rooster tail was way cool though.

You gotta buy hp, unless you have a small boat like Cam, your yamy is a copy of my Johnson, last of the big looper mods and carb, they are bullet proof, mines a 130 hp, only prob in 12 yrs of owning is a new fuel pump/ oil injector, $700.00 worth, I reckon KY jelly would be a good lube for any Merc.

Originally Posted by Maca49

You gotta buy hp, unless you have a small boat like Cam, your yamy is a copy of my Johnson, last of the big looper mods and carb, they are bullet proof, mines a 130 hp, only prob in 12 yrs of owning is a new fuel pump/ oil injector, $700.00 worth, I reckon KY jelly would be a good lube for any Merc.

Cams little boat is actually the most useful type of all. Easily man-handled, anything will tow it, launched everywhere and anywhere, runs on petrol fumes and is just way cool.

Originally Posted by mikee

Cams little boat is actually the most useful type of all. Easily man-handled, anything will tow it, launched everywhere and anywhere, runs on petrol fumes and is just way cool.

I've got the same but mine mainly runs on porridge. If the water is deep I can pop the 5HP Honda on the back. That can also go on the back of the other thing as an aux if I ever get it into the water. Trouble is I bought one like Cams a few years ago and if I want a boat I just take that. Just need to find or build some roof racks so I can put it on top of the newer wagon.

Litres per hour...my work vechile uses tonnes per hour

Originally Posted by mikee

Cams little boat is actually the most useful type of all. Easily man-handled, anything will tow it, launched everywhere and anywhere, runs on petrol fumes and is just way cool.

Yeah but don't tell him FFS