Seafarer Re-power options

[TIDE]

Looking for options what what everyone re-powers with. I have 94‘ Seafarer 226 with the original Yamaha 200hp 2-stroke.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Per the Grady White website it says the maximum horsepower for that year is 280hp. How does the boat currently handle/operate with the original Yamaha 200? I'm assuming the original 2 stroke will be lighter than the new 4 stroke motors, which you'll have to factor into the equation, as well as pricing. But I'd say you probably want at least a 225hp motor, and maybe even preferably 250hp. I tend to prefer Suzuki for their considerably lower purchase price, their better/longer warranty, their great reputation as well as their customer service I've heard is quite good. There's a local boat builder here in Seattle that I know personally, his name is Grant Wooldridge of Wooldridge boats and he recommends Suzuki motors on all of his boats for the reasons listed above. I figure if he recommends them and they're good enough for his boats that I'd go with them if/when I ever went to re-power. It's a bit of an apples to oranges comparison but I've got a 2004 Grady White 228 Seafarer with the same year Yamaha F225 and I think she's pretty adequate in terms of power. She'll do over 40mph and has a good deal of low end grunt for getting up on a plane but I think the 250hp outboards are the sweet spot for a 226/228 Seafarer in terms of having enough power but not too much where it starts to hurt the fuel economy.

Grady White 226 – Walkaround – Power Boat News

powerboatmagazine.co.nz

 

[TIDE]

I was actually looking into Suzuki for the reasons you listed. Seems like a good choice.

Boat handles well now. Cruising speed is about 25mph at 4200rpm fully loaded with passengers. 28mph if it’s just my wife and I and push it to 4400rpm.

Drinks 2-stroke oil like a champ and started to overheat a few times last season so if removing the heads, cleaning the cooling passages, and replacing the thermostats don’t do the trick re-power is going to be put into the budget.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

What's it going to cost to do all of that work, or are you going to do it yourself? If it's going to be a few thousand dollars, then you might be money ahead to sell/trade/give what you've got away and use the money you were considering spending on a brand new motor, especially since your motor is almost 30 years old at this point. If you are going to re-power, I'd look into doing it as soon as possible because most manufacturers are backordered on motors and they are months and months, if not close to a year or more delayed. For somewhat of an apples to apples comparison, before Grady White stopped producing them, a brand new 228 Seafarer with a 250hp Yamaha on it has an optimum cruise of 29mph at 3,500rpm. Which is almost 1k rpm less than what you're at currently but you're at about the same speed, and with you not having the transom bracket on the back I think you'll likely see similar numbers or maybe even better?

New Grady-White Boats For Sale

Trusted & Experienced: Family-owned and operated, Cannons Marina is known as Florida's best boat dealer selling Grady-White boats over 45 years.

cannons.com

 

[TIDE]

Doing the work myself so the cost will be low. Man, id love for it to go 40mph at cruising speed. That would cut my ride to the fishing in half.

 

[Scott W.]

In July 2021 we finally completed the repowering of our 1991 228G Seafarer [original 1991 Yamaha 200 HP TXRP] with a new 2020 Yamaha F250 XB. At the same time, we installed a new Armstrong engine bracket [took 6 months to fabricate], new controls, new Sea Star hydraulic steering cylinder and helm. Her hole shot is now very fast and gets on plane smoothly. We averaged 3.5 MPH with a cruising speed of 30 MPH. I would strongly recommend that you go with the Yamaha F250 HP engine, which is the same weight as the Yamaha 225 HP engine.

 

[TIDE]

In July 2021 we finally completed the repowering of our 1991 228G Seafarer [original 1991 Yamaha 200 HP TXRP] with a new 2020 Yamaha F250 XB. At the same time, we installed a new Armstrong engine bracket [took 6 months to fabricate], new controls, new Sea Star hydraulic steering cylinder and helm. Her hole shot is now very fast and gets on plane smoothly. We averaged 3.5 MPH with a cruising speed of 30 MPH. I would strongly recommend that you go with the Yamaha F250 HP engine, which is the same weight as the Yamaha 225 HP engine.

This is exactly what I would like to do with the armstrong bracket. If you don‘t mind, what was the end cost for it all?

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Yamaha without a doubt makes great outboard motors but they're very expensive and I think that you pay a premium mostly just for the name. I think you could potentially save $6k-10k, or maybe even more, by going with Suzuki and you get a 5 year warranty with Suzuki whereas with Yamaha you only get a 3 year warranty. It's your money and your decision though, spend it how you'd like to and good luck!

 

[Scott W.]

This is exactly what I would like to do with the armstrong bracket. If you don‘t mind, what was the end cost for it all?

 

[Scott W.]

In July 2021 my end cost was $33,475; includes sales tax of $2,455. NOTE: my mechanic informed me that the value of the below upgrades are now worth $5,000 - $7000 more today.

The following parts cost $22,900:
New 2020 Yamaha F250 XB Four Stroke w/5-year warranty
New Yamaha Controls / Throttle Assembly
New Yamaha Ignition Key Switch
New Yamaha harnesses cables
New Yamaha Command Link Gauges [2 gauges]
New Yamaha Saltwater SS Prop

During installation phase we decided to purchase the following additional parts costing $1,600:
New Sea Star Hydraulic Steering Cylinder and Helm
New Cowling cover

Total Labor to install all of the above: $2,200

Armstrong V6 Single 2000 Series Gil Bracket - 30" Wide Body: $3,200 [$500 shipping costs included in amount]; NOTE: this bracket took 6 1/2 months to ship from Florida to Seaford, NY
Labor to remove old Gil Bracket and install new extra wide body Gil Bracket [for additional floatation of heavier engine]: $1,120

 

[NH Seafarer]

In July 2021 we finally completed the repowering of our 1991 228G Seafarer [original 1991 Yamaha 200 HP TXRP] with a new 2020 Yamaha F250 XB. At the same time, we installed a new Armstrong engine bracket [took 6 months to fabricate], new controls, new Sea Star hydraulic steering cylinder and helm. Her hole shot is now very fast and gets on plane smoothly. We averaged 3.5 MPH with a cruising speed of 30 MPH. I would strongly recommend that you go with the Yamaha F250 HP engine, which is the same weight as the Yamaha 225 HP engine.

How do the scuppers fair with the additional weight? I was thinking this would be a problem of flooding out the floor.

I too was looking to repower from my SW200 to an F250 but the weight was a concern unless you could get more buoyancy out of the bracket. My other motor I was considering was the Merc 4 stroke 225. This is a 6 cyl that weighs 475 lbs vs 551 on the F250. It was also a lot less expensive, like 6K less.

 

[Scott W.]

In my case, the scuppers were raised about 2" inches more above the previous water line. You can actually see this in the below attached photo [zoom in for a closer look] and we did not change the bottom paint line location. My mechanic informed me that the 30" extra wide Armstrong engine bracket added a significant amount of floatation to the boat. This was recommended by Armstrong when I was finalizing my order.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

In July 2021 my end cost was $33,475; includes sales tax of $2,455. NOTE: my mechanic informed me that the value of the below upgrades are now worth $5,000 - $7000 more today.

The following parts cost $22,900:
New 2020 Yamaha F250 XB Four Stroke w/5-year warranty

I'm thinking it's probably worth at least another $5k, if not more, as the outboard alone from Yamaha has an msrp of just under $25k per their website. They also come standard with a 3 year warranty, so I'm guessing you either paid for an extended warranty or they had some sort of promotion going on? Either way, it looks great but if/when I go to re-power it'll be with Suzuki because unfortunately Yamaha isn't in my budget.

 

[Scott W.]

Yamaha ran a special promotion on providing a 5-year warranty when you purchase a new four stroke motor between January 2021 and March 2021 [see below link]

Yamaha Marine Celebrates the Start of 2021 with “Power of Reliability” Sales Event

Yamaha Marine kicks off 2021 with the “Power of Reliability” sales event. For a limited time, customers who purchase eligible, new Yamaha four-stroke outboards in the 2.5- to 300-horsepower range have the choice of either a dealer credit of up to $1,500 based on MSRP, or the opportunity to add two y

npaa.net

 

[TIDE]

Thats about where I thought it would be as far as price wise. Now to convince the wife that we need to start budgeting 30k to put into a 30 year boat Haha.

Still not completely set on a Yamaha but man, that armstrong bracket would make a huge difference compared to the folding transom that I have now and perfect spot for a cooler.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Another option would be putting a couple grand into trying to repair the motor you've currently got, then sell off what you have for as much as you can and buy something newer that already has a 4 stroke motor on it for around $30k. At least that's what I would do, if I were in your situation. Currently there's multiple 226/228 Seafarers on BoatTrader.com that are in the high $20k's to mid $30k's range that are 20 years old, or less.

Grady-White Seafarer 228 boats for sale - Boat Trader

Discover a vast collection of Grady-White Seafarer 228 Boats for sale. Experience the thrill on the water today! Find your perfect vessel and start exploring.

www.boattrader.com

Grady-White Seafarer 228 boats for sale - Boat Trader

Discover a vast collection of Grady-White Seafarer 228 Boats for sale. Experience the thrill on the water today! Find your perfect vessel and start exploring.

www.boattrader.com

Grady-White Seafarer 226 boats for sale - Boat Trader

Discover a vast collection of Grady-White Seafarer 226 Boats for sale. Experience the thrill on the water today! Find your perfect vessel and start exploring.

www.boattrader.com

Grady-White Seafarer 228 boats for sale - Boat Trader

Discover a vast collection of Grady-White Seafarer 228 Boats for sale. Experience the thrill on the water today! Find your perfect vessel and start exploring.

www.boattrader.com

 

[TIDE]

The thing is - the boat was a gift from my father when he upgraded to a bigger boat. So other than upgrading the electronics there is practically zero cost put into the boat. That being said, even if I re-power and the required upgrade to the throttle, guauges, bracket, etc I still walk away with a boat that I know the maintenance on and how it was kept from 1994.

 

[glacierbaze]

If you like the way your father took care of the boat, stick with it. I don't think the bottom was ever changed on the 226, from 94 to the end, so what does a newer model really get you, other than maybe 4 stroke power, which I admit is a nice bonus.
I sold a '93 Tournament last summer, with the same hull, and probably the same carbed 200 motor. Had it for 10 years, never turned a bolt on the engine, except for externals, like a starter, trim pump, tilt relay, etc. Still running great when I sold it, 30mph/4000rpm/3mpg. I get about the same on my 2000 228, with OX66 225. Yamaha ss 17M on both.
Only thing wrong with it was that steel steering attachment point was heavily rusted, and requires a power head removal to replace.
Change the t-stats, that will give you a peek at the cooling internals, and see if they look decent, or are heavily scaled, or obstructed. Keep an accurate log of gas and oil consumption, to see how much it is actually using, and have the oil metering checked for setting.

 

[TIDE]

If you like the way your father took care of the boat, stick with it. I don't think the bottom was ever changed on the 226, from 94 to the end, so what does a newer model really get you, other than maybe 4 stroke power, which I admit is a nice bonus.
I sold a '93 Tournament last summer, with the same hull, and probably the same carbed 200 motor. Had it for 10 years, never turned a bolt on the engine, except for externals, like a starter, trim pump, tilt relay, etc. Still running great when I sold it, 30mph/4000rpm/3mpg. I get about the same on my 2000 228, with OX66 225. Yamaha ss 17M on both.
Only thing wrong with it was that steel steering attachment point was heavily rusted, and requires a power head removal to replace.
Change the t-stats, that will give you a peek at the cooling internals, and see if they look decent, or are heavily scaled, or obstructed. Keep an accurate log of gas and oil consumption, to see how much it is actually using, and have the oil metering checked for setting.

This spring I plan on replacing the thermostats and removing the heads to clean out the coolant passages and check the internals. Last year it would trip the overheating alarm if pushed over 4400rpm so I‘m thinking the passages are scaled or a thermostat not opening fully.

I also need to replace the tilt relay and bleed the fluid. It sticks from time to time.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

If you like the way your father took care of the boat, stick with it. I don't think the bottom was ever changed on the 226, from 94 to the end, so what does a newer model really get you, other than maybe 4 stroke power, which I admit is a nice bonus.
I sold a '93 Tournament last summer, with the same hull, and probably the same carbed 200 motor. Had it for 10 years, never turned a bolt on the engine, except for externals, like a starter, trim pump, tilt relay, etc. Still running great when I sold it, 30mph/4000rpm/3mpg. I get about the same on my 2000 228, with OX66 225. Yamaha ss 17M on both.
Only thing wrong with it was that steel steering attachment point was heavily rusted, and requires a power head removal to replace.
Change the t-stats, that will give you a peek at the cooling internals, and see if they look decent, or are heavily scaled, or obstructed. Keep an accurate log of gas and oil consumption, to see how much it is actually using, and have the oil metering checked for setting.

I personally like the look of the 1998 and newer, and especially the 2000 and newer, 226/228 Seafarers much better than the older ones. The outside of the boat I think looks considerably better as does the cockpit/helm/cabin area since there isn't any of the fake wood trim in the newer boats. The wood to me when it's brand new doesn't look too bad but when it starts fading and changing color then it just ages the boat like crazy. I think the OP would be money way ahead if he sold what he has now and bought something newer that already has a 4 stroke motor on it. But I also get that his current boat has sentimental value to him.