repowering question. single or twins

[fishingstories]

Hello,

I have done some searching on this subject on this forum and have not found a clear answer so I was wondering if anyone reading this can help me with my questions.

I currently have an 84 24' offshore with full transom and single 225OB on a bracket. I also just purchased a grady twin OB bracket. Sweet! I was wonder if I should go back with a single OB fourstroke and if so, what HP? Or should I go twin and if so, what HP. I know alittle of the pro/cons but want to hear from anyone with twins and how it performs and the fuel consumption.

Dont know right now. thanks for help.

 

[BobP]

There is no clear answer because none exist, it is a matter of opinion, so you either develop your own ideas or trust someone else to tell you what to do.

However, if you are dealing with a salesman of motors, who will tell you what he sells is the best, until you drive down the road to another motor vendor of a different manufacturer, and he says the same thing about his motor recommendation.

You can check with Grady Customer service and ask did your model come with twins on a bracket, and if so, what was the max HP of the twins. If it didn't come in twins realize the twins on a bracket extended off the transom adds a lot of weigh to the stern and you may have water backing up theh scuppers, and also, 4 strokes with the exception of inline 4 cyclinders are much heavier than two strokes of same HP and offer less performance except top end than the comparable 2 stroke, before you decide what to buy.

 

[fishingstories]

thank you for the reply. just wanted to hear from some twin or single about their stats. Thanks again.

 

[BobP]

You may want to post over at THT, not many if any at all Offshores with Grady Drivers here. Even though you have to stay within max HP rating single or twins, the drive cantilever effect and valve gear 4 stroke weight - you may have to buy a pair of boots to go along with reporwer to keep your feet dry back there.

 

[richie rich]

Twins are nice in terms of manuerverability and having a back up motor should one of them die.....performance should be close between twin 150's and one 300, relatively speaking. Yes there may be some numbers that are different, especially between manufacturers, but not that much...but you will have twice the maintenance with the twins..oil changes, plugs, water pumps flushing etc.....for a mid 80-s boat, I'd stick with a two stroke like and E-tec vs a four stroke simply for the weight your aft end will have to handle...3 year no maintenance warranty is kinda nice too.

 

[fishingstories]

thanks guys, yea you are right for a mid 80s i cant see myself investing too much money for repowering. of course it would be nice but, i am on a boating budget.

 

[Bill_N]

If it were me I'd put a single 250 on it and it wouldn't be an ETec. My buddy has them on his HS 2900. They're gas hogs compared to my F225's. Add in the XD50 oil and it's a lot more coin to run them.

 

[gradyfish22]

Personally I'd add twin 150's, you will see plenty of power, great fuel consumption and will be best investment for resale, as well as for reliabilty over the years incase something does go wrong. Maintaining one big 4stroke or 2 smaller 4 strokes is not a huge difference in price, yearly maintenance might be more but not as much as you think, a tune for a bigger twin is like 50% more then a smaller single, the twins will still be more but not a huge amount more. As far as gas burn the numbers on a single F250 and twin F150's is not far off at all, both are great but having twins helps in manuveuring, slow trolling and reliability/safety. The big thing is the initial cost and what you can swing bill wise. Twin F150's would be my choice, if suzuki dealers are near you a pair of 140's or 150's would be very nice as well for your boat. Personally not a merc fan but twin 4 cylinder 150 verado's would push your boat nice as well, they are fairly light engines for the hp. A single would be nice, F250 would be a min for your hull, 300 is more ideal but that means verado or suzuki then. Heard mixed things with E-Tec's why I do not mention them, plus I like 4 strokes better after running them for a few years now, less dailymaintenace and less issues with trolling at lower speeds. Heard of E-Tecs going into winterization mode while running when it is 90 out, and seems on some hulls they burn more fuel then some of the other mentioned engines.

 

[jekyl]

Because of the age of the boat i would expect cost is a fairly important consideration, and how long you will keep it? Don't want to overcapitalise on motors....I've just been thru this thought process.........ouch!
Then what is the intended use? Less than 30 miles offshore, a single will probably suffice. More than 30 miles offshore then I like the security of twins. I have had numerous motor probs this last 12 months . But we always made it home under our own steam.

 

[fishingstories]

tyeah, we fish 30 plus miles most of the time. yeah, thinking about it.. twin is more fuel and more maint. but 5% or even 10% more is not much .(to me) Thats a small price to pay for some of the perks that you get with twins. My single runs now but I am definetly on the look out for twin 4 strokes. When the time is right.

yes that is the questions. How much do I wanna put into this boat. Hmmmm....decisions, decisions.......