It is my understanding that there is some leeway in outboard motor horsepower ratings. I believe some 10%. In other words if you get a 200 hp motor it might actually produce as little as 180 hp, or as much as 220 hp, or anything in between. The 200HOs, 200XSs, etc. are nothing more than respectively a 200 hp e-tec, and 200 Optimax that have been carefully tuned to produce 220 hp.

In the case of 225 hp motors the 'tuned' versions will be 247.5 hp.

The HO and the Pro XS are only made in the 225 class........would I rather have a 225Pro than a regular 250?

Honestly,

If you guys could have ANY motor...which one would it be?

Does anyone know of a good Evinrude warranty outlet in the metroplex? Where could I take it to get it serviced if I got it?

This is my 2�.

I'd avoid the Verado. Twofold reason here.

1. Greater initial cost
2. Greater weight/mass

A. This issues is self-explanatory.

B. This issue is as simple as F = ma To be more to the point here a = F / m. (Where F is thrust in pounds or Newtons, m is mass in slugs, or kilograms, and a is acceleration in feet/second*second, or meters/second*second.)

For a given amount of thrust the mass of an object will be the determining factor in acceleration of the object. In aerospace circles this is referred to as the 'thrust to mass ratio'. A hole shot is in part a function of the thrust to mass ratio. Any drag race between outboards that evenly matched in terms of all other factors will have as an outcome the outboard with the highest thrust to mass ratio winning every time.

This is in part the basis of the 2>4 advertising campaign by Evinrude, as a two cycle outboard is generally quite a bit lighter than a four cycle outboard that produces the same horsepower.

Do realize that both Evinrude & Mercury are feeding the public sales 'propaganda'. Their info is going to be biased toward themselves respectively. That said I do find it interesting that Mercury has produced the Verado as their flagship line of outboards, while Evinrude has gone with the e-tec. If the Optimax is such a great engine then why the Verado?

One last point there are some four cycle outboards that weigh the same or very nearly the same as most two cycle outboards of the same horsepower rating. This does not mean that such 'fours' produce the same amount of torque as a 'two' of comparable horsepower, but just that the weights are comparable.

Right now I'd be inclined to go with a 250 hp e-tec. Again my 2�.

Well, let me elaborate on the 225HO vs. 250 issue. It seems to me that the outboard manufactures are 'getting cute' with the HO stuff. If you've got a boat that has a max rating of 225 then getting a 250 is not a wise idea from a liability perspective. Thus, the 'clever' use of the �10% of the rated horsepower is for a getting an outboard with more actual horsepower onto a boat than the boat is seemingly rated for. If a boat is rated for say 275 horsepower then I see no advantage in equipping it with a 225HO, rather than a 250, as both are basically the same motor and weigh the same down to the pound.

Go to www.bassboatcentral.com then go to the johnson/evinrude board and see what the three moderators say about the e-tec... All three of them are pro mechanics that work on outboards... Register and post a question to seahorse,he has a lot of experince rigging and running the type of boat you are talking about... You can also read reports from e-tec owners from around the world.... Good luck with whatever you pick....

I totally agree...If the XS is the best motor, what purpose does the Verado serve? I think they work better on bigger boats where torque helps alot and weight is not as big an issue. They are basically an I/B turned O/B. The only thing that is going to make me get a Merc is the availabilty of service and that is sad. If I can convince myself tht I could get it serviced easily, I would get an E-tec. Anyone know of a GOOD service center??

Thanks Waydon1,

I'll try it. I found a 12 page arguement between professional racers about the 3 engines MERC, E-tec, YAM, and they couldn't come to any agreement on anything. I truly don't know what information is real since every statistic is contradicted somewhere else.

250 E-tec was my first choice if I can find a service and warranty center.

I am NOT sure about this, but it is my understanding that the ProXS Mercs are racing outboards. If this is the case then these motors are tuned within an inch of their lives to get the maximum torque, horsepower etc. from them. I would not be inclined to equip my bassboat with one. I'd prefer a more moderately tuned motor to get better longevity, robustness, and reliability.

OK, this should be an easy question to answer:

Why is there no 250 2 stoke listed anywhere on Merucry's website??? Do they not make them anymore? And if they do, do they make a 250 Pro XS? At this point I don't think Mercury is even an option for me if I want a 250.

Rockwall Marine can service 'your' Evinrude E-Tec!

Thanks fishmagnet,

I wonder why there are no only a couple dealers listed on Evinrude's website.....there has got to be one in Lewisville or something. Heck, Texoma would even be fine.....that's where I'll be fishing the most anyways.

I agree with fishng physicist...These high performance outboards are tweaked to the max for high rpms and speed on bass boat hulls...I think they have a shorter warranty time also...I don't know if you would gain anything on the type of boat you have with a high performance engine.... Again check out the bbc and see what owners from around the world are saying about e-tec... Tommy yetts at rockwall marine is an Evinrude dealer... Ask him about the e-tec....

After some reading on BBC....I am going with an E-tec I think. It seems she is one impressive motor. The one thing in the back of my mind is this: The comments about the E-tec may be because noone expected it to be that good and Evinrude hasn't made a motor to this caliber in a while and maybe the reason there are no super-enthusiastic posts about the MERC is that people already expect a perfect motor from Mercury and that's what they got!

Any of the xs motors will be listed in the mercury racing store. The 250xs is one nice motor.

I remember North Texas Fiberglass in Denton had a 225 pro xs for sale at a great price a couple of weeks ago and I don't know if they have disposed of it yet.

The Mercury racing motors may not all be the best choice for some aplicatiions like large cc boats.

The 200xs is a very nice motor and spins up to 6500. There is also a 2.5xs that is 225 horsepower that mercury only sold for one year but it is still available and for a good price.