Suzuki 150 or 175?

[islanddog]

Good Evening Forum, I am considering repowering my 2001 sv2300.  I currently have a 2001 Yamaha 150 2 stroke on her.  Any thoughts on staying with a new Suzuki 150 4 stroke or upgrading to 175?  Currently the Yamaha powers the boat very well....but its near time to be retired.  Given the relative light weight of the boat....is the 150 4 stroke going to be enough compared to the current 2 stroke? One of the reasons, that I considering the Suzuki over the Yamaha is price AND the amount of local Suzuki service available....Thanks for any real time experiences.....

[freezerfiller]

You can always throttle down the 175 to match the 150, but you can't go the other way around. If you are happy with the 150, the 150 zuke should be fine, but I teetered on the same issue 175 vs. 200... I'm glad I got the 200.

[gnrphil]

i agree with freezer, go with the 175.

[islanddog]

thanks freezer

[islanddog]

thanks phil

[Juan]

I repowered from a Yamaha F150 to a new Suzuki DF150 on my 2100 and for me, it was the right decision. I wanted the 200 but didn't want the added expense of upgrading the hydraulic steering. I also agree with freezer. The 175 is just a beefed up 150 but will give you that extra hp that will let you run a few mph faster at WOT and when throttled back, you'll get better fuel efficiency vs running higher rpm on a 150 to attain the same speed.
Another thing to consider is if you have the original hydraulics on the boat.. You'll need Sea Star hydraulics for anything higher than 150 hp. BayStar is rated for a max of 150 hp.

[Simple Man]

"I have too much horsepower" said no one, ever. Go with a 200!

[islanddog]

You bring up a great point (which I didn't think about) the original steering set up is on the boat for the Yammi 150.  So you are saying if I go to the 175, I'll be changing that out? Any idea on cost?  Also was hoping to use existing gauges....I'm guessing some of that is going to change going from Yammi to Zuki?  Thanks for responses, I appreciate any feedback!

[freezerfiller]

I love the zuke c10 digital gauge. Fits in one of your old gauge holes. If you get the fuel management setup, you can see how much fuel you are using and have used out of your tank. If you already have sea star hydraulic steering, you shouldn't have to change it out. If you have cable steering or baystar, you should upgrade to sea star, you'll love it! You will also be getting an NMEA 2000 setup, and if you have a chartplotter/fishfinder that is NMEA 2000 compatible, its a perfect time to incorporate it into the system.

[Juan]

If you have a compatible chartplotter NMEA 2000 will let you set up gauges you don't have on your console. It's pretty cool.


As freezer said, if you already have SeaStar hydraulics, you're fine. Mine had a Yamaha 150 and it has Baystar hydraulic steering (same system but rated for no more than 150 horses.) If I remember correctly, an upgrade to SeaStar hydraulics was going to cost me $1,200 plus installation. For me another 25 or 50 horses over the new 150 just wasn't worth the added expense.

[islanddog]

thanks freezer

[islanddog]

thanks Juan, yep I just speced out the Sea Star for the 175....$1200 plus install....I'll have to give it some thought...i currently have the original  steering cable, the Baystar for the 150 is about $600 plus install.

[Juan]

Whatever you decide, you can't go wrong with hydraulic steering.. It's a lot better, safer and worth every penny!
If you go with a new Suzuki, I think they come with new analog gauges that look almost identical to the factory Sea Pro gauges (I know mine did) or you can elect the option to upgrade to the digital gauges freezer mentioned.

[acarr83]

I got my baystar kit from hodges marine, which was the best price I could find at the time:
www.hodgesmarine.com/searchresults.asp?Search=seastar&Submit=
Looks like a seastar kit + 18ft hoses would be $1k with free shipping.

I installed mine with no prior experience, and it wasn't too bad.. One of the biggest hurdles was finding that the new baystar helm was slightly smaller than the 2003 baystar helm that I was pulling off, but I was able to find a metal backplate that fit, in order to make sure that the new holes I drilled would have something to dig into, and I wouldn't worry about ripping my helm off if I grab the wheel from a bad angle, etc..

[islanddog]

So for the record....I went with the Suzuki 150A, the A series has a little better fuel efficiency and a little more torque and a little-less vibration (although they don't have much vibration to start with) The 150 is the last of the four strokes to get the "A" engineering upgrade. I decided on the 150 over the 175 for a bunch of reasons. Upgrading to a 200 would have made a significant difference, but that was outside of my budget and it seems the 150 will be plenty on my sv2300. Went with the C10 multi-guage and we're planning on keeping the existing analog gauges (I like redundancy, including GPS and a mechanical compass) also upgraded to hydraulic steering (never had it before on this boat) to Sea star at an installed cost of 1600. So she's at the shop as we speak, hoping back middle of next week. Because I had replaced all on the dash switches and a bunch of wiring, LEDs, etc last year.....she's pretty much a new boat for me......Thank you to the forum for helping me with my decisions and I hope this thread will help the next captain, if they are thinking of re-powering a similar boat. btw I got 3500 for the 2001 Yam 150 2 stroke in a private deal.

[Juan]

I agree and think you'll be happy with the 150's performance. The way I look at it is the 175 and 200 is basically the same block as the 150 but has been bored out to hold larger pistons and since the 150's cylinder walls are thicker....it should be stronger and last longer. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

[islanddog]

So I'm finally breaking in the new Suzuki 150, half load of fuel in a sv2300 (3 hours so far) with trim in full down position, it planes at about 3300 rpm, the motor is mounted in the lowest position (meaning the top transom bolts are located in the top holes on the mounting plate) Currently at the dock, the motor is about 1" out of the water in the full up position......concerned about pinching the fuel line and control cable in this position..... How's other captains experiences....should I consider raising the motor a hole?

[catchersrock]

Check the location of the cav plate in relation to the bottom of the boat and look at the depth of the motor on plane at speed. There are some great videos on u tube on both of these. Seems to me like you may be too low.

[mosquito13]

Rigging the engine can be negotiated when purchasing your new motor. Upgrading to seastar is wicked ez. Lines are rated the same so you are just switching out the brackets and rams and pump. And if you wanted new lines , they are not hard to pull either. Can get rebuilt like new with warranty for about half the price of new. If in doubt give these folks a call and tell them what your doing. Been to their shop and everyone I met was super into it. www.boatsteer.com/seastar-helms.html  Jaun I got gauge envy! Is the Eco gauge giving gallons per hour reading? Not sure what ML/Gal is miles per gallon?