Mercury Verado

[5th Tuition]

Why aren't there more Verado's on the water? Allen's 250 Verado has to be the quietest, smothest shifting, and powerful motor I've ever fished.

When you start it up, the starter makes hardly a sound, while at idle, you wouldn't know it's running if it weren't peeing, when running, it's quiet and makes Allen's 23 proline express leap over the water. When stifting from neutral to forward or reverse, it's hardly noticeable.
I think it has "fly by wire" throttle controls and I watch Allen increase throttle with one or two fingers.

When I'm on someone elses boat, I'm pretty observant. I try to be a sponge and watch what others do and try to figure out why they do it. Don (Hunter) will tell you, I ask questions all the time.

Every time I'm on Allen's boat, I am impressed with this motor. The old mercury's used to sound like they had marbles in them. You could hear them coming down the bay, and you could tell it was a mercury.

Now I know mercury has several different models; and I have no experience with them, but the Verado is really sweet.

Is it a lack of dealerships (I know Jaws Marine works on them) or some other situation (like cost) that keeps them from being more popular?

I see lots of posts on other websites asking for information on repowering with yamaha, susuki, or E-tec; but Verado's are hardly mentioned.

Is it that they are more popular in other parts of the country (like down south, Florida)? What gives?

5th (Marty)
I couldn't fish today, so I thought I'd pose this question.

[Skip]

I used to have 1997 Mercs - twin 200HP EFI.

When it came time to repower in 2005 - I shopped all the brands but figured to go back with Mercs.

Yamaha offered a full 5 year warranty while best Mercury would do was 2 years.
They did offer three more years but it was around $2,000.00 per engine.
Now most offer 5-6 year warranty.
The twin Yamahas were also about $3,500.00 lower when all was figured in.

I even showed the Merc dealer the paperwork - giving them a last look to match price / warranty but no dice.

Yamaha also worked hard with some major boat builders - putting up ad money for national magazines and cut some sweet deals. More boats sold - more Yamaha motors were sold as part of the package deal. Mercury still has a good following on freshwater scene but lost the salt water following they long held.

I remember some of the early Verados had gremlins - word leaks out and folks get gun shy when dropping over $10,000.00 on a new engine.

[Spot77]

I was working p/t for Riverside Marine when the Verados came out. Supposedly we had the first boat rigged with a new Verado on the east coast.

When we put it in the water, it truly was the most quiet motor I've ever (never) heard.

If I recall, we had it on a Trophy 25' walkaround and the noise from the water under and around the boat usually drowned out the motor.

We didn't sell a lot of them; as Skip mentioned the price was pretty steep, even way back during the "glory days" of the economy.

For the money, I'd go with a Yamaha 4 stroke, or even a Honda. I've had two Yamaha 2 strokes that were nearly indestructable. My neighbor is running a 10 year old Yamaha 225 and never had a problem.

[JohnnyO]

If I had the money I would have a Verado. You see them more down at the beach than in the bay. Jerry (Swartj) has one on his 23' Boston Whaler walk around and it is everything that has been mentioned and good on gas which was not mentioned. They are heavy motors and maybe that has a little to do with it as well. I repowered w/ a Mercury Optimax and it is average on noise for 2 stokes but quieter for sure over their older carb. motors. I just found out(i have had it for 3 years+) it is actually not bad on gas or oil if you don't run it wide open all the time, I rode it from the W river up above the bay bridge at around 4200 rpms and around 25mph and got 2 miles per gallon (was about 24 miles round trip). It is a nice motor however the oil is expensive and you HAVE to use DFI oil. BP sells it for $40/gal, needless to say i don't buy it there. Soooo my dream boat will have twin 250 or 300HP Verados and get me offshore quick! And by the way I don't post much but have plugged the Verado more than once on the boards!

[B-Faithful]

Verados are awesome motors! most of the coolness is not in the motor but the steering system, digital controls and smartcraft electronics. They are very fast motors too. Downside is that all that coolness costs $$ and the motors are also not as nice on fuel as some of the competitors. My buddy runs a boat with triple 275 verados and he has had a few issues losing lower units on them. I think he also lost one powerhead too due to a super charger going down and him having a long run home. With that said, it is a very fast boat and the motors are allowed to eat and are not babied.

[240 LTS]

Marty is correct at least for the area I am in, Pooles Island and north. I rarely see another Verado.

I found this 2005 Triton 240 LTS with a Verado 250, Gen I, used (42 hours) in NJ in late October 2007.
At the time I was really was leaning towards an E-tec...back then, but it had a Verado so I had to go with it.
I was skeptical to say the least but the selling price was something I could not turn down and it was the exact boat I wanted so I started to make my move and set up a sea trial.

The day the head Tech took me for the sea trial it was windy as all get out!!
So windy and rough my (late) Dad stayed on shore.
When Dave started the engine, I could not hear it running. I even asked, "Is it running?" He said ,"Yes, see the pee stream? That's why it is facing toward the front." I thought, sumb!tch that is quiet!!!

When we got back on shore and were walking in the parking lot, I told Dave of my concerns and that I wished it had an E-tec. He stopped walking and looked ay me an said, "Trust me, you have the right engine on there." Then he went on to tell me about GlenE, The Verado Club. I contacted Glen right away, joined the V.O.G. and have never looked back...except to see the engine run.
http://www.veradoclub.com/smf/index.php

The sea trial left me nothing but super impressed with the engine and boat.
I was in love , but concerned.
Like finding the perfect hot sexy girlfriend that is all sweet in the beginning but might turn on you down the road when you least expect it.

Brought her home on Nov. 2, 2007.
When launching, I have heard people talking to each other at the ramp when I was pulling away saying something like, "How is he moving if the engine isn't running?" The reply from their friend was something like, "It's a Verado, you can't hear them run"
One day a guy was just on the other side of a finger pier and the V was idling and he asked me if it was running, I said Yes and he just shook his head.
They are not silent, but they are quiet for sure. I get a lot of stares at the engine (and boat)

Gen I engines needed some updates like the FCM due to E-10. There were some LU issues but most owners love their engines. There will always be a few that can find fault with anything then dwell on it.


Here is my first attempt at a video. It was 20 second clips put together.
I needs to re do the sound track someday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjR3U..._order&list=UL

[5th Tuition]

I have finally found a problem with the motors; they are too big and obscure the picture of the lady laying on the back of your boat.
5th

[240 LTS]

Originally Posted by 5th Tuition

I have finally found a problem with the motors; they are too big and obscure the picture of the lady laying on the back of your boat.
5th

When your in the boat, you can see just fine.



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[Spot77]

That was a great video, with some great pics in it.

You can hear the wind rushing past the camera, but you can barely hear the motor running.

[240 LTS]

Thank you.
Here is another one running up the Susky this spring when the debris had cleared enough to run on plane. You can hear the sound on the water on the hull and the hum of the engine.
Probably should not have been going that fast though.
There was still stuff floating and semi floating. When I pan to starboard, that is a whole tree floating down stream.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05xin...der&playnext=1

This one is just photos. Some on the Flats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCdoF...f=mfu_in_order


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