Merc 250 V-Rod
gmanny1
Posted 10/26/2017 5:37 PM (#882446)
Subject: Merc 250 V-Rod




Posts: 246


Hi all. Looking at a 2017 Boat with around 80-100 hours of motor. Any guess on how many hours a 250 HP V-Rod would generally last. Motor has low hours at high RPM's and owned by guide.
Thanks,
Gman
dblockjr
Posted 10/27/2017 8:38 AM (#882487 - in reply to #882446)
Subject: RE: Merc 250 V-Rod





Posts: 69


Just heard the coast guard out of Green Bay area's came in for their annual service and both motors have over 8000 on them. If properly maintained these new engines should last a very long time. I personally know of two Yamaha 250's from down south that have over 12000 on each of them. People get so nervous about hours and it shoudnt be that way, at least for us folks up north that fish 6 months a year and put 100 hours a year on. Your 2017 Vrod should be just broke in...

Edited by dblockjr 10/28/2017 7:26 AM
tcbetka
Posted 10/27/2017 6:21 PM (#882520 - in reply to #882446)
Subject: RE: Merc 250 V-Rod




Location: Green Bay, WI
gmanny1 - 10/26/2017 5:37 PM

Hi all. Looking at a 2017 Boat with around 80-100 hours of motor. Any guess on how many hours a 250 HP V-Rod would generally last. Motor has low hours at high RPM's and owned by guide.
Thanks,
Gman


That's absolutely nothing for those engines. Don't even give it a second thought. I hadn't heard that about the Sherriff's boat in Green Bay (USCG has Hondas on it, last I knew), but it doesn't surprise me. Head over to the Verado Owner's Club and nose around, or check out some engine-longevity threads on The Hull Truth's forum.

The one thing to be aware of with the 6-cyl Verado engines, especially with Smart gauges, is that you'll want to maintain your electrical system. The larger V-rods have an electrical power steering pump, so it's helpful to have an extra battery for that. It's not absolutely necessary, and many boats are rigged without it, but many people on those two forums I mentioned have recommended it. So you might want to at least research the matter, and ask whether or not your boat has it. Never hurts to be informed.

But as for the engines themselves, I owned a 150hp V-rod and have driven a few of the larger ones (225, 250) with the power steering pump, and would not hesitate whatsoever to own another one. I've talked to some of the Mercury engineers who've worked on that program and I've been very impressed with what they've told me in terms of how those engines were tested in development.

TB
Fishysam
Posted 10/29/2017 10:05 AM (#882612 - in reply to #882446)
Subject: Re: Merc 250 V-Rod




Posts: 1209


The fact that has stuck with me is, boats on huge lakes tend to get more hours of use than boats on small systems, reason being is getting it warmed up and running 30 minutes 4 times a day vs getting it "warmed up and jumping from spot to spot on a puddle where it's wide open to plane then cruised for 20 seconds then turned off, same goes for tournament boats, not just hard on the waves but how you don't have time to wait for it to warm up, also I'd rather take a motor that is used vs stored and put in the lake 3 times a year 8000 is a little over 3 years old at 8 hours a day, not really that much
North of 8
Posted 10/29/2017 10:43 AM (#882619 - in reply to #882446)
Subject: Re: Merc 250 V-Rod




I was living in Fond du Lac when the Verado was being developed and the folks I knew at Mercury were extremely proud of it. The engineer they brought in to work on the super charger came from Porche in Germany and lived about a block away from me. Guy drove a Porche and drove like a race car driver. My next door neighbor was a plant manager and engineer for Mercury and was a guy who was measured and careful in his speech but just lit up talking about the Verado. He had no part in its development, just admired its design.
tcbetka
Posted 10/29/2017 12:17 PM (#882630 - in reply to #882446)
Subject: Re: Merc 250 V-Rod




Location: Green Bay, WI
They are awesome engines. Just so happens that I found a "new" two-year-old boat (never sold) with Yamaha power, so that's what I ended up with. But I would have had no problem whatsoever ending up with Verado. I think they are probably a bit worse on fuel economy when you run them above 4200-4400 RPM or so, just because you're on the supercharger all the time. I haven't tested this theory myself mind you--just making an observation from my experience with turbo-supercharged aircraft engines. Seems reasonable, but it certainly wouldn't prevent me from owning one.

The only knock(s) I've heard on the 6-cyl V-Rods is about the power steering pump, and its electrical requirement--especially if the Smartcraft gauges get finicky about voltage fluctuations due to corrosion on the terminals, or an unhealthy battery. But the forum threads I've read on them pretty much gave me the impression that as long as you maintain the electrical system (health of batteries, no corrosion on terminals, etc), then they seem to as trouble-free as anything. And they most definitely have great power out of the hole.

TB

Edited by tcbetka 10/29/2017 12:21 PM
dblockjr
Posted 10/29/2017 5:01 PM (#882657 - in reply to #882619)
Subject: Re: Merc 250 V-Rod





Posts: 69


I read recently that the torture test they did on the new Verado before they put it out to the consumer was 6400 RPMS WOT for 400 consecutive hours.
tcbetka
Posted 10/30/2017 7:11 PM (#882798 - in reply to #882446)
Subject: Re: Merc 250 V-Rod




Location: Green Bay, WI
Yeah, I basically heard about the same--they basically only shut it down to change the oil, as I understand it. That's amazing stuff. The 150hp (4-cyl) V-Rod I owned was a very smooth engine, and the 6-cyl units I've driven were even more so...understandably.

TB