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Posts: 253
Location: On the water | Planning on buying a used boat and the choices are down to a 1725 Lund Explorer SS with a 115 Merc 4 stroke, or 1800 Lund Pike with a 150 Merc Optimax. Which is the better combo. Don't know anything about the Optimax, does it smoke like other 2 strokes? We're sure some of you have owned both and would like your opinions. Thanks |
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| the optimax is really good. I have never noticed any exhaust smells and it is pretty good on fuel. Great for getting out of the hole. sounds like you are considering a couple nice boats. Both of them are great packages. avoid carpet since all of the poop and slime from muskies will add up. |
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| I have a 150 optimax and i just love it. and so dose my friend we have never had any problem with them. plus the hole shot is fast. |
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Posts: 7117
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | I'm running the 150 Opti and love it. Really never noticed any smoking, the hole shot is really fast (I'm running it on a Tuffy 1760 GC) and the top end is around 51mph. The draw backs I see are that you CANT troll with the motor and you're going to be VERY tempted to run fast, which eats gas at top speed. If you're going to be trolling a lot and/or don't care about speed, go with the 115. OR, you can look at it from a standpoint of it's a boat that you need to love....and therefore should get as much boat as you can! |
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Posts: 43
Location: Roch NY | I'd say go with the opti. no question. that is one of THE most fuel efficient big motors out there (2 and 4 stroke included). I have a 135 that I DO use for trolling, as do a lot of other guys. in fact if the motor is a 2001 or newer, merc makes a line of smartcraft tachs that all have a Troll Control feature which allows you to dial in your idle speed in increments of 10 rpm from 500 to 1K rpm. I can dial in my trolling speed to within a tenth of a MPH on my gps anywhere from 2 to 5-6 mph. best accesory I bought for my boat...
yes kickers would be the better choice for fuel efficiency and noise (the optis are not super quiet) but it will take a lot of fuel to make up for $1000+ I saved on not buying a kicker. Slamr- dont forget: its a BOAT! they ALL guzzle gas on the top end...but in this particular comparison I believe that 150 opti is probably at least comparable to the 115 if not even better on gas. BTW-my smartcraft tells me that I use .3 GPH at trolling speed which I don't think is too bad
and yes I concur - the torque is immense and you'll will wish you'd had that extra power when that 115 is WOT and you're pushin down hard on the throttle, tryin to eek out an extra couple mph...  |
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