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Location: Green Bay, WI | I just bought a Lund Tyee with a 150 Verado on it, and there was an identical boat with a 150 Optimax there at the dealer...but I cannot remember the price difference, lol. I can call the dealer and ask--my impression (from some ballpark numbers they gave me on the first day I was there) is that the difference in price is a couple grand. But I seem to recall that the Optimax is actually about the same price as a Honda 4-stroke, so actually the Verado might only be a thousand or so more than the Optimax. But the Verado is definitely a bit pricey.
As far as the 4 versus 6 cylinder question--I wondered that myself when I saw on the Verado website that they were set to release the 4 cyl 200. It's an interesting question, as the formula for horsepower involves both the number of cylinders and the RPM of the engine. So if the 4-cylinder model is turning about the same RPM as the 6-cylinder, why is the horsepower the same? Of course they can do things with the intake timing to affect the *volume* of air/fuel actually going into the cylinder, and that would have a big influence on horsepower created.
It depends upon your hull I suppose, but I would personally go for the lightest model that gets you the horsepower you need; 200 horsepower is not that much for a 4-cylinder engine. In the world of aviation there has been a lycoming engine (only turning 2500-2700 RPM though) making 200 horsepower for many years--and it's a bulletproof unit. And if the 200 Verado 4-cylinder turns at the same speed as it's little brothers, then there shouldn't be too much concern with it staying together. It would be very interesting to A:B two identical hulls with the 4-cyl and 6-cyl Verado...just to see how they performed in terms of fuel economy, holeshot and top-end. If the fuel economy was significantly better on either engine (10-15% or more), then I would probably go with that unit regardless of weight (providing the hull could handle it).
Consider this though--my Tyee transom is stamped for 690 pounds total weight, so I could not put the 6-cylinder unit on the boat and still put on a 9.9 horse kicker. As it stands now, my 150 (and the 4-cylinder 200) weighs 527 pounds for the 25" shaft, and the pro-kicker is about 109 pounds if memory serves. So the two of them together weigh just about what the 6-cylinder 200 horse engine weighs, so I would be over the max transom weight if I went that route.
Good luck with your decision!
TB
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