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...  |
