Mako 232 Bracket Repower Performance #'s

[Mr.B]

Hi Guys. New to the forum and I just bought a 1998 Mako 232 and i would like to repower. After some research here I see so many different engines on these boats. I couldn't find one thread that listed all the performance numbers of everyone's different engines. It would be awesome if we can this in one thread. I am between sticking with mercury since that is what it is wired for and doing a 250 opti or going 250-300 yamaha or suzuki. So if you have repowered can you post your cruise and top with RPM and fuel burns?? Thanks in advance! [)]

[Mr.B]

Nothing? Does not have to be the same model but anything around the 23' range, bracket or non with repower 3's?

[Sailor]

There was once a thread with a spreadsheet but I think the host server is gone. Below are quite a few threads discussing similar boats with very similar motors.

https://www.google.com/search?q=site...hrome&ie=UTF-8

[snappergapper]

Sorry missed this topic. I added a bracket and a 250 Suzy to the back. On the average trip I see 3.15 loaded down. Little more on the return. I believe I posted my first year numbers with fuel I came in right at 3.12 for the entire 2017 year. Any questions let me know.

Cruise is 32MPH- 4000 at 3.15

WOT is 45.7 MPH 6000 at 2.10

This is all I had on the phone

[mugwump4]

I'm very interested; I've done the math on the repower but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I'm getting solid 2MPG @ 3500-4000 RPMs with a 20 year old 2 stroke. I'm going to run it until it until I have no choice to repower.

[Mr.B]

went to the ft. lauderdale boat show and the new mercury 4 strokes are impressive. The weights seem to be the same as the Opti's. Prices seemed to be pretty close to Suzuki as well. At least at the boat show.

[Mr.B]

anyone with 4.2L yamaha, new mercury 4stroke or optimax numbers?

[hectorsn]

I went out this weekend on my 95 232 with a 225 Opti. Mind you, I'm new to boating, so I am awful at documenting things since I'm having so much fun enjoying the boat.

I just put an excellent condition used 17P Rev 4 prop on it to replace the very damaged 19P Apollo prop. With wife and son, people weight is around 400lbs. Cooler, gear, and water tank full added another 300lbs. There was around 90 gal of fuel when we left and the boat has a t-top. Bottom is somewhat dirty.

Seas were 1-2 feet but frequent and wind was around 9 mph. She was doing around 25-27 mph at 3700-3900 rpm burning around 13-14 gph with quite a bit of tab to soften the ride.

In perfect conditions at about the same weight, she does 25 mph at 3600 rpm burning 12 gph with no tab. Top speed is right around 40 at 5000 at that weight.

I suspected that I wasn't getting full throttle and did make an adjustment to the linkage yesterday so I might pick up some WOT rpm and some top speed. I see this thread is from 2018 so I'll likely have more data for you before you decide.

FWIW, whenever I do repower I will be going to a Merc 300 Four Stroke.

[hectorsn]

OK, had some time to kill today and wanted to check if the throttle adjustment I made had a significant impact on performance. It did not but at least I remembered to take some screenshots of the VesselView mobile data. My previous statements about the fuel burn were a bit high. I think I remember now that 25-27 mph at 3700-3800 rpm was around 11-12 gph in 1-2' choppy seas with medium tab. I need to take more screenshots and not try to rely on my now awful memory.

Again, boat is a 95 232 with a 2002 225XL Optimax running a Rev4 17P prop and previous to this prop I observed the cavitation plate almost out of the water. IMO, boat weight is 3500 lbs empty. It had roughly 70 gal of fuel, 20 gal of water, and just me and a small cooler. Estimated weight is 4200 lbs. First image is minimum wake speed. Then is minimum plane speed with no tab. Next is a nice cruise speed as long as everything is flat, no tab. Then a bit more hurried cruising speed, no tab. I forgot to get a screenshot of my top speed which was 41 mph at 5200 rpm and that's usually around 21 gph. This was all in the IC with some chop and current and wind, not perfectly flat but not terrible either.

Hope this helps.

[Mr.B]

nice #'s with the opti. Wonder how it would be with the 250.

[mugwump4]

I'm looking at rebuilding my tilt/trim unit. And I suspect my lower unit needs a reseal. I can get reman units for about $1,500 total.

I'm going to do a compression check and compare from 3 years ago when I hung the two stroke. My thought is: if the top end is still strong, spend the money and fix what I have and deal with a grouchy two stroke a few more years. But, as much fuel as we've been burning since we've relocated to the Gulf coast, it may be a better long-term investment to upgrade to a fuel injected four stroke. I still think the fuel economy may almost pay for the new motor over the next 5-8 years.

I'll report back when I have compression numbers this weekend.

[mugwump4]

The numbers are in! I'm fixing what I have. 3 years later I still have 95 PSI across the board, which is right in line with Mercury's specifications.