Makes me glad I don't have a YAMAHA.
 

Helping a friend out with his F225 YAMAHA. His trim would go down, but not up. Get in there and find a couple of the nuts on the trim relay were loose, tightened em up, but the trim relay was still dead(clicking, but not keeping the circuit grounded to go up). So it needs a trim relay, normally no big deal. Price the friggen thing out, and it's $274 from SIM YAMAHA for it:nut:. HOLY CRAP BATMAN! What happened to using a pair of 30 amp relays like we did for years that cost about $8 for a good quality replacement one. Just reminds me as to why I have a skiff now, can't afford to work on, let alone feed one of these big outboards anymore.

We have this discussion often around the marina. New high tech vs old carb 2 stroke. Is the fuel savings/reliability worth the extra cost of up keep and cost of parts and the need for special tools or software/computers.

Around here in the northeast it might not worth the extra cost for the recreational boater. Our season is so short and many people (working full time) only use the boat once a week.

It can be argued from either side.

Would people agree that the smaller the boat the more you use it?

We have a 15' RIB that we use at least 4 times a week in season.
Glad it's got an old 2 stroke. However I replaced the trim motor on it last spring and it wasn't cheap (aftermarket not Yamaha). Yamaha part was 3x the price if I remember correctly. Hopefully you get what you pay for doesn't bite me in the a$$.

Theu have been using those high doller relays on two strokes for quite a while. Nothing about boats is cheap. For myself, I use CDI's universal relay harness and use two cheap box type relays. BTW, those Yamaha combo relays raeky give trouble. I've probably obly replaced 10 or so in my carreer

They didn't tighten all the nuts down on it from the factory, they laid over, let moisture in, and burned the points clean off inside(took it apart to see if I could fix it, found th s t was a no go with how they potted in the actual solenoid wires). It is an 11 year old outboard, so he can't complain to much.

Same with cars,lawn mowers, just about anything mechanical.
I used to carry parts to repair irrigation timers & heads, now just remove and replace.
Points & condenser for a Briggs was about $5 bucks and u had to put a set in just about once a year. Now the ignition module is about $60, but I have had the same mower for 12 years, tires and frame is shot, but never had to put points in it.

It's all good till it breaks.

I might have mentioned to Ferman and a few others that I had a friend twith a 200 Yamaha 4-stroke that flushed his motor religiously. Literally after every outing it is lift kept and the hose would go on it for 10 minutes while we cleaned up, it was the ritual. That motor developed a leak thru the block due to corrosion. He never did the thermostats and he had a significant buildup of corrosion in and around the t-stats.. Someone else mentioned that there are more sacrificial anodes in the block somewhere that need to be changed. I know that adds up $$$ and even worse to discover a four year old motor that has major corrosion issues, despite flushing.. He patched the holes, drilled one and tapped it to put in a pipe plug and he epoxied the other leak. I would like to think that it is not a common occurrence? BS I looked it up. My Mercs have never corroded like that, Johnrudes either. Just saying... Last couple outings I witnessed multiple Yamaha powered boats on the rope of shame. They all breakdown. My Mercs weakness is in the compressor setup. Lower units too, maybe self-inflicted there. I am hard on the Merc, so if there is going to be a stress related failure I intend to find it.. :fam: :zip:I'll behave now.

The words Yamaha and corrosion go hand and hand. The Japanese must use some poor quality aluminum. Recycled beer cans or something. I have replaced dozens of those f225 midsections. It's such a problem Yamaha made a "kit" with all the necessary parts to do the job. I'm with you Vic. My Opti has never been flushed. Except once or twice after churning through some shallow muddy bottom and clogging up the powerhead. And still after changing t-stats the inside of the heads are as good as new.

We did the anodes in this thing earlier this year, and YIKES at the corrosion. He also religousky flushes, washes, sprays down with corrosion block, all of it. And it was all we could do to get those 4 zincs out of the heads. Then had to glass bead and clean up everything to put the new zincs in. Yamaha seems to be alot better than Suzuki. I always loved our zuke outboards, but the corrosion was bad. Even my Honda has quite a bit considering it was mostly a freshwater used engine.

Honda is the worst, then zuke, then Yamaha. I can't say on the newer bombs, aint enough of them around here to know. Late 90's Johnrudes were pretty bad. Mercury had the best aluminum(XK360) till they closed the Stillwater plant. The newer stuff corodes pretty bad. Lots of offshore stuff(Merc, Yamaha, etc,,,) being used now. Like my FIL says, 'theres nothing in the world saltwater or a Marine can't F%#& up", he was in the Navy

I agree salt water will rust a sheet rock bucket, but it's pretty ridiculous the amount the new out boards go for and some of the problems some are having after being religious about maintainence.

Well here I am, a month later and I now own a YAMAHA outboard. With my health slipping here as of late, I guess you could say my fear has kicked in. The wife is getting a healthy bonus at work, so we decided to use it to upgrade our boat to one a bit nicer, and more family oriented. The other skiff we had had an older HONDA carbed engine on it that she couldn't ever manage to start, and she had trouble steering it at speed. So we figured while I can still do some stuff, we would use her bonus money to get a nicer boat and enjoy some time togetehr as a family, but to also get something she could run in the future. So we both settled on a 2011 SUNDANCE B20CCR skiff with a 90HP YAMAHA 90HP on it. The boat is equipped out pretty nicely, and only needs a few repairs to be up to par. It's only supposed to have 56 hours on it, but I'm going to get the software to verify it. It's fuel injected so all she has to do now is turn the key, it has hydraulic steering, so it should be easy enough to control at speed, also has a jack plate so I can pick the engine up to idle across the flats now instead of polling, already has a trolling motor, and lots of seating to keep momma happy. I have to pull the helm aprt and reseal it as it is leaking where the case halves bolt together, the engine needs serviced as it's been sitting a long time(water pump was pretty weak when I ran it), and add in a seat on the bow for me to be able to sit and fish.

Most would say I went and lost my mind, but I want to try and spend some time with my family while I'm still able to do so, and her bonus money was unexpected as we didn't think she would get it, so it was a win win for us.

I haven't taken any pics yet, but heres one from the ad.

:clap::clap::clap:

Good for you guys.... live life!!!

Good looking rig Ferm.

I put a TH Marine Atlas jack plate on my skiff for the places I shouldn't be going.

Look forward to hearing about yours.

Sweet!

Congrats Ferm!! Be a great time with them new babies you have!

Can't wait tpo get the V20 in the water to take out the grandkids!!!! Will have a third come April.

Yep, thats the plan. While I'm still able to move around without a power chair, were hoping to go out this summer and spend some time doing things. I know most people put it off till later in life, but with how things are going I'm worried I'm going to be wheel chair bound by the time later comes around. So going to live life while I can. You look at things differently once you see it slipping away from you.

I agree!! BS has been after me to get my comercial fishing lic again, I can't be borther!! I am in it for the fun now i have thje grandkids and not sure how long i have left?? some signs say 10 years other say 20, but what ever i am going to try to live it up!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats Ferm!
Nice looking boat.

Excellent use of the best & brightest

Congrats & enjoy

Yep, thats the one. She didn't think she qualified for it, spent the money for her transcripts and test scores, they all came back saying she didn't qualify, but her mom had copies of her high school records(she couldn't get those because they were lost from hurricane Charlie in 04), and low and behold it did qualify her. So we figured we would put it to good use, and try and start spending some time together as a family. My mom just bought a place on the river, so hoping this summer maybe we can slip up there and use the new toy. Just waiting on my SIM YAMAHA order to come in, looks like I found the steering leak(they didn't put any teflon on the threads going into the helm, leaking right around the threads), and have to to do some work on the trailer as they didn't put enough supports to distribute the boats weight on it, and it is flexxing WAY to much in the tongie area for me to trust it on a road trip. Should be ready to go in a few weeks.

good deal for you and your family. my daughter also qualified, hope this continues in the future, but probably not. my wife is in district admin, so she was out of the loop. she did get some kind of bonus in 03, bout $3000 and i immediately turned that into a 40 hp tohatsu for our whaler.

have fun this year

It's on the books for next year, but the state union is blocking it, and trying to block the ones who are waiting on it as well so I hope we didn't put ourselves in trouble spending it before we got it. I don't see how they can block it when they have already sent out pay notices and such, would seem to me to be a lawsuit and a half if they did.

Dangit man, another step in the right direction on the new skiff. Congrats..

Daughter said supposed to be in her February 16 paycheck, but she's not counting her chickens till she see's them walking around the yard.

Got my scan software in, and she really is a low time engine. Doesn't look like its been run to hard for a 5 1/2 year old engine.

:beer:

Took momma and the kids out Saturday for a short ride to try out a new prop. My littlest ones 1st trip on a boat.