Mariner 150 v/s mercury 225

[Destroyer]

Hi and welcome.

Really hard to give you a proper answer, since you seem to want two different things. If you stay with the 150 you'll get reasonably good performance from the boat. It will not be a speed demon, but Wellcraft sold these boats with 150's on them for a long time. and a lot of people think it's the perfect balance of weight to performance to fuel economy. Look for about 35 - 45 mph depending on prop, weight, water conditions,, etc.

On the other side of the coin, the 225 is a monster that will put you in the high 50 to 60 mph class, again depending on prop, weight, water conditions, etc. The downside will be considerably less fuel economy, and the extra weight will make your boat squat a little deeper in the rear end. Trim tabs will help a lot in both configurations, but especially with the big boy on the end. Hanging a bracket, especially a flotation type of bracket, will help tons with the added weight.

There are a lot of people on here that can dial in your particular engines and give you pretty accurate estimates of what to expect. My observations are strictly IMHO stuff.