As Requested:
Pontoon & Deck Boat Magazine, Feb 2021 – Real World [Engine]Testing by Bradly L. Kay - Summary
In December 2020 Carefree Boat Sales had 7 identical Premier TriToons in the water for a boat show, with 4 major engines rep’s onsite (Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha & Mercury) and decided this was a perfect time for head to head testing. The toon model was not provided, pictures suggested they were all 25’ TriToons. The test included dedicating a lot of time to finding the right propellers, testing the boats with the 2 people minimum load, a 1,200 lb half load, a 2,400 lb full load with 250-350hp engines, tracking Top speed, Loss in Acceleration, 0-20, 0-30, barrel racing (to simulate the constant turning of tube towing) and fuel economy. The data presented focused on the 300hp engines, with some data for 250s. You can expanded details at
www.carefreeboatsales.com where he posted his findings.
The article concluded that in real life we pile a bunch of people in our boats, and that dramatically affects performance. No surprise here, though I was surprised that it took something over 6 people before performance loss became an issue. It stated that NONE of the engines tested could reach 40 mph with a full load (that’s 12 people). The data showed the average top speed of any engine was under 47 mph. Seems our Benny’s improve this figure by a few mph per reading our club blog!
At minimum load the Mercury 300 was the fastest, at half load it tied with the Suzuki 300DP, the Suzuki 300DP was the fastest at full load and Barrel Racing. However, the speed variance between engines was under 5mph at any specific load and barrel test ranged from about 123 seconds to 128 seconds on same boat testing. Top speed with half load dropped a few mph, but fully loaded the drop was about 10 mph +/-. 0-20 acceleration times were all within a second of each other with the Yamaha 300 being the fastest, though 0-30 the variance jumped to almost 2 seconds with the Mercury in last place when fully loaded.
The limited data on the 250s suggested they performed almost as well as the 300s with top speed being 5mph less, which dropped to 2mph less when fully loaded vs some 300s. The article concluded that taking the gas mileage and cost into account, it might be the favorite engine (though the gas mileage variance was not significant after about 3,500 rpms).
However it is important to note that while the absolute speed, time and fuel variances were not presented as dramatic, on a % basis most figures appeared to translate into 10% to 30% variances, those are meaningful.
The section on props was interesting and seemed swayed towards Solas, they had a prop rep onsite. They struggled with getting the right prop for Mercury’s figured out and needed more work here, but settled on the Enertia 16 for the 250, 17 for the 300, but stated the Solas 15.5x17 was the best performer on the 300. The Yamaha 300 was 15 5/8x15. They did not find a four blade prop any better than a 3 blade, and stated a 15 to 15.5 to a 16 will make a huge difference depending on the boat, engine and how used. The most critical factor was to determine how the boat was being used (speed vs tow vs cruise/fuel efficiency), and did not state if their prop selection was the best all-around, for speed, or for loads. They did conclude that often a lower pitched prop is best when loaded, and that while raising the engine did increase top speed it also could result in a loss of traction and increased blow outs when cornering hard (like with tubing).
Fuel consumption was easy – going fast isn’t cheap, concluding 13 to 18 gallons per hour turns into 22 to 28 when going from 5K to WOT rpms. Honda was acknowledged as the most fuel efficient and being easy on the ears. In the under 2500 rpm’s the difference was substantial, enough to suggest a Honda 250 was the best choice if speed is not a top priority.
Overall a great article but it was missing a lot of details and data points, and missing 350’s as part of the comparison (especially the Mercury V6) which would have really rounded out this article. Clearly, the answer is unlimited funds and just get the new Mercury 600, as previously noted. Right!?
