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SPS vs ESP

jsur said:
I suppose I am grateful the tank is not available right now.  One more option to painfully deliberate over.  I am having a hard enough time sitting on the F200.  However, I am not convinced that any more hp will lead to a meaningful difference in my ability to use the boat and the gas mileage of the F200 seems to be superior.  I am also told it is quite quiet.  I am also now beginning to look into the ideal prop...too many things to consider
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I wouldn't go smaller than 200. The 25 footer is a big machine.

I got such a great deal on a leftover 2575 that I didn't even look at the 22. You will be the envy of the lake, big toons with 200's always get a second look.

The performance is still amazing, I have tossed mine around, banking so hard that I have thrown myself out of the captains seat. The power steering makes the horsepower so much more enjoyable.
 
lakeliving said:
We water tested the sps with yamaha's new 200 last year and loved it so much we sold our 2013 two toon boat. Coming from a two toon with lifting strakes the sps was a totally different ride. Smoother, quieter, and turned quite well in my opinion. If you have the money than by all means get the esp. For us we felt the sps would make a great fit for our needs and budget.
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lakeliving,

do you have any regrets with not going bigger than the yamaha 200.  i have been checking the performance bulletins on yamaha's website.  the other engines i would consider would be the 200 or 225 vmax sho.  however, these are more than $2000-3000 additional going by msrp.  they appear to have very good 0-30 mph times (6.92 vs 7.8 vs 9.08) for similarly equipped boats compared to the regular yamaha f200.  however, i do not know if this is actually water skiing/sport significant.  i am new to boating and will be new to watersports.  i want to be able to ski as well as tube and I am curious if the 200 should be sufficient to easily get up a 200+lb man with several adults on board.  a previous post seemed to suggest this would be the case (mentioning an adult and slalom skiing with a full boat).  i know everybody states go as big as you can afford, but i was thinking a 200 would be more than ample for what i am looking to do.  i am not as worried about top speed as i think 40 mph or so will be plenty.  it does seem as if the f200 really has much better gas mileage which is attractive.  i appreciate everybody's input as i am definitely learning some valuable information.  i do not want to be upgrading or purchasing another boat in a year or two because i screwed this up now.
 
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Took A 2550 esp Out Last Fall With A 225 Yamaha. At about 35 mph did hard right turn and was impressed with how well it banked. 42 was top speed with 5 people onboard. I ordered the 2550 CBR with the 300.
 
jsur said:
lakeliving,

do you have any regrets with not going bigger than the yamaha 200.  i have been checking the performance bulletins on yamaha's website.  the other engines i would consider would be the 200 or 225 vmax sho.  however, these are more than $2000-3000 additional going by msrp.  they appear to have very good 0-30 mph times (6.92 vs 7.8 vs 9.08) for similarly equipped boats compared to the regular yamaha f200.  however, i do not know if this is actually water skiing/sport significant.  i am new to boating and will be new to watersports.  i want to be able to ski as well as tube and I am curious if the 200 should be sufficient to easily get up a 200+lb man with several adults on board.  a previous post seemed to suggest this would be the case (mentioning an adult and slalom skiing with a full boat).  i know everybody states go as big as you can afford, but i was thinking a 200 would be more than ample for what i am looking to do.  i am not as worried about top speed as i think 40 mph or so will be plenty.  it does seem as if the f200 really has much better gas mileage which is attractive.  i appreciate everybody's input as i am definitely learning some valuable information.  i do not want to be upgrading or purchasing another boat in a year or two because i screwed this up now.
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The f200 is the max for the s series with sps. So that is why we settled on the 200. Didn't consider the vmax as we were really happy with the performance during the water demo.
 
I didn't test drive the ESP model but I ended up getting a 23GCW with the SPS and the Yamaha 150 vs the 200. 

After researching the specs on the motor and the difference between the 150 and the 200. I concluded that it wasn't worth the extra $2500 just for 1-2 mph and the additional difference of the SPS vs the ESP was going to be a couple more thousand dollars. We decided to get the creature comforts instead and actually had them change out the motor from the 200 to the 150.

All in all I saved about $8k between the ESP vs SPS and the 150 vs the 200 as well as the Power steering and the center fuel tank. That allowed me to get the boat I wanted. 

After taking it out this weekend I can say I'm more than happy with my decision. I was towing my 4 person tubes and my knee boards with no problems. The boat had plenty of power and it banked into the turns with a very comfortable feeling that I was used to with my deck boat. I have never driven an ESP model but I can say that with the SPS I never felt like the boat was loose in the turn or wasn't turning fast enough. 

If i had the extra $$ of course I would've got the ESP and the 300 but the SPS with the 150 makes me smile every time!

The one thing I miss more than the power of my 300 hp motor of my deck boat is the power steering. I think that would be worth more than the extra power of a larger engine. I didn't realize that there was a difference between hydraulic steering vs Power assisted steering.
 
BulldogsCadillac said:
LOVED my 200SHO with ESP!!!! Love the 250SHO with ESP even more!! Power steering is such an amazing option. Worth every penny IMHO, it just makes everything effortless.
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Derrick, did you ever have just hydraulic steering?
 
kaydano said:
Derrick, did you ever have just hydraulic steering?
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Nope. Had my 90hp on the 09 2 toon and hated the workout I got trying to dump my brother in law off the tube. So I knew I wanted more power and power steering. So when I built our "last boat we'll ever need" in 2012, I did the ESP. And, well,  we know the story from there. Haha
 
Power steering can be added. Our boat came with hydraulic steering and I hated it. I added the pump and wouldn't go back.
 
I ordered it on mine,(have yet to try it ) but after reading all this I am glad I did .
 
Curious on adding the power steering. Might be a good winter project. What is the rough cost of the pump? I work for free so labor isn't an issue.
 
I think Carl did a thread on it somewhere but he can give you the whole scoop.
 
I'll search it up as soon as I get a minute. Thanks Tom. That thread was probably before my time here.
 
lakeliving said:
Curious on adding the power steering. Might be a good winter project. What is the rough cost of the pump? I work for free so labor isn't an issue.
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Andy, I bought the pump used on ebay for $600.00, 2 hoses were about $70.00, and a couple of fittings and plastic tube for the compensator line was a couple of bucks at Lowes. I had a bracket made and mounted the whole thing under the helm which is the easiest. I ran the harness to the battery in between the skin and floor and through where the battery cables go through. I'll see if I can find the pic and you have to keep looking on ebay for a good price. They are normally $1200 - $1500.

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Good to know. I had it out today and passed the one hour mark so I was able to get the rpm's up to around 3k and the sps was great, so smooth and it turned great. I'm dying to get to hour 2 so I can hit full throttle. The 200 just purred along like it was nothing. I'm going to have Kristina video me soon doing some turns in front of the house.
 
Have the power assist on mine and it is sweet. Turns effortlessly no matter what speed. Test drove one without and knew I wanted to spend the extra money to get it.
 
dasalmon said:
Jimmy I am glad for you. If you are happy you don't need more.
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I suffer from "wants" more than "needs" LOL!

I am very happy with my setup but after seeing how Carl added the power steering I might have to add that mod to the "need" list :)
 
I totally agree with you on saving money for the creature comforts! That's the approach I took, which meant I had to give in other areas.

Can you share more insight on the lack of power assist?

Just a want, just some more 2 handed steer at 25mph turns or this really sucks bring me the pump ASAP?

JimmyC said:
I didn't test drive the ESP model but I ended up getting a 23GCW with the SPS and the Yamaha 150 vs the 200. 

After researching the specs on the motor and the difference between the 150 and the 200. I concluded that it wasn't worth the extra $2500 just for 1-2 mph and the additional difference of the SPS vs the ESP was going to be a couple more thousand dollars. We decided to get the creature comforts instead and actually had them change out the motor from the 200 to the 150.

All in all I saved about $8k between the ESP vs SPS and the 150 vs the 200 as well as the Power steering and the center fuel tank. That allowed me to get the boat I wanted. 

After taking it out this weekend I can say I'm more than happy with my decision. I was towing my 4 person tubes and my knee boards with no problems. The boat had plenty of power and it banked into the turns with a very comfortable feeling that I was used to with my deck boat. I have never driven an ESP model but I can say that with the SPS I never felt like the boat was loose in the turn or wasn't turning fast enough. 

If i had the extra $$ of course I would've got the ESP and the 300 but the SPS with the 150 makes me smile every time!

The one thing I miss more than the power of my 300 hp motor of my deck boat is the power steering. I think that would be worth more than the extra power of a larger engine. I didn't realize that there was a difference between hydraulic steering vs Power assisted steering.
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%
 
If you've never had power steering you probably would not even notice it and could easily live without it. It's really not that big of a deal especially with a less than 250hp motor.

I've gotten used to it in just the couple of times I've had it out. I just noticed it more the last time I was out because I was pulling the tubes and knee boards and doing a lot tight turns. I was already at the top of what I was going to spend on a boat and the cost of the power steering wasn't worth having to spend $2300 out of my pocket for it. 
 
Our boat didn't come with power steering and I had never driven one with it. Then I drove one for a Bennington in-water dealer boat show, and that's what pushed me to add it.
 
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