Help 300 yamaha vs Suzuki 300 or 350?

[Slowahead]

Hello, so the time has come for a repower. 08 25wa-mv
Have an f250 on her now but want to get more power. My goal is to be able to run on plane with very heavy load for offshore fishing at a reasonable rpm and mpg. The 250 was a complete dog with full fuel, 4 200lb+ guys, 300lbs of ice, 6 flats of butters, full livewell,10 50wides ect, ect. would take me a mile to get on plane and basically have the throttle pinned for 3 to 4 hrs straight barely staying on plane and doing 20mph at 1 mile to the gallon. With all that said the 250 is still running strong with all that abuse. With the tuna being so good in close the last few years I want to be able to make more runs on days where its not just light and variable winds (as those are the only days I feel safe when I'm that heavy) and not feel like I'm driving a wet sponge.

So I am all over the place with Suzuki vs Yami, Digital vs analogue, Helm Master level 3 vs just getting a Garmin Auto Pilot I'm not spending the 6k for the joystick. But I definitely want auto pilot.

I know the bracket isn't rated for the 350 but I would love to get it as I feel the difference between the 300 and 250 might not get me the power I need. I will be doing the install myself so I don't have to worry about the dealer not putting it on.

Anyone throw a 350 on the older hulls where the bracket is rated for 300? At the time the 350's that were out weighed in at 200lbs more than the 250 - 804lbs now they weigh 720 about a hundred pounds more than the 250 from 08

Anyone know if damage has been done from this combo? Also if you do have it what are your performance numbers and general thoughts about the set up.

I've searched and saw some older threads wondering if anyone has anything to add since then.

 

[Mpellet]

I can’t speak for the 350 but did repower my boat with a 2019 white Suzuki DF300APXX and run with a Suzuki Water Grip 3 x 16 x 17 propeller. My boat is a 2005 Parker 2520SL, mod-v hull (notched transom/no bracket) my engine has a 30” leg, boat is slipped and has Petit Hydrocoat on the bottom.

The difference in top speed while running in perfect conditions with a medium load is only a few knots different new engine v old one but in all other aspects there are very noticeable improvements which become somewhat dramatic when the boat is heavily loaded.

I run offshore in the Northeast with loads similar to your description and experienced the same difficulties with getting on plane when heavy with the old Yamaha. That just doesn’t happen since repower, my boat now has 0 issues getting on plane regardless of what my load is, the boat just gets up and goes. Since repower, I have never been in a situation that required WOT to get the boat up on plane.

I seem to NEVER get as good of performance #s as other folks claim with similar boat/engine configurations. I have put on 1100+ hours since 2019 and the performance data below is accurate and not embellished. I run all my nav gear and gauges in nautical miles, statute mile performance would be slightly better. Using nautical miles, I get 35kts at wot running in flat water, cruise around 22kts when it’s calm enough to do so in the ocean and get 1.7-2.0 MPG, which varies with sea state and weight. The difference in “feel” between the different engines is more significant then the #s, I always felt like the old Yamaha was giving all she had, it’s not like that since the repower.

When it’s really rough and speed is limited by conditions and I’m forced to run 12-15kts, my MPG drops to around 1.5 MPG.

 

[warthog5]

I am all over the place with Suzuki vs Yami,

You need to understand the difference in gear ratio's.

Suzuki engineers have verified through countless hours of testing that an outboard propeller with a large diameter will carry a bigger load. Essentially, the large diameter will push more water. Also during the testing, the engineers verified a larger pitch propeller will have less slip. Armed with this information, the engineers have designed Suzuki outboard motors with a large Cubic Inch Displacement, (remember there is no replacement for displacement), light weight and an aggressive final drive ratio. This is why Suzuki can get down with the down low – ratio that is. See specifications for gear ratio.

It does this with a offset driveshaft, hooked to the crankshaft with offset gears. This is why it can swing that 16in dia prop. Wider tires on your car give better traction....Bigger prop on your outboard does the same. No one else has that. Now on a Bad note. My buddy Preston runs the BGS marine shop in Pensacola....He told me , they have had a Lot of problems with the dual prop setups. This is the DF 350 your thinking of.

 

[Slowahead]

Thanks for the input!