What matters on your selection of motor is very personal. Where do you live in the U.S. Will you be selling this boat in the next couple of years? If you are going to sell it soon or near future then when you choose colors, motor, trolling motor even graphs you need to plan for the sale of your boat while your optioning that very boat, kind of boring and very passionless. Now most guys on here will keep their boats longer than any brand of boat in the business, I dont have those #s but BCB may let us know the %s. Have you chosen a dealer and or are you only covered for service by lets say Yamaha or Mercury? That is something to think about, alot of dealers these days are open minded and want to earn ALL motor business so they offer and train themselves on a variety of brands. I prefer Evinrudes E-TEC myself, where Phil above is a Die-Hard Mercury Guy. At our marina we sell the 2 top brands in our area, Evinrude and Mercury, we sell Evinrude 30 to 1 to Mercury, but thats simply us and what we sell for boats. I feel that with Mercurys Opitmax Pro XS motors, Evinrudes H.O. E-TECs and Yamahas new UN released Vmax 4stroke that a consumer needs to drive and test along with getting opinions from forums. Alot of folks are stuck in their ways and will not try the New Toyota Tundra, the New 4 Stroke outboard for bass boats, or whatever. I think that tried and true for a Bass Cat is the E-TEC and Optimax, service wise Mercury has 10 times the service centers, (you will need them), ha,ha,ha,ha….The truth is ALL of the big 3 break, they all have inheritent problems or had problems, typically you get a 5yr motor warranty and ALL 3 of the brands are good to work with. I have data on both the . Luckily the opti and etec have been out and refined now for some time in 1 form or another. Call me if you would like to talk about the #s and as Phil stated above for the $1000 dollars or close get the 250 HO or Pro XS, the 225 is fine and if this is your first 20 footer then it will be more than enough, the 225 HO on my customers 2008 Puma (regular) he gets 78mph alone, with a full tourney load hes getting 75-76 depending on the amount of fuel, with a 250 those #s would be 78-82ish, some guys like Doug McGee and Denny Rhead got 83-84 I think Doug got 85 once but no one would really run one light with low gas and the right prop. Sorry for the long post but your in a Exciting time of boat buying looking at the Ultimate 20 Footer in my opinion, where else can you get a 20 foot with a 250 HO or Pro XS Loaded, with every option and some available that no one else even offers like(20inch rims,grab pole/step,etc) most of the advantage elites can be had for the price of a 19 footer from the competitors and you still get the best build quality in the business, in my opinion. Happy shopping and if you have any motor,COLOR or option questions please do not hesitate to call me or send me a message on here. Brannon 920-295-2069 (anytime) MARKSQUALITYMARINE.COM Last edited by bworner on December 7th, 2009, 4:32 am, edited 1 time in total.Your Signature …
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