Motor is ordered
 

After making a dozen plus phone calls this week, I have settled on a supplier for a Mercury 4S 150 XL. Every dealer had about the same reaction; no, we do not have any in stock, but we can order you one. Most said 12 weeks lead time, with some saying 6 or even 12 months. Prices for just the motor ranged from low $12k to MSRP of $14.7k. Rigging and installation was another $4k or so.

I chose to go with Tracker Marine / Bass Pro Shops in Foxboro. They said 10 weeks and had the lowest price so it was not too hard of a decision. I am hoping their large buying power and relationship with Mercury will mean that 10 weeks is accurate. A couple of the smaller dealers I called actually recommended Tracker Marine so that was a positive as well.

Some paperwork to do and then plenty of work on the boat before the end of June and hopefully I am on the water this Summer. :)

Wow that sounds like a nice motor. Congrats! Let’s see some pictures when you get it on the boat.

Nice pick..

Strick

Sounds good. I think you will like that Merc. It apparently is a Hoss of a 150

I think you'll be real happy with that engine on your 20. We had five adults on our 150 Merc powered 23' Sceptre the other day, and she easily hopped right up on plane, cruised comfortably at 30mph with lots of throttle left, and got around 3.5 mpg.

Best of luck on the new motor! What color did you pick?

CONGRATS! That's a great motor. What was the breakdown for the rigging? 4k seems like a LOT

Congrats! I looked hard at Merc’s and that’s pretty close to what I was quoted here for rigging.

I hope your wait is short, it’s life is long, and the maintenance is low. Keep us posted on numbers and pics!

Thanks. I'm certainly looking forward to it. I never got that far to get a breakdown, but it was about $2k for rigging and ranged from $1k-2k for installation.

I have to get some measurements and take some pictures then meet with the rigging staff at BPS to figure out lengths of cables and such. Because it is such a tight helm area I am planning to go with side mount controls.

They had no problem with me shopping around once we figure out what I need. Who knows? Maybe they will have the best prices on everything else too. Even if it is close and reasonable I will stick with them.

Haha, thanks. I do have more assembly pics of my progress to add to my build thread. I will get some of those up. Cruise, top end, minimum planing speed and MPG at each will be interesting to see and I will share when the time comes.

The Merc 150 is a strong and reliable motor that you will be very happy with. If they were fly by wire I would consider a pair on a repower on my boat.

The boat and motor market has certainly gotten ugly over the last few years. Less than 4 years ago my DF300AP was $18k installed with fly by wire controls and a prop. Glad I have another 2-3000 more hours to put on it before I have to worry about it.

You are so right Ken....ugly, like the whole boat market! End of 2017 the same engine and package, from the same dealer you used was $19,300, now they would look at you like you have snakes growing out of your head if you asked for those numbers!! :)