Repowering a 23' 1986 Sceptre with either a 250hp

[Kurts1953]

Thanks for the input guys. I will go with the 250 optimax. That was what my dealer suggested as well. By the way I have a 115 optimax on a 16 foot flats boat that I built and really love the motor. It sips the fuel. Thanks again

[Kurts1953]

Well it took awhile but I finally repowered the 23 Sceptre with a 250 Yamaha four stroke (30" shaft). I wound up getting a extra 3 year waranty free for a total of six. I had a old 225 Ocean Pro which ran fine but just ate up the gas and was very difficult to start and did not push the boat very good. With the new 250 Yamaha FS the boat seems totaly different in the way it performs. I am going by the Yamaha gauges but at 3600 RPM the boat does 24 MPH and burns 7.8 GPH. At 4,000 RPM the boat does 30 MPH and burns 9.3 GPH. It tops out at 5,700 RPM and 42 MPH . I have made several short fishing trips and the gas guage needle has not skyrocked down like when I had the ocean pro on it. In fact it does not seem to have moved much atr all. I think I will be doing a lot running in the 3,800 RPM range which puts my around 27-28 MPH at about 8.4 GPH. So far so good.

[eggsuckindog]

A 30 inch shaft - thought you had a standard transom

[Kurts1953]

I do have a standard tramsom however for $500 they made a custom aluminum fill in bracket and stanless steel backing plate . They did this so I could fully tilt the motor out of the water.