Opinions on Mercury Verados & Suzukis

[Policeman44]

I have recently looked at a couple of boats i'm interested in however, one boat has a 300 Verado the other a 250 Suzuki...i have been told by trusted sources to stay far away from the Verado.... Just wanted some opinions
by you savvy humans !!!

 

[bigdogg1]

Will let the Verado owners weigh in. I have never owned one. I have owned a couple of 150+ HP Suzuki's over the years and they were definitely worth their weight. Fine performance and economy and reliability. Only issue was getting parts when needed.

 

[the fog ducker]

ive heard nothing but good things about the Verados here out west , i meet dozens of people here at the very high traffic marina ,
and a few here on the forum , Mercury has came along way in the past 15 years , starting to see WAY more Mercs on the water ,
people that have fished with me this season , love my new Merc 115 Seapro , so quite , powerful and smooth ,
looking forward to installing my ny 350 Verado on my 24 Striper , starting next week , FINALLY !!
ive ran new Verados on buddies boats , love them...
Im sure the Zukes are great too , there also all over the wcvi...

m2b
fd

 

[BCI]

If it's a Gen1 Verado you'll have to make sure all the updates have been done. After that they have been rock solid motors.

One thing to keep in mind is if you plan to run a kicker all day with a tie-bar to a Verado engine, the Verado power steering will kill your battery very quickly. It consumes more power than the kicker puts out and it consumes the power with or without the steering wheel turning.

 

[BCI]

 

[the fog ducker]

If it's a Gen1 Verado you'll have to make sure all the updates have been done. After that they have been rock solid motors.

One thing to keep in mind is if you plan to run a kicker all day with a tie-bar to a Verado engine, the Verado power steering will kill your battery very quickly. It consumes more power than the kicker puts out and it consumes the power with or without the steering wheel turning.

not just the Mercs that do this , my buddies twin 350 Yammy's also have this problem , really stupid design ,
im going to bypass the power steering , at my own risk , and get the adpater to the factory steering ram built onto the motor ,
i know guys that have done this with no issues !! again , at your own risk....most dealers and techs will tell ya NOT to do this ,
see what happens , with the motor trimmed up slightly , it reduces the counter steer drastically , leave it in that position ,
you should be fine imo , im not gonna be runnin full throttle , or doin 1/4 mile drags lol

m2b

fd

 

[paulo]

I have a 2006 115 Suzuki. It came with the boat when I bought it. I was bummed to say the least as I really wanted a Yamaha. This engine has completely won me over. Power, fuel economy over all performance. Yes, the one downside is not enough designated mechanics and parts can and will be an issue. Having said that, care for your engine, do your oil changes on time and you should not have major problems. These engines , cared for properly should run to at least 3000hrs. A number of west coast fishing resorts use them for their fleets. Cheers.

 

[SteelyDan]

I've had 2, first was a 2013 225 now a 2016 300. Had a bunch of small issues like poppet valve and was going through pencil coils like crazy until I finally replaced them all. Been running good ever since.

 

[BCI]

not just the Mercs that do this , my buddies twin 350 Yammy's also have this problem , really stupid design ,
im going to bypass the power steering , at my own risk , and get the adpater to the factory steering ram built onto the motor ,
i know guys that have done this with no issues !! again , at your own risk....most dealers and techs will tell ya NOT to do this ,
see what happens , with the motor trimmed up slightly , it reduces the counter steer drastically , leave it in that position ,
you should be fine imo , im not gonna be runnin full throttle , or doin 1/4 mile drags lol

m2b

fd

Hi Felix,

There is a slight difference between the Merc power steering and the seastar power assist that is used on the Yamahas. The Merc power steering is always drawing 15-20 amps. The steering cylinder acts as a two way valve that opens and closes the steering circuit to let the fluid through. The Seastar power steering only draws large current when the steering wheel is turning. Having said that, I'm sure both would drain the batteries quickly when fishing only off the kicker.

I like the way you're going with the manual hydraulic system on your V350. That's the way to go for your setup.

 

[Trophy]

I have a 2014 200 HP Verado purchased new from Rods Sail and Marine in
Pt Alberni. Had a issue with random loss of power. Dealer was great at after sales service but it took several tries to finally diagnose the random cause. Mecury stood behind motor and assisted dealer with issue. Runs great now, smooth acceleration, quiet, great gas mileage, powerful. Thinking of a new kicker, will definately look at the merc big foot.

 

[Fox]

Suzuki for the 6 year warranty out of the box. I’m not a big fan of having to purchase extended warranty. If the manufacturers thought a motor was good for 6+years they would have that as their base warranty. People that buy extended warranty and don’t have any issues are the ones that ultimately pay for a failure on an extended warranty motor. I have way more confidence in a company who puts a decent warranty on the motor instead of the standard 3 year bullcrap

 

[sly_karma]

When I go to Haida Gwaii I fish with a friend there who has a Trophy 26 with a 3 yr old Verado 300 on it. I take the helm occasionally and love the responsiveness of this engine; the torque out of the hole is more like a 2 stroke than a 4 stroke. He has a 15 kicker but we rarely use it because the trolling mode on the Verado is so good. It has + and - buttons that change engine speed by 10 rpm with every tap. Super easy and very precise speed control.

 

[the fog ducker]

X2
the troll mode feature is the bomb , no need to touch the throttle leaver , 2 simple buttons on the gauges , , so easy to adjust the rpm's , especially with newby drivers , just tell them to bump it up so many rpms , no guessing , done in tenths ''''
best feature ever , Quietest 115 ive been arond for sure , so far so good , zero issues in 300 hrs

time to start putting a serious effort on hangin the new 350 Verado off my real boat lol
gonna be a sweet set-up , cleanest install ever , get rid of all that crappy factory striper wiring , pretty sure after this ,
there wont be one factory piece of garbage part left on it..
cant wait to run her again...

fd

 

[kevind]

X2
the troll mode feature is the bomb , no need to touch the throttle leaver , 2 simple buttons on the gauges , , so easy to adjust the rpm's , especially with newby drivers , just tell them to bump it up so many rpms , no guessing , done in tenths ''''
best feature ever , Quietest 115 ive been arond for sure , so far so good , zero issues in 300 hrs

time to start putting a serious effort on hangin the new 350 Verado off my real boat lol
gonna be a sweet set-up , cleanest install ever , get rid of all that crappy factory striper wiring , pretty sure after this ,
there wont be one factory piece of garbage part left on it..
cant wait to run her again...

fd

Your neighbor is starting to get tired of looking over at that neglected boat with no power on it. Lol

 

[Stizzla]

To each their own, but I’d much rather log all my trolling hours on a $3000 kicker than a $30,000 main. In other threads currently, you can see value loss and difficulty selling a newer motor with 1,000+ hours. Yet nobody seems to ask about hours on a 2004 kicker. They just cough up the $1500.
Glad you are enjoying them though! The verado’s look nice too.

 

[wildmanyeah]

my mechanic told me that the verado's has been a disaster for mercury, they apparently got some european company to design them and getting parts has been a nightmare for northern lodges who were forced to jerry rig them to get them working. Hardly any compatible parts with older mercs.

Apparently the new mercs coming out now are much better than the Verados and solve some of the parts issues.

 

[the fog ducker]

Your neighbor is starting to get tired of looking over at that neglected boat with no power on it. Lol

Probably because he’s too busy putting fish in other peoples freezers

 

[the fog ducker]

I’m not too concerned about how many hours I put on my main motor I bought it to use it ! When it explodes or has 10,000 hours on it I will buy another one
I’m going to guess most of you guys on here put on less than 100 hours a year most motors these days will outlast you

 

[SteelyDan]

To each their own, but I’d much rather log all my trolling hours on a $3000 kicker than a $30,000 main. In other threads currently, you can see value loss and difficulty selling a newer motor with 1,000+ hours. Yet nobody seems to ask about hours on a 2004 kicker. They just cough up the $1500.
Glad you are enjoying them though! The verado’s look nice too.

The troll control is sweet but I put the hours on my prokicker. If they could only add that feature to the kicker...

 

[the fog ducker]

i will bow out , feel like ive jacked the thread ,my bad , sorry pm44
im referrin to my smaller New Merc Seapro 115 hp on troll , not my vrod , i would never troll on my 350 unless absolutely needed ,
the comment about bein a disaster is complete bs , gen2 are solid , getting parts of any manufacture up north is a pain in the butt

m2b
out....

fd