Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Still sniffing around to a possible upgrade. Here is what I currently have:

22' South Bay, twin tubes, with 115hp.

Want to get some additional speed/power but not necessarily a much longer boat. First thoughts were 25' with 200+ hp.

After talking it over with the wife, we think a 23' tri-toon is plenty big for our needs. We finally got rid of the ski boat so this new pontoon will be used to pull a tube or two along with doing some knee boarding (and maybe a wake board on occasion).

So with this in mind, various dealers have suggested that a 150HP will be all I need (of course I like the price of that). They also claim that the jump in horsepower is as follows:

115hp to 150hp - noticeable difference
150hp to 175hp - minimal difference
150hp to 200hp - noticeable difference

Thoughts?

Also given any of your experience, what type of price increase should I expect going from 150hp to 200hp on the engine (4 stroke Yamaha or Merc).

Thanks in advance for your replies!

I'm perfectly satisfied with my Bennington with a F150 Yamaha.

Just make sure you go tritoons with lifting strakes, as getting the nosecones out of the water is how you get the speed and efficiency out of the larger motor. And there is quite a bit of difference between the 115's and the 150's.

To jump to the 200 hp motor (over a 150), you're looking at about $2800 just for the motor--not including beefier transoms and toons in some cases.

Here's an idea; go test drive a 150 with power assisted steering and see how much fun it can be. I tested out a Benny 150 with an ESP hull and it was a sweet ride. The extra you'd spend on the 175 would about cover the steering upgrade.

we have a benny with the 150 yamaha. Pulls tubes great. Pulls the wifey on 2 skis fast enough. On one ski i have to run it wide open. I would like to not have to go WFO pulling her slalom but she likes to ski in that 25-28MPH range. Other than that instance we love the 150.

Just sold my Southbay 22 with a 115. I was not going to make the same mistake twice so I ordered a 25' boat with a 300. Do I need it no, but its there when I want it now.

2 Toons with strakes and underskin on my 24'6" South Bay with a Merc 4stroke 150 and not a single complaint. Plenty of power when I need it.

hootowlhollow wrote:we have a benny with the 150 yamaha. Pulls tubes great. Pulls the wifey on 2 skis fast enough. On one ski i have to run it wide open. I would like to not have to go WFO pulling her slalom but she likes to ski in that 25-28MPH range. Other than that instance we love the 150.

need to see a video of this to believe it!

I'd scratch any 175hp option, just about ever one out there is just a higher strung 150hp based engine. 150 seems to make most "triple-logger" tune perform as intended but may need to be run WOT for water sports. I think the 23' with a 200hp is a sweet package that's easy to trailer and handle.

This article might be of some worth to you if you can get your hands on:
Pontoon and Deck Boat Magazine, March 2014, p34, Putting Dollars to Horses, Engine Price Comparisons did some retail price averaging between Evinrude, Yamaha, Mercury, Suzuki and Honda.

115 @ 11,842
150 @ 15,027
175 @ 16,786
200 @ 19,378
225 @ 22,313
250 @ 23,276

My dealer also had a chart showing miles per hour vs. horsepower of the engines so I could see if buying extra horses was worth the money I was about to fork over.

Many thanks for all the feedback guys! I am going to price a 23 w/150 and 200. If less than $3k-$4k difference I might just opt for the 200 if I end up doing this.

Make sure you don't exceed the max HP rating for your boat. I believe others have reported on here that your boat insurance may be voided if you have an accident with a motor bigger than the max allowed.
I was entertaining the thought of upgrading my Yamaha to 300 (my Benni is rated up to 350 HP). The dealer said to expect about 5 mph for every 25 hp increase, but then he told me that I would need additional hardware that would drive the price up even more. I decided I can be happy where I am engine wise!

bassn386 wrote:Make sure you don't exceed the max HP rating for your boat. I believe others have reported on here that your boat insurance may be voided if you have an accident with a motor bigger than the max allowed.
I was entertaining the thought of upgrading my Yamaha to 300 (my Benni is rated up to 350 HP). The dealer said to expect about 5 mph for every 25 hp increase, but then he told me that I would need additional hardware that would drive the price up even more. I decided I can be happy where I am engine wise!

Good point and I checked into this already. All the tri-toon 23' models I am looking at will accept up to 300 hp. All the twin-toon 23' will only accept up to 150hp.

bassn386 wrote:Make sure you don't exceed the max HP rating for your boat. I believe others have reported on here that your boat insurance may be voided if you have an accident with a motor bigger than the max allowed.
I was entertaining the thought of upgrading my Yamaha to 300 (my Benni is rated up to 350 HP). The dealer said to expect about 5 mph for every 25 hp increase, but then he told me that I would need additional hardware that would drive the price up even more. I decided I can be happy where I am engine wise!

I would say 5 for 50 not 25hp. Rule of thumb is 1 mph for every 10 hp . Of course this has tons of variables but it is the most accurate rough assesment if there is such a thing. It also only pertains to the top of the scale performance wise .

BobL wrote:

bassn386 wrote:Make sure you don't exceed the max HP rating for your boat. I believe others have reported on here that your boat insurance may be voided if you have an accident with a motor bigger than the max allowed.
I was entertaining the thought of upgrading my Yamaha to 300 (my Benni is rated up to 350 HP). The dealer said to expect about 5 mph for every 25 hp increase, but then he told me that I would need additional hardware that would drive the price up even more. I decided I can be happy where I am engine wise!

Good point and I checked into this already. All the tri-toon 23' models I am looking at will accept up to 300 hp. All the twin-toon 23' will only accept up to 150hp.

Make sure you check with your insurance company and see what they will insure up too. SEVERAL years ago I bought a bass boat with a 175 motor. That was the max that the boat was rated for but my insurance would only insure up to 150hp regardless of what the boat was rated for. We were able to get it insured through another company but mine wouldn't touch it. Im sure a lot have changed but it surprised me when I found out that my insurance company wouldn't cover a boat that I have money against and my bank was saying that I HAD to insure it.

Very happy with my Verado 150 on my 25 foot Harris tritoon....of course being male I always would love more power!