Anybody seen a Yamaha SHO on a hi-perf boat yet?

[racerx]

Good old Yamaha,they can build a 4 stroke lighter then are 2 strokes of same HP,and there sure is a lot more moving parts in that yammy..

[scott reierson]

Hi Sam,

I drove 2 SHO's at the Ranger Dealer Meeting on Bull Shoals Lake late fall. Did some drag Races against 250 Pro XS and 250 HO-E-TEC on the same hulls. All were pretty close out of the hole. At Mid Track running 3 side by side, the E-TEC and Pro XS pulled away. The 250 HO E-TEC Just felt like it had more overall grunt. Both of of us were neck and neck til I flew the E-TEC boat past the edge and got maybe a boat length, but the boat was way out of shape buy that time. the whole race was about a mile. All ran around 70 GPS with 2 -200lbs guys. A couple of guys told me alone they would run 75 with E-ETC & Pro XS with the SHO just behind them.

The SHO ran good and was a beautiful piece. I preferred the 250 Pro-XS sound at top end. To our surprise we all felt the E-TEC was the most quiet.

The fastest boat I drove alone in at this event was a 300 Verado on a big 522. This was the fastest turning and most responsive Verado I have yet to drive. The 522 is a Big Pad V horse. The boat ran 73 on GPS flyin it.

I drove the 300 Yammy on a Big Robalo on Table Rock early fall. Nice piece but dam they shift loud.

My friends out in Havasu are doing some great stuff with the E-TEC and Pro-XS at 280+ then mid 300++ and living. But i am sure you know all about that.

I drove the 3.2 300 Pro-XS on a couple of Bullet Bassers awhile back at 100+. Nothing that I know of runs like they do. Quiet, Shift Nice, Idle Nice and still sound like a merc. Very impressive.

See ya,

Scott

[Instigator]

Hi Sam,

I drove 2 SHO's at the Ranger Dealer Meeting on Bull Shoals Lake late fall. Did some drag Races against 250 Pro XS and 250 HO-E-TEC on the same hulls. All were pretty close out of the hole. At Mid Track running 3 side by side, the E-TEC and Pro XS pulled away. The 250 HO E-TEC Just felt like it had more overall grunt. Both of of us were neck and neck til I flew the E-TEC boat past the edge and got maybe a boat length, but the boat was way out of shape buy that time. the whole race was about a mile. All ran around 70 GPS with 2 -200lbs guys. A couple of guys told me alone they would run 75 with E-ETC & Pro XS with the SHO just behind them.

The SHO ran good and was a beautiful piece. I preferred the 250 Pro-XS sound at top end. To our surprise we all felt the E-TEC was the most quiet.

The fastest boat I drove alone in at this event was a 300 Verado on a big 522. This was the fastest turning and most responsive Verado I have yet to drive. The 522 is a Big Pad V horse. The boat ran 73 on GPS flyin it.

I drove the 300 Yammy on a Big Robalo on Table Rock early fall. Nice piece but dam they shift loud.

My friends out in Havasu are doing some great stuff with the E-TEC and Pro-XS at 280+ then mid 300++ and living. But i am sure you know all about that.

I drove the 3.2 300 Pro-XS on a couple of Bullet Bassers awhile back at 100+. Nothing that I know of runs like they do. Quiet, Shift Nice, Idle Nice and still sound like a merc. Very impressive.

See ya,

Scott

Awesome stuff, thanks Scott. Great, real world experience.
Guess the HO ain't the second coming like the 4 stroke guys been telling us for the last 2 yrs.
Still, very cool to see a 4 stroke running that good. Now what if they put that much $$/RD into a DI 2 stroke......., hummmhhh. Wonder what would happen

[Fast Fred]

i had one in the tank at Yamaha,made some Pulls with it, then talked to the dudes about keepin the cams locked in on advance. it was nice.

[LaveyT]

Untill someone besides Mercury builds a real 100 mph+ gear case Like the Sporty its pointless.

Why doesnt Bomb or Yamaha go fot it?

[Instigator]

Untill someone besides Mercury builds a real 100 mph+ gear case Like the Sporty its pointless.

Why doesn't Bomb or Yamaha go fot it?

IMO, it's to help control the abuse the motor takes. If you can't jack it to the moon you can't as easily scream the motor. If you can'
t surface the gear case, you can't as easily blow it apart.
Reality is too that the Hi Prf side of things is a tiny % of the business to the major mfgs other than Merc that was smart enough to use it as a marketing tool instead of trying to make a profit generator. I've argued this for decades while OMC put the kebosh on everything Perf related as it cost them money. It's for advertising people!

[ridgerunner]

My best friends neighbor, a basser with a big Ranger, went from a 250 V-MAX DI 2 smoke to the 250 SHO and is still trying to find his lost MPH.. Several props later and the dealer and owner are scratching their heads.

[Sam Baker]

Thanks Scott. That's good info too...it's even hard to find them on the same boat. Of course engine height would come into it now that they don't put the Lightning gearcase on the E-Tec anymore. I wonder if you can mount the engine as high as you can the Yamaha. Also, props from one brand to another might make a difference. It would be interesting to see if each one was rung out and setup to a "t" to see what they all ran. But, from what I've heard, the Yamaha is great out of the ditch and a little softer than the 250HO or 250 Mercury Pro on the big end. Just keeping an eye on the future. Of course, Yamaha makes that same powerhead in a 300HP version too.

[Lockjaw]

My fishing buddies that worked the classic down here at Lay a couple years ago said the SHO's wouldn't handle a merc 250 Pro XS on top. I know these guys all run different kinds of hulls, so that isn't so scientific.

Sam, just put some NOS on it.

[LaveyT]

Good Thread,
it does seem as if the yammi is the first 4-stroke that even comes close to the weight and preformance of a D.I.
I will stick with the smokers.

[RB in NM]

In reference to the SHO coweling, I looked at one at the local Cabla's a week ago,, It sure seems the top part of the cowel cold be trimmed down quite a bit as there sure seemed to be a lot of cosmetic features that looked to increase the overall size. Of course with not lifting the cowel off,,, not able to verify,,, maybe full of junk on top, but there is a lot of 'empty' space towards the rear.

It's a big boy for sure.RB

[whipper]

The 200-225-250 and 300 all share the same block bore and stroke in the SHO. The only differance is how much the ecu allows the throatle bodys to open. I found this interesting. Wayne has tweeked the ecu,s to turn 7000rpm on all these motors. So the 200 can be made to a 300 just buy having the ecu open the butterflys all the way. He also has a moded gearcase with LWP for the SHO with Fatshaft convertion. So really the combo of say a 200 with 7000 rpm 1.75 gears and LWP turning 300hp from the 200 would be right at home on most High Performance boats. The weight on the SHO is destributed more evenly on the SHO over the XS as the Oil res in the midsection lowers the center of gravity. This making the 505lbs less top heavy thats a good thing for Lighter vee hulls like Allisons.

I wouldnt hesitate to run this combo on my GS at all. With the fuel tank moved forward about 6 inches and Battery placed forward, 4-5 inches of setback and a high rake prop to lessen the Parchute effect of the non ratcheting gearset comming of the pad. Ill bet it would be a lot of fun with a 28 pitch high rake prop. Not to mention i could pull 4 skiers out of the hole compared to the 225 Promax barly getting one out!!

I like the low center of gravity of the SHO over some of the other heavy offerings being a little more top heavy? With 200hp for 900 bucks turned 300hp and 7000 rpm over 6000 and 550 for a LWP shaped skeg and gearcase the SHO is looking like a good fuel effitiant high performance combo to me anyway.

The biggest down fall is the 18000 for a new one!!! That buys a lot fuel for a 280 15 incher with 260 electronics and rebuild 4-5 years down the road. Heck for that matter a 300X with Taylor mid and Mike nass carbon cowl would weigh less and be better balanced and way faster with a tweeked acu. Hmmmm Better yet 470hp OMC. Man theres just to many options but the latter ones are great if your not boating Lake Taho.

[BajaBoy]

I've seen 3 250SHO motors throw a rod from water ingestion... these were 25" shafts on salt water fishing boats. I donno if the 20" have this problem. This is not anything new either. I've seen the old V6 4strokes do this too. Yamaha claimed to fix this with the electronic cotrols

[VectorPat]

20" SHOs do not have elec controls.

[BajaBoy]

True. And I understand the 25" SHOs come only with DEC. But the cause of the problem is rapid deceleration which is easier to do with cable throttle. Something to do with back pressure and hot exhaust causing water to shoot back up the exhaust, into the cylinder. Anyone else ever heard of this? I would think it would be even more common with short shaft but never seen one do it... don't see many short shaft 4strokes in my area either.