Merc or twin 4-tech, which is the better?

[Red0471]

I currently have 04 merc 1800 challenger (and it's a great boat) however I was thinking about a newer boat next season? Most of the newer Seadoo s seem to have rotax motors..... the boat I'm looking at has twin rotax 430 hp. Just want to know if this is a good move? Any insight from anyone that has experience with both types of boats would be great. Thanks

 

[Dr Honda]

Seadoo stopped using the Merc engines in 2005 (2006 for the islandia)

In my opinion... the Rotax engines are better. They make good power, and use less fuel. The only down side, is that a boat with the 4-tec engines will be expensive.

 

[biffdotorg]

The 4-techs are current technology in all the new boats and you would have support from the dealers. That's a huge bonus for those of us that are junior wrench-turners.

On that note, I will run my Merc till it blows and I can't afford to rebuild it. I love the engine and it hauls the mail in our boat! We had yet another fantastic holiday pulling 3-4 kids at a time on big tubes with the boat full. It's reliable power and the boat fits us. We will max the capacity of the tower before the capacity of the engine!

For the performance junkies, I have heard good things about the pair of 215's you are considering. I have heard supercharger rebuilds can be costly on the SC models so keep that in mind if you go down that road. And don't forget, HP = fuel consumption, so don't forget the wallet on the way to the lake. We all have a price to play.

Good luck! You will have fun with all of them.

 

[Red0471]

Thanks for the insight

 

[Red0471]

Thanks for your opinion . You guys and gals on this sight are great!

 

[Igetwet]

i have not owned a rotax motor but i do know they are quality, reliable motors. however if i had the choice i would want one mercury in my boat for multiple reasons.

1. power. yes the supercharged rotaxs may have more hp but in torque there is no comparison. and torque plays a huge roll in jet boats, especially with how big the boats are getting.
2. maintenance. two motors and pumps = twice the maintenance and twice the possibility for something to go wrong.
3. parts/dealer availability. atleast in my area, and im pretty sure its the same everywhere, theres probably 6 mercury dealers to one sea-doo dealer. you can go to a merc dealer and they'd happily work on a 40 year old mercury, no such thing as poor support for the mercurys. plus i can find quicksilver oils/lubes in any local hardware store. cant find that with rotax stuff.
4. fuel consumption. theres no way two motors that are spinning higher rpms are burning less fuel than one motor. ive never had a reason to complain about the fuel consumption from my sport jets.

having said that i dont think i would complain much about have two new rotaxs in my boat. maybe i will in the future. but if i could get two mercury 240s or 250s, now we'd be talking!