opinions needed for new boat!

carolina-rig-01 · 01-13-07, 03:50 AM

mrs. carolina-rig-01 and i went to a boat show the other day, and i finally got her beat into submission on buying a new boat. we pretty much decided on stratos and now my questions begin. first off we are looking at 2 models 1. 285 xl and 2. 294 xl. now assuming i have 2 average sized guys and a tourny load, what could i expect performance to be with a 150 on the 285 and a 200 on the 294? i know motors will make a difference and i am asking on a motor to motor basis (opti max, vmax, and erude ho) are my options. also this will be my first "new" boat and i was wondering as a general rule how much could i expect to talk down the price. and finally if you were in the market what would you expect them to throw in free as far as tourny shirts, life jackets, boat cover ect.? all help will be appreciated.

zooker · 01-13-07, 05:22 AM

with a 150 on a 285 you will see 60's. the 294 upper 60's -maybe-

if you fish open lakes with alot of wind big waves go with the 294. here in these smaller lakes the 285 is the best choice.

stratos boats are a good quality boat for the money. i have had zero problems with mine..

i would think good and long on a yamaha. yamaha's of this size have the fewest problems of any out board moters. the one thing you will almost never have to do is change or fix the eletrionics. yamaha will use just about any brand oil on the market..

mercurys well they are faster -about 1 mph average-tend to blow up with out notice. are about $2k more for the same moter.

e-tech'
ok fairly they are a quiet 2 stroke moter that is very fuel saving. but the engine oil right now cost $36 a GALLON. and you can not use any other type of oil. go with the xp100-make it clear to the dealer this is what you intend on running..

now on extra's dont take it off the lot with out there shipping cover..or the stock cover with it.. the only warranty you really need to have extended is the moter..trust me $600 is costly but you don't fix the moter for under $1000now a days..
request DISC brakes these are much better and less trouble free than drum-work better too-
now personally i am a hard nosed a$$ when it comes to buying a boat..i told the dealer to remove all stickers showing his dealer ship off the boat.he said"but what if poeple want to know where it came from" i said i would tell them. these stickers are free advertisements.. i told the dealer if he wanted to leave the stickers on the boat it was going to cost him $1000 each off the purchase price...

i have 2 on my boat...

zooker

1FASTLASER · 01-13-07, 10:15 AM

Well ifn I was making that descion it would be the 294 HANDS DOWN. This comes from the fact after running the boat for awhile you will soon see that 1ft does make a diffwerence in running in bad weather or water conditions,more room,AND you have the options of upgrading the 200 for some serious performance gains. I personally am a die hard mercury man. Always have always will be. @nd choice would be Yamaha HANDS DOWN. The Merc is the fastest with Yamaha being a VERY CLOSE 2nd. Yamaha has VERY little issues. For the most part yamaha will give you trouble free service. As far as performance later on there are many many ways of up the performance on the 2.5 motors and beleive me they WAKE up with some of these modifications. Dont get me wrong the 150 will wake up as well you just have to do more. Hydro Tech just south or Springfeild offers 3 packages for varying amounts of performance and they have a TOP NOTCH EXCELLANT service with almost NO problems after they do the modifications on the Yamaha's. A Stock 200 Merc cant compete with one of Hydro Tech's motors. They stand behind there products and as of yet I have heard of NO problems AT ALL. Yes the Merc's have had some problems but that was due to alot of people thinking they could just turn the key and run. Running the big Mer'c there are some do's and don't's. All you have to do is remeber these and the Merc will give you years of relatively trouble free service. Just like a high performance car there are just things you have to do. The stratos is a GREAT BOAT HANDS DOWN. I personally dont know of any issues with there products. I hope ZOOKER and I have helped you out and ifn ya have any more questions just holler.

Bass Hunter · 01-13-07, 01:36 PM

Iam in the same situation I talked to my boat mech. he rec. the mercury. He said the tech. on the e-tech is to new , but I think stratos is the boat.

carolina-rig-01 · 01-13-07, 02:47 PM

thanks laser and zooker, i really appreciate your help.

1FASTLASER · 01-13-07, 04:55 PM

No problem buddy. Thats what we here for.

1FASTLASER · 01-13-07, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bass Hunter

Iam in the same situation I talked to my boat mech. he rec. the mercury. He said the tech. on the e-tech is to new , but I think stratos is the boat.

Welcome to the site. Lemme point out there are some do's and don'ts ifn ya buy the Merc. I promise ya if ya follow a few things that are "Merc Specific" that boat and motor combo will give you relatively trouble free operation. One of the big things is if running the boat in cold weather you MUST allow the engine to warm up enough that the T-Stats open. If ya do that you shouldnt have any problems with cold seizing the motr. There are some other do and dont things and I would be glad to enlighten you on these if ya by Merc. I have owned several Merc's and am a DIE HARD Merc man. Yes I own a SLOMC right now but I got a good deal on it. I might also suggest if ya looking at the 294 and the Merc get the 200 Optimax. A great engine. The Yamaha would also make a GREAT engine...as I said before Yamaha is the only engine out there that can come close to running with those black motors. Lemme ask ya this Do ya see any OMC'S running the F1 circut. NOPE they cant do it. Yamaha has come SO close it hurts me to say it they almost beat out the merc's several times.

Bender · 01-14-07, 10:16 AM

carolina-rig-01, I just went to a boat show yesterday and looked at the 285 XL and really like it. I fished out of one last year and it was great. 100% of my fishing is on smaller inland lakes, but Lake Saint Clair and Erie are not too far away. That is making me wonder about the bigger boat. It costs about 25% more though, which is probably more than I can afford.

carolina-rig-01 · 01-14-07, 07:47 PM

i ordered some catalogs from stratos and it showed that they were running a special on the 294. with a 200 vmax it was like $1,000 more than the 285 with a 150 optimax. if that was the case i am really interested but if it is much more then i will settle for the 285. i fish some lakes that get rough from time to time, but nothing the 285 won't handle.

PowerBass · 01-15-07, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bender

carolina-rig-01, I just went to a boat show yesterday and looked at the 285 XL and really like it. I fished out of one last year and it was great. 100% of my fishing is on smaller inland lakes, but Lake Saint Clair and Erie are not too far away. That is making me wonder about the bigger boat. It costs about 25% more though, which is probably more than I can afford.

Go with somethign around 18 foot? Isnt that the perfect balance?

FLFEDANGLER · 01-16-07, 03:18 PM

Just keep in mind that the VMax will burn more fuel vs Optimax or HPDI.

zooker · 01-16-07, 07:29 PM

umm v max moters are the hdpi moters...

zooker

01-13-07, 03:50 AM	#1
carolina-rig-01 BassFishin.Com Premier Elite Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Webb City, MO Posts: 6,387	opinions needed for new boat! mrs. carolina-rig-01 and i went to a boat show the other day, and i finally got her beat into submission on buying a new boat. we pretty much decided on stratos and now my questions begin. first off we are looking at 2 models 1. 285 xl and 2. 294 xl. now assuming i have 2 average sized guys and a tourny load, what could i expect performance to be with a 150 on the 285 and a 200 on the 294? i know motors will make a difference and i am asking on a motor to motor basis (opti max, vmax, and erude ho) are my options. also this will be my first "new" boat and i was wondering as a general rule how much could i expect to talk down the price. and finally if you were in the market what would you expect them to throw in free as far as tourny shirts, life jackets, boat cover ect.? all help will be appreciated.

01-13-07, 05:22 AM	#2
zooker BassFishin.Com Premier Elite Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: denton nc Posts: 13,441	with a 150 on a 285 you will see 60's. the 294 upper 60's -maybe- if you fish open lakes with alot of wind big waves go with the 294. here in these smaller lakes the 285 is the best choice. stratos boats are a good quality boat for the money. i have had zero problems with mine.. i would think good and long on a yamaha. yamaha's of this size have the fewest problems of any out board moters. the one thing you will almost never have to do is change or fix the eletrionics. yamaha will use just about any brand oil on the market.. mercurys well they are faster -about 1 mph average-tend to blow up with out notice. are about $2k more for the same moter. e-tech' ok fairly they are a quiet 2 stroke moter that is very fuel saving. but the engine oil right now cost $36 a GALLON. and you can not use any other type of oil. go with the xp100-make it clear to the dealer this is what you intend on running.. now on extra's dont take it off the lot with out there shipping cover..or the stock cover with it.. the only warranty you really need to have extended is the moter..trust me $600 is costly but you don't fix the moter for under $1000now a days.. request DISC brakes these are much better and less trouble free than drum-work better too- now personally i am a hard nosed a$$ when it comes to buying a boat..i told the dealer to remove all stickers showing his dealer ship off the boat.he said"but what if poeple want to know where it came from" i said i would tell them. these stickers are free advertisements.. i told the dealer if he wanted to leave the stickers on the boat it was going to cost him $1000 each off the purchase price... i have 2 on my boat... zooker __________________ the godfather.. aml in remission since 7-20-09

01-13-07, 10:15 AM	#3
1FASTLASER BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: crossett,arkansas Posts: 2,777	Well ifn I was making that descion it would be the 294 HANDS DOWN. This comes from the fact after running the boat for awhile you will soon see that 1ft does make a diffwerence in running in bad weather or water conditions,more room,AND you have the options of upgrading the 200 for some serious performance gains. I personally am a die hard mercury man. Always have always will be. @nd choice would be Yamaha HANDS DOWN. The Merc is the fastest with Yamaha being a VERY CLOSE 2nd. Yamaha has VERY little issues. For the most part yamaha will give you trouble free service. As far as performance later on there are many many ways of up the performance on the 2.5 motors and beleive me they WAKE up with some of these modifications. Dont get me wrong the 150 will wake up as well you just have to do more. Hydro Tech just south or Springfeild offers 3 packages for varying amounts of performance and they have a TOP NOTCH EXCELLANT service with almost NO problems after they do the modifications on the Yamaha's. A Stock 200 Merc cant compete with one of Hydro Tech's motors. They stand behind there products and as of yet I have heard of NO problems AT ALL. Yes the Merc's have had some problems but that was due to alot of people thinking they could just turn the key and run. Running the big Mer'c there are some do's and don't's. All you have to do is remeber these and the Merc will give you years of relatively trouble free service. Just like a high performance car there are just things you have to do. The stratos is a GREAT BOAT HANDS DOWN. I personally dont know of any issues with there products. I hope ZOOKER and I have helped you out and ifn ya have any more questions just holler. __________________ Laser's rule with Merc's doing the pushing..........KEEP THE WETSIDE DOWN AND THE DRY SIDE UP!!!!!!

01-13-07, 04:55 PM	#6
1FASTLASER BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: crossett,arkansas Posts: 2,777	No problem buddy. Thats what we here for. __________________ Laser's rule with Merc's doing the pushing..........KEEP THE WETSIDE DOWN AND THE DRY SIDE UP!!!!!!

01-16-07, 07:29 PM	#12
zooker BassFishin.Com Premier Elite Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: denton nc Posts: 13,441	umm v max moters are the hdpi moters... zooker __________________ the godfather.. aml in remission since 7-20-09

01-13-07, 01:36 PM	#4
Bass Hunter BassFishin.Com Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 3	Iam in the same situation I talked to my boat mech. he rec. the mercury. He said the tech. on the e-tech is to new , but I think stratos is the boat.

01-13-07, 02:47 PM	#5
carolina-rig-01 BassFishin.Com Premier Elite Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Webb City, MO Posts: 6,387	thanks laser and zooker, i really appreciate your help.

01-14-07, 10:16 AM	#8
Bender BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Brighton, MI Posts: 2,414	carolina-rig-01, I just went to a boat show yesterday and looked at the 285 XL and really like it. I fished out of one last year and it was great. 100% of my fishing is on smaller inland lakes, but Lake Saint Clair and Erie are not too far away. That is making me wonder about the bigger boat. It costs about 25% more though, which is probably more than I can afford.

01-14-07, 07:47 PM	#9
carolina-rig-01 BassFishin.Com Premier Elite Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Webb City, MO Posts: 6,387	i ordered some catalogs from stratos and it showed that they were running a special on the 294. with a 200 vmax it was like $1,000 more than the 285 with a 150 optimax. if that was the case i am really interested but if it is much more then i will settle for the 285. i fish some lakes that get rough from time to time, but nothing the 285 won't handle.

01-16-07, 03:18 PM	#11
FLFEDANGLER BassFishin.Com Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Panama City, Fl. Posts: 12	Just keep in mind that the VMax will burn more fuel vs Optimax or HPDI.

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