Many years ago my father had a 17-Foot Montauk Boston Whaler. The boat was set up with a 90 HP OMC that we put many hours on and it was time to repower. At that time 2-stoke oil injected outboards were just coming into the market so dad did some extensive research to try and find a motor that would serve us with many years of reliable service. Yamaha had a huge jump on this technology since they had been manufacturing motorcycles and recreational vehicles with oil injection for an extended period of time. Dad decided to give the Yamaha a try since they had the most tried and true technology. Over the next ten years I would be willing to bet that we put close to 2 or 3 thousand hours on that motor and it never missed a beat. The 90 was truly bullet proof.
I would love to say that all Yamaha products are bullet proof; however, we all know that some manufactures have a few products that fall short of our expectations. A number of years ago I had a 250 HPDI from Yamaha that gave me some serious issues. After some frustrating lost time on the water a local dealer with a great reputation for customer service went to bat for me and they worked out a deal with Yamaha that was in my best interest. Yamaha followed up with me several times since then to ensure that I have been satisfied with my 4-stoke 250 and to date it has been very reliable.
A close friend of mine reached out to me recently to ensure I was aware of some other issues that Yamaha has going on with their larger 4-stoke outboards. If you have a 225 HP 4-stoke from Yamaha you may want to check out this link from Boat US. Yamaha has not come out and admitted to any type of known defects; but as a consumer you need to be aware there are some potential issues with this product. http://www.boatus.com/magazine/2012/october/Yamaha-F225-Corrosion-Complaints.asp.
Tight lines
Captain Tim Pickett
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