2006 Tahoe 215 CC with Mercury 200 HP Verado

[jameswh0]

I am thinking about picking up this boat and it has a 2006 Verado 200HP motor on it. I've been doing a little research on this (as well as my local BassPro shop) and it seems that everyone basically says stay away from this motor due to the repair/maintenance cost of this engine. It only has 146 hours on it.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this subject? Any input would be appreciated.

[Philster]

First of all, they are solid, well-respected engines. "Everybody" is quite overstated.

The problem with all newer, high-tech engines is that they all have expensive parts. This goes for all I/O's and O/B's nowadays. Maybe... MAYBE I would be more confident if it were newer. I don't have 2006 as a problem year (for example, even Yamaha has a run of years where you RUN from certain engines. Merc has some years on the original Optis; Evinrude with Fichts, etc).

People hang three of the Verados on their CC's and run offshore and rack up 1200 hours and they beg for more. Like all engines, you face thousands in repairs if something goes wrong.

What other engines would you consider? Do they merely offer the illusion of being less expensive, because a repair on a pushrod Chevy big block can crack five grand. Yamahas make oil and wear out fast because the oil is thinned. Everybody says so.