The 6,800-Hour Yamaha F150s

Scott Connelly and Chip Deaton are the proprietors of Charleston Water Taxi. Each day, their 40-foot, 16,000-pound catamaran runs multiple trips across Charleston Harbor, transporting 100+ passengers. So when they invested in twin Yamaha F150s for their business, they were expecting a lot from their outboards. What they didn’t expect was that six years and thousands of hours later, they’d resell them to someone who would also come to depend on them.

Tim Boczon, the second owner of the twin Yamaha F150s, was an avid offshore angler. He repowered his Grady White with the pre-owned F150s and immediately put them to the test. He dropped his boat into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Freeport, Texas. "I traveled as far out as 25 miles and had no trouble whatsoever with the outboards," said Boczon.  "They always gave me a smooth performance and I never felt I had to compromise in terms of overall power. Yamaha’s technology is obviously built to last."

When asked what they did to maintain their F150s, Connelly answered very simply, "We really didn’t do that much." "Every time we fuel up, we add a couple of ounces of Ring Free to keep the carbon down; we keep the oil changed, and once or twice a year, we replace the plugs and water pumps, but that’s about it," he explained. 

Connelly went on to say, "As you can imagine, we have had to replace a few parts—thermostats, plugs, etc.—but really just basics, which is amazing considering the conditions in which we run and the time we put on the outboards every day."

When Connelly and Deaton sold their twin F150s to Tim Boczon in 2011, they replaced them with another set of Yamaha F150s. Today, those "new" F150s each have nearly 5,300 hours on them.

"I truly believe that, if we had gone with another manufacturer’s outboards, we would not have gotten the hours we have on our Yamahas," said Connelly. "Yamaha will be our power of choice again and again. You just can’t beat that kind of reliability and durability."

With that said, anyone on the market for a couple of pre-owned Yamaha F150s? We happen to know a couple of guys who should be just about ready to sell.

But that story’s just for starters. Wait until you hear the one about "Old Crusty".