OK, I broke down and headed to the boat show in Baltimore today hoping to get lucky and find a great deal on a repower for my 1985 20' Grady. The '85 150 Merc. (2.0 liter) has served me well but it is time to retire her. My confidence in her is slipping and I have plans to use the boat more than ever and make longer runs in the upcoming years.<br /><br />I stopped by the booth/area that Almar's Outboards of DE had set up and originally asked about the carb'ed 150, around $7400. The salesman then informs me that since Merc. was unable to supply them with the amount of 4-stroke 115s they wanted, they gave them 135 Optimaxes as a substitute. Almars is now selling the 135s at the same price as the 4-stroke 115s, $6995 w/ a 5 year non-declining warranty. On top of that, they have a $500 rebate.<br /><br />Now for my questions:<br /><br />1. I searched the archives for history on the 135 Optis and got mixed results from the earlier (98 and 99) models but not much on the 00 - 03s. Does anyone have any direct experience with these? The ones in particluar are new '02s.<br /><br />2. What kind of performance should I expect compared to my 2.0 150 Merc? Boat weighs 1995 lbs. unloaded and with a light load, the boat tops out around 41 mph at 5300 twisting a 14 x 19 SS prop. Cruise is between 3600 and 4000, to 28 kts and burning a meager 7.5 gals an hours. How will the Opti compare? The salesman went through all his numbers about fuel savings but was wonder if anyone had some "real" numbers.<br /><br />3. What are the maintenance costs like on this beast?<br /><br />If she runs as good as she looks.....<br /><br />Anyway, I also want to add that I was very impressed by the salesman and mechanic I spoke with from Almar's. The seemed to know the motor top to bottom and immediately had an answer for every one of my questions. I walked away from there with a very good feeling.<br /><br />I also went ahead and reserved a motor for myself for a period of ten days while I do the research and make a decision. No cost or risk to me, so what could it hurt. If everything checks out, I don't want to miss out on that price.<br /><br />What do you all think? Any other information would be greatly appreciated.<br /><br />Thanks.<br /><br />Brian
