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My brother bought a new Charger DL/200 Johnson in 1989. It's a great boat and he plans to keep it forever. Sooner or later, hopefully later as he has to pay for two kids to go to university, the boat will need restoring.

Can a DL handle the weight of the big block DI motors? Sorry Rick, it would be a 200 HO, not a Yamaha. Or would a 200 small block be a better choice.

For my brother's sake I hope the question is hypothetical in the short term. 4 more years of school.

Oh yes, it still runs 73-74 GPS, same as it ever did.

I didn't like the big block on mine...they are already predisposed to porpoising and the extra weight didn't help cruising. My 225 worked really well but my favourite motor was a 200hpdi (2.6 L). Given the way the DL's on the site here run I wouldn't knock Yamaha power until you try it .

Doc, the 200 Yamaha 4 stroke weighs 600 lb and the suggested sales price is $23,000. The 250 SHO weighs about the same as a DI 2 stroke but lists for $25.7K. Yamaha cheat a bit on their claimed weights as they list dry weight. I usually like some oil and cooling water in my 4 strokes. At any rate, those are expensive motors for anyone, let alone someone with 2 in university.

The old 2.6L HPDI motors would have been cool, but they haven't made the 200 for a while. My brother will probably buy new and keep the next motor the rest of his life.

I will relay your point about porpoising. His boat doesn't porpoise at all now with a 450 lb Johnson bolted on the transom. Perhaps he should go 200 Etec small block when he has to do something.

Ohhhh new...ya..he doesn't want an SHO on that boat (do you think BRP includes cooling water in their outboard weights...and of course you don't have a 10L oil reservoir in the boat either Lol). I'd recommend a small block whatever when he decides to update. This is going to be the trouble facing the 18' performance boats in the coming years....big blocks just don't work all that well on the shorter boats and the 4 strokes are at least the weight of BB's.

go for a ride in Tom,s dl (wildcat) will change the way you think about the whole dl ride experience. the 2.6 yammi is soooooo great on that hull! my 2 cents anyway LOL!

Good point about 10L of oil in the boat, but weight in my brother's DL, as compared to hanging off the transom, doesn't seem to effect it much. 73-74 with one up, two up, maybe down a mph with 3 or 4 on board. I like that about the DL, along with the roominess, and the low profile.

Maybe if my XR4 sells (Kijiji last week of May) I'll look at a 2.6 Yamaha for my SS, besides looking black and white.