Hi all,

I am looking into a purchasing a new Sea Fox 19' center console for
inshore fishing.

If you could pick, what outboard would you choose? The Sea Fox
currently has a 115 Suzuki on it.

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On 26 Feb 2006 10:32:07 -0800, wrote:

Hi all,

I am looking into a purchasing a new Sea Fox 19' center console for
inshore fishing.

If you could pick, what outboard would you choose? The Sea Fox
currently has a 115 Suzuki on it.

Mercury Verado - best outboard on the market.

Huh? I thought you were an E-Tec man.

And the Verado is too heavy. In fact, a 115 is too little engine for a 19'
boat.

I'd get a Suzuki 140. Same weight as the 115 Suzuki, and 25 more ponies.

I bought a Suzuki DF140 in August of 2005. So far it has been great.

The Harbor Patrol nearby is running 2003 DF140s on their boats. The
dealer I bought my motor from had one of the boats in the shop when I
was looking around. The hour meter was at 760 hours. The motor has been
run hard in salt water and seemd to be holding up just fine. There was
an older boat in the shop getting a new DF140 installed to replace an
old 200hp motor. I estimate that the boat was about 23' with a fair
size cabin. The owner was there and I had a nice chat with him. He was
repowering and going smaller. He could never use all of the 200hp
unless the water was like glass. It would pound the hell out of him. I
ran into him last week and asked how he was doing with the new moter.
He was VERY happy with the performance and fuel ecomony. He said he
added about 33% more range with the new motor and could run just as
fast.

The worst things you can do to a motor are sporadic use and poor
maintenance.

The biggest issue is what kind of dealer support you have. Go with the
brand that has the best dealer support in your area. The local Suzuki
dealer also handles Yamahas. If Yamaha made a 140hp four stroke I would
have considered it.

Many people like the new fuel injected two strokes. In theory, they
should be fine. In practice, I don't think that trying to run ANY two
stroke on an extremely lean mixture is going to have long term positive
results. It doesn't matter how tricky the systems are. When a two
stroke doesn't get the right mix they'll fail.

wrote:

Hi all,

I am looking into a purchasing a new Sea Fox 19' center console for
inshore fishing.

If you could pick, what outboard would you choose? The Sea Fox
currently has a 115 Suzuki on it.


My Mercury 115 4 stroke has performed very well. It has a Yamaha power
head so that would be the same.

Thanks for all the advice - I looked at the JD Power ratings, and all
the 4 strokes are showing high satisfaction - Suzuki wasn't included in
the report, but the technology appears to be proven.

http://www.jdpower.com/news/releases...asp?ID=2006025

I also found a JD Power 2006 Boat Competitive Information study that
shows Sea Fox is below average:

http://www.jdpower.com/news/releases...asp?ID=2006026

I don't know how much stock to place in some of these ratings, but it
has slowed me down at bit - more research can't hurt!!!

Anyone with Sea Fox comments?

wrote:


Anyone with Sea Fox comments?


You will get a decent boat for your money. There are small issues -
mainly fit & finish - but nothing that would affect its seaworthiness.

I took my 196 to Bimini, Bahamas from Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale)
without a problem on a very calm day. The hull is sound but there are
many improvements they could make in the interior and the layout.

As they say - "you get what you pay for" - and I haven't regretted
saving $5K when I bought mine instead of a competitor.

That said, now I am looking the in the 23-25 foot range and both Polar
and Key West are top contenders. Dual 115 or 150 four strokes is my goal.

Good luck,
Dan

Thanks Dan, it's nice to hear from an owner.

I (and more importantly my wife) really liked a 197 center console we
saw at the local boat show last weekend.

We liked the big console, rod storage and seating. It's a good
compromise between a fishing boat and a pleasure boat.

Johnny D wrote:
Thanks Dan, it's nice to hear from an owner.

I (and more importantly my wife) really liked a 197 center console we
saw at the local boat show last weekend.

We liked the big console, rod storage and seating. It's a good
compromise between a fishing boat and a pleasure boat.


Who is the dealer? Are you in FL?

Dan

No, I'm in Greensboro NC. The dealer is Chatlee in Sanford (which is
about an hour away). They are one of the largest dealers in the state.

There are a number of other Sea Fox dealers in NC, Grubbs Marine in
Winston Salem and Park Boat in Washington to name a couple.

I may visit another boat show tomorrow...

We typically go to Manteo/Nags Head, Emerald Isle, Sunset Beach and
this summer to Carolina Beach. So a dealer close to the Triad makes
sense from a service standpoint.

So far, I haven't found a better deal than at Chatlee in Sanford.