Old member new rig - "not an Allison"

[JOEALLY]

Hey guys,

I know this is the Allison board and I've been blessed to own 4 Allison's over the last 13 years.

I moved to the Mobile Bay (AL) area last year and have been in search of a saltwater bay boat.

I finally made a decision after a 1.5 year search & just thought I'd share it.

We will be bass fishy in the rivers, speck and red fishing inshore and whatever else we can find and plenty of tubing.

I took a few pics with my phone before heading home yesterday when I picked it up north of Atlanta. (5+ hours of driving home in rain)

It's a 2014 Key West 230 Bay Reef & 2014 250 Zuke 4 stroke

Horizon blue
T-top with canvas & spreader lights
Minn Kota 80# I pilot, batteries & charger
Underwater LED transom lights
LED interior lights
Trim tabs and LED indicators
Premium lean post with flip up split bolsters
Dual crank batteries with selector switch

23'1" long & 8'6" beam

Trailer has led lights and surge brakes but needs some new wheels BAD!

It was 36 degrees & nasty wind when we dropped it in the Lake Lanker this morning for the "sea trial". The motor is of course in break in so we just cruised a bit - it's so quiet I'll have to be careful not trying to crank it again when it's running.

It felt like an aircraft carrier!!!!

Here's a few bad phone pics, hopefully I'll be able to clean it up Saturday if it quits raining.

I didn't have a wench with me big enough to flip the ball & turn my receiver over to level out the trailer.

My 1st salty rig / family boat

 

[GotMyAlly]

Man that's a big boat!

I've seen more and more of those suzy motors around lately. When's one gonna end up on the back of an Allison???

 

[whipper]

How is that motor anyway. Nice big water rig ya got there!!

 

[22R]

Congratulations ! Nice looking boat. Love the look of the T-Top.

22R

 

[JOEALLY]

After months of research, I went with the suzuki for several reasons:

1. I have a local dealer that sells & services yamaha, suzuki & Honda (all the tech there own suzukis)
2. Commercial fisherman in Internet forums love them (make their living with them)
3. 3 different dealerships that sell both told me the suzuki was a touch faster than yamaha or honda (gear ratios primarily) on same setups.
4. 6 years of factory warranty
5. Cheaper than yamaha

I hope to start on break in this weekend.

 

[BALD ALLISON]

Now you'll need a bigger truck.

Nice rig

 

[h2oskiier30]

Did that come with an AARP card?

 

[JOEALLY]

Bald Allison, the truck does the job but a 3/4 ton would for sure be a better tow machine.

Paul, I did turn 40 last October!

 

[GotMyAlly]

After months of research, I went with the suzuki for several reasons:

1. I have a local dealer that sells & services yamaha, suzuki & Honda (all the tech there own suzukis)
2. Commercial fisherman in Internet forums love them (make their living with them)
3. 3 different dealerships that sell both told me the suzuki was a touch faster than yamaha or honda (gear ratios primarily) on same setups.
4. 6 years of factory warranty
5. Cheaper than yamaha

I hope to start on break in this weekend.

The duck hunter crowd around here has a suzuki fetish. I've seen 20 year old 25 HP suzukis sell for $3k. They swear they're under-rated and will smoke any era of merc/yam/evinrude 25HP motor.

I always thought they were offbrand motors, but I may run one for duck season this year......

 

[JOEALLY]

The duck hunter crowd around here has a suzuki fetish. I've seen 20 year old 25 HP suzukis sell for $3k. They swear they're under-rated and will smoke any era of merc/yam/evinrude 25HP motor.

I always thought they were offbrand motors, but I may run one for duck season this year......

When I started talking to the saltwater / offshore crowd, I learned several different things and one of them is that Suzukis are in high demand and have been in the commercial and salt market for quite a while.

I'll say this, I was worried about the low end torque coming from the 2 stroke Mercs that I've always ran, but after I've put 6.5 hours on this thing, I'll admit, the low end torque is there - no problem at all.

This boat is heavy, it's 23'1" long with a 8'6" beam and dry weight on boat is 2250#s according to Key West and the power of the Suzuki is impressive so far. It planes fast with 4 people and full fuel. I also hit 52.6 mph on gps Sunday afternoon with 1/2 fuel (40 gals), 2 people and my fishing tackle - now 52.6 is crawling in an Allison for sure, but for a boat like this that's pretty dang good. The motor is still in break in mode, is mounted directly to the transom with no hydraulic plate (will have in future) and has the prop that came with it on it.

I bet the 250SS Suzuki 20" would be a decent motor on a 21' Allison, but there's really no need to go that route with the Merc 2 stroke options available.