Suzuki outboard comments

[shootem]

Does anyone have experience with Suzuki outboards? They came out with a new 350 HP counter rotating duo prop I am considering putting on a Sea Sport 24 ft Explorer.

[j_h_nimrod]

Nothing that big, but with the smaller 90-140 hp motors. Had great experiences with them. The 140s had som issues with the exhaust eating through at the motor and killing the CPU, but that has been addressed last I knew. My experience and reports of the Suzuki’s have been good. IIRC the inboard diesels on the SeaSport 24s were ~235hp, 700hp on a Sea Sport would be epic if you were looking at twins for the counter rotation.

[KFhunter]

I have experience with 3 new zukes, so far knock on wood we're very happy with them.  a 140hp, 9.9 kicker and a 20hp short shaft

[fishnate]

I have a 2007 6hp kicker runs great starts easy just done the basic maintenance.

[RB]

 I have a 1998 85HP that i bought new and am still running it best motor I have owned other than my Honda kicker I bought new in 2000.

[Pinetar]

I have owned Suzuki, Yamaha and Merc outboards in a commercial type application since 1980. Bought my first Suzuki in 1982. By far IMO the best longevity outboard I have ever used. I probably own 50 plus outboards from 40hp to 200hp and the Suzuki's just keep running. Some of my Suzuki's are late 80's early 90's and they still run great and don't miss a beat! And we put 200 plus hours per season on them. Some of the Yamis and Mercs have a ton of hours on them as well and still run great but not even close to the hours we get from our Suzuki's.

Now, the outboard you are looking at (according to my mechanic) is going to take off big time as one of the strongest outboards out there. The Suzuki four stroke outboards are a great outboard. With the duo props from that DF350 it is going to give your boat a lot of transom lift to push your bow down making it get on a step way quicker which you will need with that boat. The duo props (with all those blades) will also get more traction in the water, like putting wider tires on a muscle car, again a good thing for that heavier boat. Your boat with that outboard will be a perfect combination that you will be happy with.

[shootem]

Great to hear. Thanks!

[j_h_nimrod]

I read counter rotating and missed the dual prop part, a single 350 makes a lot more sense than twin 350s!  I have not looked at the new big outboards for a few years so had not even heard of dual propped single outboards, that should make a huge performance difference on single outboard boat of that size. Pinetar offered a lot of good first hand experience and information. Good luck, I say go for it

[Stein]

Worst case scenario, you don't like it and then you can just PM me an offer I can't refuse and I would be glad to take it off your hands.

[shootem]

The big outboard counter rotating duo props I think is new with Suzuki.

[j_h_nimrod]

It is pretty game changing for an outboard to have a counter rotating lower.  I would want to let them run a season or three and work out the bugs before I took the dive, but I am sure Suzuki tested them throughly and will stand behind real world issues. I will be interested to keep an eye on how they do.

[Sakko300wsm]

Suzuki is at the top of large outboards - that new dual prop is amaxing!

[Mark Youngblood]

I am a proud owner of my first set of twin 300 Zukes, I only have 150 hours so far but they are awesome!  I have friends in Alaska who have ran them for years in a saltwater/commercial application and regularly get 3500-4k hours of service without major issues.  I had Verados before and ran them for 2250 hours and would not wish a set of those motors (IN saltwater) on my worse enemy...that would be cruel.

That new 350 looks BA for sure but just something to think about because I had a buddy looking hard to switch from 250 Yamaha twins to those 350 Zukes and he said they require a minimum of 89 octane....our dock fuel is 87 octane and therefore that stopped him form moving forward with it.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

One of my Uncles was the fleet guy for alot of boats. The Suzuki was always the one with less issues than the other brands. All in saltwater. The Suzuki have the best sealed electronics so the salt can't get into the boards and cause issue's. 

[L-ofalab]

 Have been running Suzukis since 1994. 150 was 2 cycle but the 90 hp 4 cycle I changed to in 2006 is fantastic. I also misunderstood the post (twin 350 hp on a 24 foot seemed excessive)