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repowering a 25 foot center console: twin outboards again or one big single

29°18'N 94°48'Wstarted by twin_f200_or_singleNov 17, 2025in Center console talk7 posts

#1

here's my username's whole reason for existing. 2015 Sea Hunt Gamefish 25, twin Yamaha F150s, 2,100 hours on each. they still run but the port one is using a little oil and i've decided i'm not going to wait for one to quit 30 miles off Freeport.

quotes from two dealers here, installed, with new controls and gauges:

  • twin F150s again: 41,200
  • single F300 with digital electric steering: 34,800

i fish 12 months, mostly 15 to 40 miles out, sometimes alone. the single saves 6,400 up front, saves weight off the transom, and the boat is rated for it. but i've had one of my 150s die on me twice in ten years and both times i ran home on the other. i don't know how to put a price on that.

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#2

i run a single by necessity. i'd run twins by choice if somebody else paid for them. if you're going 30 or 40 out alone, that redundancy is the whole conversation for me.

there's a middle path nobody likes because it's ugly. single 300 plus a 9.9 kicker on a bracket. you'll be doing 5 knots home, but you'll be going home.

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#3

i went single 300 on my Whaler when i repowered, but the Coronados run is 15 miles and there's a lot of boat traffic. different math than the Gulf.

one thing nobody counts: two motors means two of everything at service time. two sets of plugs, two water pumps, two lower units. over ten years that adds up close to the difference in purchase price. if your 150s are averaging 210 hours a year each, you're paying for that twice every year.

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#4

from a resale and insurance point of view: on a 25 offshore boat in the Gulf, buyers will expect twins more than they'll pay extra for them. a single 300 on a 25 Gamefish doesn't hurt the value much, a single that's too small for the hull does. check the capacity plate and the weight. a 300 four stroke V6 is around 560 lbs, two 150s together are closer to 950. the boat will sit differently at rest.

ask your insurer. some of them change the navigation limit or the premium on singles past a certain distance offshore. better to find that out before the motor's on the transom.

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#5

i'm on twin F200s on a 27 now. what i noticed coming off a single: docking is easier with twins once you learn it, and you get a little better hole shot, but fuel burn at cruise is a wash or worse. we burn 17 to 18 gph combined at 31 mph. i'd guess a single 300 on that hull would be similar.

if i were you and i fished alone 40 miles out, i'd do twins. if i always had a buddy boat, single.

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#6

service writer hat on. the twin repower quote probably includes rigging you're paying for again. ask both dealers for the line items. some of them quote a new set of controls when your existing ones would work with a harness, and the steering on a single digital setup changes the whole helm. the real gap is usually bigger or smaller than the headline number.

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#7

decision made, deposit down. twin F150s again, but i got the price to 38,900 by keeping my existing hydraulic steering and getting the newer controls only. renee was right about the line items, there was 1,700 of stuff i didn't need in the first quote.

i also priced the Mercury side because a guy on my dock swears by them. their 150 FourStroke specs are on mercurymarine.com and they're lighter than the Yamahas, but no dealer within an hour of Galveston could install before March, so that decided it for me.

the new motors go on the second week of January. i'll post fuel numbers.

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Tagged

  • repower
  • twin vs single
  • Yamaha F300
  • Sea Hunt Gamefish 25
  • Galveston