Input requested

Here in the Quad Cities, we have no ice yet…maybe week or so away to be “safe”. With that said, it is boat show time. We have 3 boat shows coming up with in the next month. I sold my boat back in Aug/Sept and regret selling so early since I was miss lead by the professional liars (meteorologists). I am leaning hard to the Tracker Targa V18. I have looked at all the competition and for the money I can get more “bang” for the buck and the lay out that I want. I am still looking, because not sold on a new boat just yet. There are better deals out just trying to find them. So, here is where I could use the input…
If I go with the V18 Tracker Targa, should I get the 150 optimax or would I be okay with a 4-stroke 115. I had a Pro Team 185 and when I bought it new, I went with a 90 instead of the 115. I regreted that decision, however, I was looking for speed not ride. Now its ALL about the ride and not speed (getting old I guess…) Any Tracker owners out there to input? Others are more than welcome to input as well.

My experience on motors is go with the biggest motor youre boat is rated. Underpowered once before 2 years later repowered an it cost me several grand . The 150 opti is a great motorn never had a issue and you should get over 50mph with the targa.good luck. get what you want now because later it will cost you .

Max out the motor. If a 150 pushes a boat at 50 mph max, and a 115 pushes the boat at 40 mph max, and you like to go 35 as your average cruising speed (all hypothetical numbers), you will get much better gas mileage and run under half the load if you have a 150 over a 115.

I went with a 150 over a 115 on my Alumacraft. Top speed is about 51 and my average cruising speed is around 39 or 40 as that is where my best fuel economy is while on plane. That’s only pushing 60% engine load. With a 115, I would probably be almost wide open to hit that speed.

At least that’s how I justified it to myself.

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My experience on motors is go with the biggest motor youre boat is rated. Underpowered once before 2 years later repowered an it cost me several grand . The 150 opti is a great motorn never had a issue and you should get over 50mph with the targa.good luck. get what you want now because later it will cost you .

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X2. It is almost a certainty you will regret buying the smaller motor to save money. Unless you’re running a water taxi the 115 on an 18 footer is too small.

I may be jumped on for this, but I would do extensive research about tracker targas. I was looking at one with my brother in-law this summer. He found what seemed to be a pretty good deal. A 2006 21′ targa with a Merc 250 with low hours. Book value was about $17k. That seemed low for that much boat, so I went to ask a friend of mine that is a boat salesman about the boat. He told me that their dealer used to sell them, and they dropped the line because they had so many issues, and unhappy customers. He said that some of the targas when pushed hard in big waves broke apart separating between the bottom, and top halves. My brother in-law decided to stay away from a targa, and bought a different kind of boat. I didn’t do any further research them after he decided to look at different brands, but it may be in your best interest before you buy one. I thought it seemed likely that they do have issues, because why else would they have a book value of about $10k less than similar boats. If you have a targa and it has been good to you, great I am just saying what I was told by a friend that had no reason to lie to me. Maybe the smaller boats are just fine. As far as your engine question, back in 99 I bought a Pro-V 1775 with a 115 merc on it. It was fine, but I hated the idle on 2 cylinders, and after 1800 RPM’s it hit on all four cylinders. I traded that motor in and had it replaced with a 150 XR6, and it was a night and day difference. Max out the HP and you won’t regret it. Good luck

I purposely avoided commenting on tracker boats, but since Mojo opened that up, I wouldn’t buy a tracker if they were the last boat on earth. After personally dealing with cracked welds and overall poor construction, the initial cost savings proved to be completely not worth the headaches. Do some really serious investigation before going with tracker. Maybe you already have and it may suit your needs just fine. But, they are far from a well built boat IMO. Alumacraft, Lund, Crestline, etc. are more expensive for a reason, and it isn’t just the name.

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My experience on motors is go with the biggest motor youre boat is rated. Underpowered once before 2 years later repowered an it cost me several grand . The 150 opti is a great motor never had a issue and you should get over 50mph with the targa.good luck. get what you want now because later it will cost you .

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I also have a alumacraft dominator 175, i get 52 mph with my 150 opti, i had a 115 opti 43mph. The 150 opti has great hole shot, and gas usage is better than average.