Sweet as , good to hear that. 

Actually thought the old motor went quiet well performance wise , definitely not economy , ouch. Definitely more midrange punch with the new motor and taking it a little easy. Just sorted out battery switches with New switches and VSR , twin battery set up. All ready to put a few more hours in tomorrow

New motor a similar weight to the old one , minus the oil tank and auxilary she's effectively less weight at transom.

Noise ? Virtually none at idle , a nice throaty growl at cruise speed but not loud , the misses had a louder growl when i had to tell how much a new motor was

I decided to go with a local dealer Mark at Mercury Bay Marine(Whitianga) . I was a first time caller to be honest and we managed to put a fair deal together with Mark including the 1000cca battery and prop upgrade , his call as he wants the best performance to keep the customer 100% satisfied. So all good so far.

New 150 4 stroke , still some fine tuning to do , lift motor 50mm and up one prop size but happy so far , 17ltr/hour cruising at 20k, top speed 40 kn just for a brief spell , to be improved. 

Being a marine engineer myself, off course I would carry out all the necessary engine checks before purchase.

So after getting boat home , thought i better see if engine starts All good 

Better go for a sea trial , so loaded all my bits onboard . Took oldest boy with me , sea trial lasted two days without a hitch. Caught plenty of fish and pulled into port for a few hours on the second day to take rest of the family out to an island for lunch , then back out again. So passed sea trial no worries.

I was so impressed with the hull , hardtop and general layout and extras on the boat , the engine a bonus.

Being EFI it starts first time every time , good service history , I should say it had only done 3 hours running since previous service which included compression checks , cooling system overhaul , gaskets and impeller . With a gentelmans agreement with seller I took it without the sea trial etc , so not quite as 

reckless as it seems. Ah the cockpit shower switch was faulty so all sorted now.

 

Never been repainted, I had the white gelcoat repaired under the hull from a wee incident... but only scrapes and Steve at Pennington Boat Builders did an awesome job.

 

I guess I should elaborate on that other story I mentioned, this particular V198 came into our little bach community brand new, it was the boat to have at the time with all the extras you could think of underfloor tank, fuel injection, trim tabs, colour sounder, anchor winch the lot!

 

Anyway this V198 was stored in a shed next to our first little 15ft wooden boat, a good old planning hull running a Ford Anglia inboard, Dad and I would take our boat out whilst this beautiful Haines sat there doing nothing just getting dusty! I said to dad one day we would own a boat like that. 

We slowly upgraded our boats, got a fleetline sapphire, and then about 3 years after that the V198 got sold to a guy up the valley and left. Around this time dad got sick so we needed a cabin boat so got a Cabin V163 Hainess with a Mariner 90 on it. Great little boat!

 

I got a feeling one night to jump on trade me and bang up popped the boat. I cheekily asked if the guys would part trade a smaller boat as it was too big for him.

 

we went to have a look and since new the boat had only done 283 Hours and she was still pretty good and He was interested in a trade as we took our boat up with us. so he came out with us on the V163 and we went for a run in the big girl and we made some arrangements subject to a motor check! Quietly Dad and I were stoked!

 

Then the motor report came back, even compressions but the base plate gasket had never been replaced and there was rust in the bore but it was rebuildable... so we spoke to the owner did a deal and walked away hoping the motor would turn up trumps.

The rebuild was a drama, couldn't get the power head off as it was stuck fast. We even had the boat being picked up by the motor and it still wouldn't come free, right we can cut the adapator plate and go from there, hang on lets price one, none in new Zealand and a new one from the states was over $2k! oh F###!!!!

 

all of as sudden the motor wasn't cost effective to rebuild... we were just in the right place at the right time and the boat shop we were dealing with was repowering the harbour master from the HPDi's to the Suzuki 4 strokes so we managed to swing a deal on one of those motors, I think the boat shop felt pretty stink saying they could rebuild and then it turned into the drama it was.

But we brought the motor at 1400 odd hours and were told it has a new power head and gearbox at 1200 hours. Paper work was to follow but it all got too hard... but we had a running boat and touchwood she still kicking along at close to 1900 hours now..

 

I haven't seen many for sale although my cousin brought a second hand one that was fully rebuild after a bar incident. that was late last year,

 

there is a 300 on trade me at the mo but that looks like an ex race motor with wing steering and a short mid section... $10k aint to bad...hours dependent...

I like the yamaha 150hpdi , some good feedback , does not seem to be many second hand on the market , did you buy new or used. Looks like not available new anymore.

Your boat looks mint , the hardtop a little shorter than mine which would be better for fishing . Hull looks very tidy top and bottom , has it been repainted at some stage. Mine could do with underside of hull being painted at some stage. Will probably do myself lying on back under trailer and just move it on rollers to complete.

Having a shed to store boat a bonus , might have to put that on my list at some stage.

Have just aquired a stainless rocket launcher to fix to hardtop , platform mount auxilary bracket , both from forum members which is fantastic.

After a slow start this thread is coming along nicely with lots of valuable information , opinions and more importantly first hand experiences. Much gratitude to you all from me , I am sure it would be of help to many considering the same upgrades on similar boats.

Anyone with any relative material please share with us , photos ,etc.

Will share one of my favourite photo's of "White Knight"