Sea Hunt BX 22 BR / Mercury 150 Fourstroke

A re-posted article I wrote in 2013

Sea Hunt BX 22 BR Powered By Mercury 150 4 Stroke Outboard

When I was told there was a possibilty that a ceneter console bay boat with a bathroom, t-top and cushy seats could get 5 mpg loaded ready to fish, i chuckled and started walking away from the guy telling me this. I’m glad I did not get too far. He was right.

I know alot about boats, especially bay boats. I should. In my life I have owned over 9 of them and currently have 5. Lets not mention the 8 flats boats and various other center consoles I have had. Match that with all the work I have done setting boats up and testing. That said, I still dont know everything and this Mercury powered Sea Hunt BX 22 BR bay boat humbled me once again.

It all started at the Miami Boat show 2012. I fell in love with the Mercury 150 4 stroke outboard, a little darling of an outboard and I just had to find a transom for her so my company could benifit from this incredible motor. This sweet heart of a motor is naturally aspirated with old school throttle controls, super updated technology, crazy fuel efficiency and the weight of a 2 stroke also making it the Lightest Weight 150 4 stroke in the world. Durring pre production i had the chance to test this motor on a 22 ft center console (pig) and the 150 Mercury handled her like a toy. Accelleration, top end, ease of use and end user maintenance program. I was very impressed now I was in the market to take advantage of this super fuel efficient motor in our bay boat fleet here at Dream Catcher Charters.

Looking around, my best pick at the Miami Boat show for my new love was the Sea Hunt 22 BR center console. This boat had a t-top included with misters, four speaker stereo system and a fully enclosed head. Nice seats comfy leaning post and well appointed deck space that fishes 4 people very easily in the backcountry or near shore waters. Also standard was a swim platform and fresh water system. This boat was very well appointed, well built and very affordable. And they claimed it would run just fine with a 150hp outboard. I had to find out..

Here is why I liked the Sea Hunt BX 22 BR. In our line of work fishing the backcountry Waters of Key West bathrooms and shade are HUGE selling points. This boat had both. Comfort and ride is very important for the customers that need/require the shade and nicer amenities. This boat rode very dry, very smooth and had a great attitude. Furthermore it had a nice go slow capability about it and I knew that the Sea Hunt powered with the new Mercury 4 stroke would get great fuel ecconomy.

I came back to Key West and tested a BX 22 BR with that had a Yamaha 4 stroke and found the Sea Hunt to be a great asset, I was impressed. I knew that if I iked it with the Yamaha 150 4 stroke I would love it with the new Mercury 150 4 stroke. The only problem was that I could not get this boat with a Mercury for power as they only sold it with a Yamaha option and nothing else. It was a shame too, I really wanted one to add to my fleet. Since Action Craft seems to have gone belly up and my favorite boat from them (2310) was no longer available. I needed an alternative and I wanted to make this boat work. So with a little help I made it happen.

I now have a Sea Hunt BX 22 BR bay boat rigged to the hilt and powered by nothing other than my little darling, the 150 4 stroke Mercury outboard. I rigged the boat myself, piece of cake. I really think this motor will be a huge do it yourselfer winner.

With my install I utilized Mercury’s Merc Monitor from Smart Craft that tracks all my engine data the way I want to see it. Fuel burn, speed, rpm, troll control, fuel guage and more. Coupled with the systems link guages I had a full array of stuff telling me how my day was going. This set up was really simple yet super informative.

Now the good part. This boat gets 5 MPG with me and another guy in it ready to fish. We rand the boat with Ice, half a tank of gas (27) gallons and full bait wells to get 5 MPG at 30.1 MPH. Thats 265 miles range on the full 53 gallon tank making a respecatble 30 miles per hour. See Stat set # 2

Here Are The Stats.. 

I have run both the Yamaha version and the Mercuiry Version of this boat. Besides the fact the Mercury just looks so sexy on the back, its a much better power option. Quieter, more fuel efficient, easier to drive and complimented with more data at the helm.

When I asked the captain that runs this boat every day which one he liked better.

He said “The Mercury 4 stroke 150 power feels much more in control of the boat. Not struggling to make power. The motor feels like it’s suposed to be there.”

As we all know fuel prices are not falling, almost seems they have wings and we want to keep our prices where they are and stay competitive. By offering different levels of boats we like for our customers to see the enire spectrum of what we think is good in the industry.

Update 2020 – I sold this boat to a friend of mine back in 2016. He still uses it every weekend fishing and diving. Same Mercury 150 fourstroke with over 2500 hours..