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Three Happy Customers, Two
Reliable F150s, 6,800 Hours
One mOtOr tO be displayed at the miami internatiOnal bOat shOw®

Yamaha Marine Group recently
acquired two legendary F150
outboard motors from Tim
Boczon, an avid boater from
Houston, Texas. The outboards, which
each have more than 6,800 hours on
them, have been the power behind
Tim’s Grady White®
247 Advance and
previously provided the power for a
40-foot, 16,000-pound catamaran used
by Charleston Water Taxi owners Scott
Connelly and Chip Deaton to carry
people across the Charleston Harbor.
Yamaha plans to put one of these
outboards on display at the Miami
International Boat Show®
as a way to
underscore Yamaha reliability.
Below is the story of these remarkable
outboards, true testaments to the
Yamaha F150 legend.
When Charleston Water Taxi owners
Scott Connelly and Chip Deaton
purchased the 40-foot catamaran to
start their business in 2005, Yamaha
was their first choice for power.
Both natives of Charleston, Connelly and
Deaton have been in and around boats for
most of their lives, testing products from
various outboard manufacturers as they
fished around the Low Country. Knowing
that they would need a powerful, reliable
solution to transport people across the
Charleston Harbor, they put their trust in

twin Yamaha F150s. Almost seven years
later and with 6,800 hours on each
outboard, they’ve more than realized a
return on their investment.
“We make 18 trips across the Charleston
Harbor every day, which is a total of
about 30 miles,” said Connelly. “We only
burn about 70 gallons of fuel per week,
which is incredible considering the
boats run approximately 70 hours per
week. It’s critical that we have outboards
we can trust to transport 100-plus
daily passengers from the Aquarium to
Patriot’s Point.”
The water taxi, which serves as
transportation for locals, as well as a
tourist attraction for Charleston visitors,
runs from 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m.
every day.
“So basically, the outboards are running
for 10 hours straight at 1300-1400
RPM,” Connelly said. “We do not shut the
outboards down at all.”
When asked what they do to maintain
the outboards, Connelly answered very
simply, “We really don’t do that much.
Every time we fuel-up, we add a couple
of ounces of Ring Free to keep the
carbon down; we keep the oil changed,
and once or twice a year, we replace the
plugs and the water pumps– but that’s
about it,” said Connelly.
“As you can imagine, we have had to
replace a few parts – thermostats, plugs,
etc. – but really just basics, which is
amazing considering the conditions in
which we run and the time we put on
the outboards every day,” remarked
Connelly.
In fact, when Connelly and Deaton sold
their F150s to Tim Boczon in May of
2011, they immediately replaced them
with another set of F150s. Today, those
replacement outboards already have
nearly 5,300 hours on each.
“I truly believe that, if we had gone with
another manufacturer’s outboards, we
would not have gotten the hours we
have on our Yamahas,” said Connelly.
“Yamaha will be our power of choice
again and again. You just can’t beat that
kind of reliability and durability.”
Boczon, an avid offshore angler,
repowered his Grady White®
247
Advance with the pre-owned F150s and
immediately put them to the test again,
dropping his boat in the Gulf of Mexico
off the coast of Freeport, Texas for
various fishing excursions.
“I traveled as far out as 25 miles and
had no trouble whatsoever with the
outboards,” said Boczon. “The outboards
always gave me a smooth performance
and I never felt I had to compromise
in terms of overall power. Yamaha’s
technology is obviously built to last.”
Stay tuned for updates about these
two outboards – F150s that endured
incredible circumstances and have truly
stood the test of time. y
yamaha products and services provided for
free in exchange for outboards. results are
based on commercial use, and may vary for
traditional retail consumer use.