Welcome to this site !
Thanks for providing the basics of what you’re going to be using this boat for, and you've recognized the bang for the buck value of these boats. The FSH series, Family Sport Hybrid, are very versatile in their layout and amenities.
A question that I have is whether or not you are a first time boat buyer? If not what is your experience with boating?
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@Coult45 I’m a 210 FSH owner, and a fresh water boater on small and large lakes and rivers like
@Coult45 and
@Acard7, and I primarily use my boat for fishing. The first member I can think of that has a H model FSH is
@TeenGee so he has the real world knowledge of these boats, and he moved up from a 210 FSH, so hopefully he’ll stop by and offer up his knowledge and experience.
@Zackdadams has a 252 FSH which is the normally aspirated 25’ FSH boats in the Gulf of America and
@Bugslayer I think has the 255 FSH Sport E and boats in the Sea of Cortes down in Baja, again if I’ve got that correct.
Having said all that here are my thoughts. Firstly, the 252 / 255 FSH boats are sexy beasts for sure! I’ve sort of lusted after them since their introduction which was the year after I bought my 210. One thing you may not know about the 25’ Yamaha boats is that they all share the same hull with the exception of the wake series boats. The H model with its Helm Master joystick control I’m sure makes for easy handling around the dock. But I do think that Yamaha could have hit a grand slam home run in the bottom of the 9th inning after winning the previous three games of the World Series had they included the rest of the fishing features offered by the Helm Master EX found on the outboard powered boats. Those features include, spot lock or fish point which enables the mfd to hold the boat in position in any orientation, drift point which allows you to set a slow drift in any direction / speed over a structure for example, trolling speed from a crawl up to Wahoo speeds, and auto pilot. So yes, a twin outboard engined center console would cost A LOT more money, but you’d be getting a lot of features. However, you can get most of those things with an electric trolling motor, I believe it is the motor guide trolling motor that will work directly with the Simrad mfd that comes with this boat.
@Zackdadams did an excellent write up for his trolling motor install, among other things he added,
FSH 252/255 Trolling Motor Project so did
@Roger Vrooman 255 FSH Sport E Trolling Motor Project
The 255 H model uses the SVHO 1.8L engine as you may or may not know like the 255 Sport E model with 250 hp per engine, both of these boats have the push button start / stop and the reversing buckets are electronically controlled. The H model has independently controlled thrust nozzles (for the joy stick control) while the sport E’s nozzles move together and has the articulating keel. The Sport E does have the ability to use aftermarket directional control devices that some folks have installed, whereas the H model does not due to its bucket design and independent steering. If you’ve never had a twin engined boat then you may or may not be familiar with splitting the throttles to use one engine forward and one reverse or differential thrust, this is a huge advantage for control around the dock and Marina.
The 252 FSH now uses the normally aspirated 1.9L engine which are 200 hp each and has the four bladed impellers (if my information is correct) and the combination of improvements to the 1.8 L that made the 1.9L with its longer intake runners, valve timing etc reduced noise and vibration over the 1.8L. I don’t know of anyone on this site that has a 252, but, others have the bow rider 25’ hulls with the 1.9L engines and all have been positive about its performance.
The 252 FSH uses a keyed stop / start and has manually controlled reversing buckets, which allows for unlimited low speed thrust control, meaning you can barely open the gates to creep forward or open them in increments for slow speed control / trolling. Whereas the E drive or electronically controlled buckets of the H and Sport E are in neutral or forward, on the Sport E model the first detent forward is the TDE position or thrust directional enhancer (partially opens the bucket and some thrust goes rearward and some goes down and to the sides) the TDE used in conjunction with the no wake mode (increases the throttle in three steps for low speed control) dramatically increases slow speed control. I think the H model just goes to idle ahead, I’m not sure if it has a variant of the TDE position. I’ve seen many instances where people have not employed the TDE position and the no wake mode that the boat comes with to address low speed maneuvering I have found that the TDE and no wake are all I need and do not have any aftermarket directional control devices.
For me, as a fresh water fisherman I would lean towards the 252 FSH because of the analogue control of the buckets as my trolling speeds can be lower than full idle ahead… Having said, the raw power and speed of the SVHO engines is certainly alluring.
Another difference between the normally aspirated 1.9L engines and the super charged SVHO engines is that the 1.9’s use regular (87 octane) fuel and the SVHO engines require premium (91 octane) fuel. For some folks that can be an issue with either availability and or cost of operation. The SVHO engines are a bit thirstier than the 1.9’s.
I do believe that most of the other features between the three models are about the same though, and those features are many and excellent. Plenty of storage, two live wells, forward insulated fish box that can double as a large onboard ice chest, plenty of rod holders, tackle center… a note here on the live wells, you do need to keep the aft starboard live well full to keep the boat balanced. The swim deck of course is a huge feature in that you get another couple feet of deck space, a place to lounge at the sand bar, and it’s where I land most of my fish.
If you use the sites search function you’ll find a plethora of threads and posts on these boats.
As with most things, there are compromises between boats, the Yamaha boats are great for family fun with their props tucked up inside and skinny water ability. But they lack a bow flare and won’t be as dry of a ride in bigger water than other boats, their 20° dead rise is a great compromise between wave cutting and stability but won’t cut the water like a 24° dead rise boat will. But overall you just can’t beat the bang for the buck!
