Outboard question: Yamaha vs. Mercury

[Diamondpilot]

Yea, I would give Honda and probably Suzuki a good hard look, especially in the 70 hp range and up. Once you get to the 100 hp and up I really like the imports and Evinrude products. Never been much of a Merc man but I do have one of their Inboard /Outboard engines at this time. It requires 15 times the maintenance of my other Inboard/Outboard engines which are Volvo's.

Chris

 

[Bird]

High end two strokes are direct port injected while four stoke are not. That makes them about equivalent in fuel economy. A non DPI 2 stoke will not get equivalent economy.
Been looking at this stuff quite a bit lately as I shop for a boat.
Checkout Whaler central if you want to read the subject get discussed to death.
Me, I'm currently looking at a Honda 4 stroke.

One of my brothers bought a new Lowe 17' boat with a 90 hp Merc about a year ago. He got the 2 stroke and is happy with it, but a lot of people (including me) expect many lakes are likely to prohibit them sometime in the future because the 4 stroke puts out less pollution. And while my brother is basically happy with his rig, a similar rig with a 4 stroke engine pulled up beside us one day and my brother mentioned that maybe he should have gotten the 4 stroke because it's so much quieter.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Bird is right about the 2 strokes. They are already illegal in many parts of Cali, the intercostal water way, and some state run lakes. Get a 4 stroke for resale because even though you may be able to use it today in 10 years you probably will not.

Chris

 

[Scooby074]

Checkout Whaler central if you want to read the subject get discussed to death.
Me, I'm currently looking at a Honda 4 stroke.

Good forum....Its like TBN for whalers over there

 

[crbr]

Four stroke Honda. Bulletproof.

 

[careyo63]

Mercury for me.I had my Ranger Comanchee for 9 years never had any problems.My previous boat with a Merc. no issues.I'm set up for strickly performance If noise and fuel economy is what you prefer than yes 4 cycle. Never heard a word in my area of 2cycle outboard motors being outlawed.I'm at the lake atleast two weekends a month.Yamaha and honda 4 cycles has came along way but they have problems just like any manufacturer.Can't recall ever being out ran by one though.At a friends marine repair shop it seems that Johnson Evinrude are the most comon in for major repairs.

 

[bwmarine]

Yea, I would give Honda and probably Suzuki a good hard look, especially in the 70 hp range and up. Once you get to the 100 hp and up I really like the imports and Evinrude products. Never been much of a Merc man but I do have one of their Inboard /Outboard engines at this time. It requires 15 times the maintenance of my other Inboard/Outboard engines which are Volvo's.

Chris

mc's alpha drives are easy to work on and plenty of cheap parts out there. The sx volvo drives parts are more expensive but they very rarly have problems. Only problem I can think of is the shift shaft seal on the upper... ran across three with the lip on the seal that was flipped. mc actually stole the cone clutch system for there bravos!
One thing I like about the sx volvo is the amount of lube they hold compared to the mc drive... with the more volume of lube the drive runs much cooler... between the cone clutch and lube volume it is a sweet drive.
But the older volvo drives kinda sucked... the drive itself was fine jsut there tilt system... worm gear tilt motor and there stupid reverse lock system that always fails.
As far as engines go a chevy is a chevy and a ford is a ford in either brand.

a little off topic... : /

 

[IXLR8]

I have been asking similar questions, I am about to start building a 20' wooden boat and I am looking for something in the 20-30hp range. I have been asking, and noticing, what motors the fishermen here on the coast of Maine are using. Most are using the older Johnson/Evinrude, then close numbers between Honda/Yamaha, a few Suzuki, then the Tohatsu. Although the Tohatsu is mostly the less than 15 hp motors. Most of the fishermen I have talked with have less than kind words for the Merc's, the quote they give is very politically incorrect, and are on few boats. There are few J/E dealers in the area, so I have narrowed it down to either the Honda or the Yamaha. Since the Yamaha dealer is 4 miles from my house.. that is probably the route I am going to go.

 

[chh]

Mercury for me.I had my Ranger Comanchee for 9 years never had any problems.My previous boat with a Merc. no issues.I'm set up for strickly performance If noise and fuel economy is what you prefer than yes 4 cycle. Never heard a word in my area of 2cycle outboard motors being outlawed.I'm at the lake atleast two weekends a month.Yamaha and honda 4 cycles has came along way but they have problems just like any manufacturer.Can't recall ever being out ran by one though.At a friends marine repair shop it seems that Johnson Evinrude are the most comon in for major repairs.

Speed is always to each his own thing though. I have a buddy with a 250 Merc on a 21' bass boat. It runs somewhere over 75 mph and last summer it cost him over $100 every time he took it to the lake(usually over 30 gallons and many times over 40 gallons of gas). My 75 Yamaha is on a 17' center console bay boat, runs out at 38 mph and I generally fill the 25 gallon tank every 3 trips, whether it needs it or not.

 

[tractorman99]

Evinrude ETEC is the way to go.

http://www.evinrude.com/en-US/