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Who Makes The Best Outboards?

Alright, it's an age old debate. It was once a debate that was more or less Mercury versus Johnson/

  • Total voters
    95
That would be awesome to see cuz the market for that kinda HP is growing very fast. I know the power is there somebody took 2 E-tec modded them somewhat and took 1st and 3rd at the Rouen24 But BRP said they knew nothing of it..
 
Blizz, funny you brought that up! For BRP not knowing anything about the guys at Rouen, the winning boat somehow showed up as the centerpiece of the Evinrude corporate display this past weekend at Nashville. BTW, it's amazing a boat that small could run that hard, for that long! The action shots from the race were very impressive.

Listen, I'm the first to admit that BRP-Evinrude is behind in the HiPo outboard wars. That being said, I think that what they are doing with "out of the box" turn-key outboards it pretty cool. Did you know that there is zero break in period on the E-Tec's? I was at the factory one day when the line was building 200 H.O.'s, and each motor comes off the line and goes into a test tank, where they are fired up and run at WOT immediately upon starting up. It was pretty cool to see and hear!

My only intent in joining this discussion was to encourage more high-performance outboarders to investigate the new E-Tec technology and finished product. Check out the DVD at your dealership, and if possible, get a lake test. If you do, post your thoughts here afterwards.....:bigthumb:
 
I really hope they get into the market as well competition among brands is a great thing. The Rouen boats were put together by BRP Europe i believe almost a complete different identity. I'm supposed to go over to BRP headquarters next month maybe they'll have one around that we can swing a ride in. They're still pretty scarce up here in Canada Their network is still small Taking longer than they thought to build it back up after OMC killed itself. And again i think the motor and the technology inside of it are amazing i hope to see big things out of BRP soon.
 
Blizz, where are you located in Canada? And when you say you are going to BRP headquarters, are you referring to Valcourt or Wisconsin? Maybe I can get you hooked up to check out the E-Tec first hand.
 
I'm an hour from Valcourt. They had some up hear in the spring need to find out if thier still there. I used to work for Bombardier before Dfense Dept (where i work) and Recreation Now BRP were sold off a couple years ago..
 
Like them or not, Ski-Doo, Sea-Doo, and BRP ATV's are hugely successful in their respective markets, and I look for the same success for Evinrude.
Click to expand...

I don't mean to step on any toes, but aw geez I sure hope that the Evinrudes don't take after Sea-Poo's. You want to talk about unreliable? Go hang out in a PWC message board...... Yeah they sell, only because of Bombardier's excellent marketing, and they are the Escalades of the PWC world. Big, heavy, and flashy.
 
Ok, I see alot of OLD posts on this, but I have to reply. I work for an American auto company, and I'm pro-buy-american, but I've had Yamaha everything. From bikes to outboards to sleds etc. and I've never had a major problem. But I gotta tell ya, I have a 10 ft. Starcraft pram with a 1972 50th anniversary 4hp Johnson, and it keeps going...and going...and going.......I gotta go with Johnson.
Mach
 
I've never had a Merc give me bad trouble. My last boat (Stream) had a well worked 235 Rude and it too was a good motor. I chalk it up to taking care of the engines, using good oil and flushing them constantly. But my next boat will have a Merc.
 
I have a '58 18hp Evinrude, '60 10hp Johnson, '87 9.8 merc and the '03 225EFI on the Checkmate. Use em all and no problems. Not changing to Jap now.
 
Be careful about the jap comment in the next few years if your buying merc fishing motors they will be made in China.
 
Honda

I do think Honda makes the best motors out there but wouldnt put one on a checkmate, cant beet the 2 strokes when looking for speed, would have to go with the ETEC.

The reason i think the Hondas are by far the best one out there is from my epxerience with the USCG. My shop does most of the major warrenty concerns for the USCG in the Great Lakes and some other areas. They generally put about 1000 hours on a motor in 5 months and so far the record is over 6500 hours on a motor and still 4 months left under a 3 year unlimited hour warrenty. On the 3000 motors we over look, its about a 1% (mostly for maintence) downtime and never had more then 8 in at once. I dont think any other engine can come close to that.

I have always been an Evinrude fan though, and my father being a US steel worker believe in buying american but these japanese are kickin some but with these four strokes.
 
Merc is the best

I bought my 1979 CHeckmate "Entertainer" new and rigged it with a 1978 Merc 200 that I paid $3100 for and ran this motor until 2003 when I replaced it with a new 200HP Merc. I sold my old 200 for $1000 after 25 years of dependable service.

The only problems I ever had with this motor was the tilt switch and I tore out a lower unit when I hit a log.
 
Don't Laugh at my Scott :)

Hey, I've got a 1963 Scott McCulloch 45 HP with the aforementioned bail-o-matic feature - which is limited in its usefulness in that it only operates when the outboard is running. My father bought it new and it powers a 14' mahognay plank hull. The motor needs a new coil but other than that it looks like it just came out of the crate.
 
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