Page 1 of 1

outboard motors

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2020 8:57 pm
by DocPit
I expect to buy my first boat, probably a Bennington 20 SLL, at the Columbia Boat Show this week. There' a choice of engines: Mercury, Yamaha, Evinrude, Honda, and Suzuki. The boat is rated for a maximum 115 hp. I was thinking about the Mercury 115 hp 4S Pro XS CT 25in. Online reviews of the command thrust engine seem favorable, but I read a lot of negatives about Mercury's customer service, failure to honor warranty, etc. Of course, people who are angry are more likely to write negative reviews than satisfied customers are likely to write positive reviews. I'd be interested in knowing what opinions are out there, if any.

Re: outboard motors

Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 12:47 am
by ROLAND
Hello Docpit... I've only owned one pontoon boat so my actual hands on knowledge of different outboards is very limited. No way am I trying to knock Mercury motors.. just relaying something I know about. A relative of mine bought a big Triton bass boat about 7 years or so ago.. he came with a big merc on the back... several years later something went wrong with it and he had to put a new motor on it. He went with a 200 hp Mercury... then about 2 months ago he was out on the lake and it started running terribly... took it a mechanic and what do you know... shot to hell... I don't know what was wrong with it but just last week he had to put another outboard, a 250 Mercury. He said he considered switching over to a Yamaha but something about all the cables and throttle would have to be changed over as well so he stayed with Mercury. I don't understand all that, just know what I was told. I have an older bennington with a 75 horse Yamaha on the back end.. never had any issues out of it except for the trim motor went out several years ago... other than that, trouble free and the rig is 10 years old. Just something to think about.

Re: outboard motors

Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 4:37 am
by riplipper
All the brands are good these days. However, with anything you buy, you can get a bad apple.
I have had every brand out there over many years and only had one bad apple that nobody could figure out.
I have a 200 hp Merc Verado right now and so far with 200 hrs on it, it has been flawless. Hope it stays that way. Keeping fingers crossed.

Re: outboard motors

Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 4:46 am
by wwind3
Over the years I've owned a 9.8, 40, 85, 115 inline 6 cyl, and now have a 90 Optimax Mercury.. Only one I have ever had problems with is the 90. All ethanol related combined with idiot service by a dealer. Ethanol was messing up the fuel pumps-broke down 4 times in 5 years. There was a bulletin from Merc that fixed it but moron dealer didnt seem to know about it. Another dealer fixed it about 4 yrs ago-so far so good.

The main thing I found was the Mercs seem to be faster that other brands with same HP. Never owned a 4-stroke tho'....all 2 strokes.

Re: outboard motors

Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 6:50 am
by Steiner
Yamaha or Honda but that's just me. Of those two, Yamaha probably has a larger service network around Murray. I think the good thing about the 115 is that it's probably just about every manufacturer's core engine...the Honda Civic of everyone's line up if you will. One dealer in Newberry is dropping Evinrude because they say they have become a huge pain to deal with on service or parts since the BRP restructure. The local dealer I got my first pontoon at only carries Honda and just recently started servicing Mercury mainly because of the inquiries about working on them indicted they could get some (needed) extra business servicing them....they are not going to sell them, just service them. That's not a knock on Mercury btw. They've been around since the 60's and have been carrying Honda for years and have had one...ONE...warranty claim for a failed Honda, and it was the owners fault for getting stuck on a sandbar and burning it up trying to get off but Honda still covered it.

Re: outboard motors

Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 1:10 pm
by riplipper
if you need service of some kind, Zuk and Honda do not have as extensive a network. Almost everyone services merc and yam. This really comes into play if you tow to different bodies of water and something happens. I am also big on buying local......as long as their reputation is good.

Re: outboard motors

Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 4:39 pm
by bansil
Find out what dealers you have where you hang out....choose one of them, outboards have very long warranty and traveling with broken engine to fix it would suck

Re: outboard motors

Posted: Thu Feb 06, 2020 5:07 am
by steve1313
Pick your dealer, then pick your boat (or motor). Those are words I live by every time I buy a boat. If you're buying new, you'll want that dealer relationship for service, warranty work, etc. A good dealer makes all the difference. And unlike car dealers, you can't just cruise into any dealer and expect them to do warranty work on your boat/motor, even if they carry or are authorized for your particular brand. They may offer to work on it, but they'll keep moving you to the pack of the line to take care of their customers that bought boats from them!.