135 Evinrude 2002 Fitch

[scottar]

Over the past say 11 years I have watched interestingly the attitudes of people on the various forums. Primarily Fishnet and here as well as others. So many single minded views that discard the views of others. Whether its: Aluminium v fibreglass, mono v multi hull, 2 or 4 stroke, jet-skis have no right to the water v boats do, sail boats v powerboats and it goes on and on and on......

Is it ignorance or arrogance? Is it redneck thinking? A pissing contest? What makes people incapable of accepting the personal decisions that others make and feel the need to put others down for their decisions? And by extension push their own agenda for which is better, usually based on very limited exposure to real knowledge of the product range overall? If you like DI 2 strokes then that's great! If you like 4 strokes then that's equally great! Likewise for choice of hull material or configuration or mode of transport and all else is great! Diverse experience is valuable along with a balanced and unbiased perspective.

I like to call it the "Ford v Holden" syndrome and it almost seems to be an ingrained way of life in Australia that was more or less bred into the population by our parents views or perspectives. You grew up as a Labour or Liberal supporter, a Ford or Holden supporter, a Collingwood or anyone else supporter - we have been conditioned to wear blinkers right from the get go. That coupled with the psychological requirement for self validation ( "I made this decision because ........and everyone else is wrong") - after all no one wants to admit they made the wrong decision - we are conditioned to that these days as well.

BRP painting a massive target on themselves by dragging the opposition around backwards probably didn't endear themselves to the other manufacturers a whole lot either. When you do a very targeted head to head advertising campaign like they did ( I can't recall seeing it anywhere before), the gloves come off and you need to have all your ducks in a row because the opposition from that point forward is going to grab any chance they can to hit back - this time they already had the ammunition - the stigma that was attached to Ficht.

[BM]

Great reply Scottar!! I agree with your overall sentiment but it doesn't fit personally. I must not have grown up in the same Australia!! I guess you are right re the aggressive nature of the BRP marketing. One heck of a way of making a very profound point though.

With regard to the topic in hand, I would buy a boat with a ficht engine (if it's still running then it's obviously fine) but it would have to be priced to reflect the near valueless (stigma driven) engine.

[Chimo]

BM and I and others who said the same thing are correct, the other fluff should be treated as such.

Here ends the lesson

Cheers
Chimo

[Spaniard_King]

Does anyone know how well BRP are supporting the older ficht engines? When the bungle went down in 1999 we had a hell of a time getting ECM.s for a few years.

We paid $2500 for an exchange ECM for a 225HP that was over charging the battery @ 18 volts

[BM]

Hi Garry,

I reckon a quick search of the BRP EPC (epc.brp.com) would probably reveal fairly quickly what parts are currently available. Given they still supply arts for say 30 year old engines I reckon they would have the ficht parts too.

Edit: I just looked up a 150hp 1999 Evinrude and injectors and ECU and all other bits appear available.

[Lovey80]

I loved the old carby 2 stroke rudes. Never owned a Ficht but correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't it the Ficht that basically sent OMC broke allowing the BRP take over?

[BM]

I doubt the Ficht engines sunk OMC. I have no intrinsic knowledge as to their demise but it seems difficult to accept a century old company would go under due to a failed venture into new technology when they still had an existing carby based product?

And I suspect my use of the word failed is really not appropriate because they were working a new technology and for the most part, it worked.

[stang69]

Their re-sale reflects their worth. Cold hard facts tell no lies.
Ask any outboard mechanic how reliable Ficht, DI, and Etecs are. Not the ones that sell them though.

[scottar]

Their re-sale reflects their worth. Cold hard facts tell no lies.
Ask any outboard mechanic how reliable Ficht, DI, and Etecs are. Not the ones that sell them though.

LOL. Might as well ask a Holden dealer if a Ford is a good car.

[Aussie123]

Apparently colour is everything so providing it is not a white Ford, it should be a good car

[Noelm]

OMC was failing long before the FICHT was released, and in a small way, the release of such a high tech motor was going to be their savior, but lots of issues where eating away before the ultimate demise of OMC, I read a rather lengthy "paper" written by a high ranking executive at the time, bad management decisions, low cash flow, which resulted in less and less quality control, and of course the old, more high paid managers, and less production workers also hit hard, in the end, they just failed. Makes no difference how long you have been in business, or what you invented or perfected, once better countries start producing better units, cheaper, you're in trouble, unfortunately OMC kind of thought good old US was top of the tree, but the Japanese just whipped the rug out from under them, better engineering, skilled workers that actually worked simply killed them, BRP had years of small engine manufacture behind them, and high ranking leaders that had modern views in marketing, not just prepared to sit back and smoke cigars in board rooms.

[stang69]

Don't ask the dealer who's livelihood depends on it, ask the mechanic who has no skin in the game.
Say no to drugs, and white outboards.

[gofishin]

Don't ask the dealer who's livelihood depends on it, ask the mechanic who has no skin in the game.
Say no to drugs, and white outboards.

Not so long ago you were also bagging Cruise Crafts as well as 140 zukes stang69, now its white outboards!

A mate had a FICHT 175 and he bought it off his mate who was an OB mechanic who bought it new from memory - and he had the option of white or grey. In over a dozen years neither had any dramas with it.

And how many hundreds post on here, if not more, have had good service from their newer gen white donks?

Hell, if all the brands are now offering white as their premium or a special option, doesn't it make white donks the best??

My missus would love any white donk on our boat, as the current one just doesn't match the boat colour scheme [emoji41]


Sent from my iPhone using Ausfish mobile app

[stang69]

I owned a white 140 Zuke/Johnson. It was white, it was a 140 Suzuki, and it came from BRP. Thats what I call a triple threat.
Well, it was mostly white with a lot of brown in the form of rust.
They saw me coming.