They will never shake the "black anchor" tag unfortunately....damage done in years gone by...
New technology also usually has "bugs" to iron out that take time to fester and come to light..
Cannot see how you can go past a tried and tested Yammy or Honda, especially the latter with the 7 years warranty..
Agreed. Honda isn’t bleeding edge tech but has unparalleled reliability
Are the new Mercs running anything particularly new tech or are they just doing all the usual outboard things well?Originally Posted by Watto79
I think that Honda would have once been considered technologically in front but now they seem to be being left behind and are occupying the "weighty edge"
Just before anyone jumps in I'm not an offended Merc owner (my current outboard garage is 1 x Evinrude and 1 x Suzuki) just interested.
Cheers Matt
I'm on THT a lot, which is a massive forum, very heavily Florida-based, huge outboard market compared to ours, and there are no "V8 Merc issues" to speak of. Very easy to find isolated instances of anything, with any motor, especially those sold in a very short period of time in their tens of thousands, and build it up into "issues" The Yamaha mid-section rot problem, however , is very well documented, very common, and has cost people entire motors, when it gets in from the hot section into the lower section of the powerhead and stuffs it. Even if it doesn't get that far, expensive to fix.
I’m not saying the newer mercs aren’t reliable nor is the black anchor label is justified. I’m staying in the current Australian secondhand market mercs still have the poor reliability reputation stigma about them and thus the resale is less. I was in the industry and many of my friends still are. Stigma is probably passed down from generation. Heck I own a gen 1 verado with 900hrs had to replace the steering pump for 3k but aside from that it runs fine but thirsty.
Interesting info on the yammie's, first I have heard of it..
Thought they were pretty well bulletproof..
A mate who I regularly fish with has been through 2 x 100hp 4 strokes that I can only describe as were treated with total disdain for their entire lives, not washed, flushed very rarely, serviced on occasion and both had very few issues if any that I can recall...they just kept going!
They both were traded at around the 2000 - 2500 hours mark, so maybe the fun stuff comes at a later time..
He is now on a 100hp Honda and just loves the thing, however he has woken up and is actually looking after and servicing this one!
I do hear good things about the new merc's, time will tell if they have turned a corner..
Yeah I also think it a difficult perception to overcome from my generation anyway..(I'm 52).
I still have memories of being towed home as a youngster cursing the black anchor on the back of the family boat.
and it was still in the back of my mind when I was deciding on my last new motor..
My thought process was...gee those mercs look great, easy to service, great on fuel, great performance and very light but then that little niggle that reminded me of those towed in trips 40 years back and saying to myself....how have they made them so light..I wonder..?..have they been around long enough to prove themselves..etc..?
They may well turn out to be the best thing since sliced bread but that old black anchor thing was just sitting there in the back of my mind...just enough to make me think twice and hence I went for a big old fat assed mama Honda on the back...
Does anyone else share similar feelings..? and if so is it because of a personal bad experience or just the "black anchor" talk of others..?
I grew up laughing at black anchors and have had white motors on family boats forever. Now as an adult both boats run Merc and the old Honda off the car topper sits in the corner of the shed. I wondered if my grandfather would be rolling in his grave and then realised he was a realist and would have been over the moon to have modern outboard reliability irrespective of the colour.
The disprin tag associated with the old Suzuki 2 strokes was soon done with when the Suzuki four strokes came out but the Merc black anchor tag seemed to have stuck strong. I’d have no hesitation buying Merc. If I was looking at two identical boats with identical hours and service history and the Merc boat was cheaper than the Yamaha then all tease being equal i’d buy the Merc.Yeah I also think it a difficult perception to overcome from my generation anyway..(I'm 52).
I still have memories of being towed home as a youngster cursing the black anchor on the back of the family boat.
and it was still in the back of my mind when I was deciding on my last new motor..
My thought process was...gee those mercs look great, easy to service, great on fuel, great performance and very light but then that little niggle that reminded me of those towed in trips 40 years back and saying to myself....how have they made them so light..I wonder..?..have they been around long enough to prove themselves..etc..?
They may well turn out to be the best thing since sliced bread but that old black anchor thing was just sitting there in the back of my mind...just enough to make me think twice and hence I went for a big old fat assed mama Honda on the back...
Does anyone else share similar feelings..? and if so is it because of a personal bad experience or just the "black anchor" talk of others..?
Democracy: Simply a system that allows the 51% to steal from the other 49%.
Bloody Yamaha. If you want a real laugh Google Yamaha F150 balancer issues. It should've been a world wide recall but the Yamaha tec's could not figure it out. Apparently very few failed in warranty so they offered the customer the part at a discounted price. They were up to upgraded version 4 so that makes 5 with the original. About $1000.00 to change out.
I will never ever buy a new Yamaha after going through that bullshit.
I'm a very happy Merc 150 fourstroke owner.
TMC
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