evinrude no more

[snowstorm]

i just read that brp pulled the plug on evinrude. they are going to continue building boats and they will have mercury outboards

[firefighter ontheside]

I just saw an article on this last night.  I was surprised not only about the discontinuation of evinrude outboards, but the partnership with mercury.  It's like oil and water finally mixing together.

[YellowHammer]

I hadn't heard that, but am not surprised.  From a guy who owns 3 boats, Evinrude has always had difficulty staying competitive with the harsh usage Mercury/Yamaha reliability and saltwater service life crowd, and can't really get traction with the lower cost but very reliable Tohatsu and Suzuki products lines.  I'm generalizing here, they make good engines, but when someone like me is going to invest $20K to $30K in boat engines, it won't be an Evinrude or Johnson.  Their E-Tec had reliability issues, and generally had a 1,000 hour service life and were dead, based on people I knew who had them.  My two saltwater Yamahas, on the other hand, had their 1,000 hour factory services last year, and the dealer said they were as good as new, with excellent compression, no corrosion, and zero issues.

Mercury is getting big rewards for teaming with Yamaha many years ago, who makes many of their components, including Mercury powerheads.

 

[Nebraska]

No wonder my buddy was trying to sell me his older Evinrude. They offered him zero trade..

[WV Sawmiller]

   Sorry to hear it. I have owned several Johnson and Evinrude (Both OMC and parts interchangeable) outboards and always got good service out of them. My current motor is a 25 hp Johnson.

    We vacationed in the Amazon in Ecuador and Peru and the go-to motor down there seemed to be the Kawasaki 40 hp. Either it is a tough dependable motor or some dealer with good political connections got his foot in the door first. We took a private tour in Ecuador with our own 40' canoe operated by a local Indian named "Clever". We took 2 - 55 gallon barrels of gasoline on the trip and he rigged some system to just stick a hose directly from the drum to the motor. He was a master at jumping fallen logs just under the water and raising the prop just in time to avoid hitting the object. All the motors I saw there were recoil start too.

[caveman]

OMC (Johnson and Evinrude), Mercury/Mariner and the occasional Chrysler were about the only outboards I recall seeing much of when growing up.  It was really a Ford/Chevy type following for each of the major brands.  Back in the 70's and 80's on Florida's west coast, I would see 40-50 OMC's for every Mercury.  Carl Kiekhaefer, the former president of Mercury also noticed that phenomenon and set out to cut into the saltwater market.  Down near Venice, Fl., Mercury had a testing center.  One of my friends who later became an outboard repair instructor used to operate their test boats.  When I was fishing down in that area, it was easy to identify the Mercury test boats - they were canary yellow and all had black engines and always seemed to be running flat out regardless of surf conditions.

The Mercury's from the 70's and 80's had pretty terrible wiring (I bought a used four cylinder 50 hp and ran it for a while).  I  have had really good service out of the OMC 70 hp's, 90-115 hp (4 cyl.) and relatively good service out of a 25hp.  The 225 V6 I had seemed to require a lot of effort to keep running (bore and replace pistons, regulator rectifier, lower unit bearings/gears, drive shaft broke after engine rebuild (of course that was during a thunderstorm after offering assistance to a stranded boater).  

I currently have and OMC 9.9 and OMC 25 that get run on a 1957 Alumacraft occasionally, a 90 hp Evinrude on a skiff, and a Honda 225 on a center console.  
Most of my crowd who used to run OMC's now run Yamaha's.  The majority of the guides and commercial guys I see are running four stroke Yamaha's and a few are running Suzuki's.

The Ficht OMC engines and the substandard service provided by their dealers in the 1990's and later seemed to give all of the other brands an edge while dooming OMC. I hate to see good companies run into the ground because of poor decisions or mismanagement.


 


  I was looking for a picture of my 1976 skiff with the 90 but did not find one.  Regardless, when the skies get angry and you find yourself a long way from the beach, it is good to have a reliable engine.  JMoore, another friend and I spent a really rough and stormy night many miles offshore in a 22' center console, dead in the water due to a shorted out key switch.  It took the tow boat captain three attempts to get us a tow line.

[gspren]

  The Evinrudes I had were good but more than 40 years ago. Now I have 3 Yamahas, a 25 on a skiff and a pair of 150s on a 24'CC. The only Merc I had was one of the previously mentioned 4 cyl 50s and it was great. I haven't liked the looks of the newer Evinrudes and don't see many where I boat.

[YellowHammer]

It's interesting to me that the companies who had the foresight to team up with other big manufactures really took the market.  Tohatsu built by Nissan, Mercury built by Yamaha, etc.  

I remember when I was buying a twin engine center console ocean boat powered with Suszuki engines, I asked the salesman if they were good engines and he saide, sure, no problems.  I then asked him how they compared to Yamahas, and he gushed that there was no comparison, Yammies were the best, 10 to 1, and this dealership didn't even sell Yamahas.  

I also remember I was being guided in Mobile bay, and the guide said he was a Yamaha man, and the Evirude reps came to his dock and offered all the professional guides a new ETEC I'd they would run them.  So he got a new engine for free, ran if for about a year, and it died.  So he just put his old Yamaha back on.  

[snowstorm]

i see someone hates evinrude. thats fine. yes yam made some small motors for merc. and funny thing is the 225 4 stroke painted black didnt have as much corrosion issues. cause the grey one sure did. then there was the flywheel on the v8 how often did they replace them? every 125 hrs?? or the hpdi? that worked out real well

[gspren]

Some of the partnerships are complicated, Tohatsu is a big outboard manufacturer worldwide, they made Nissan which folded, they make smaller engines for Merc and some bigger ones for Honda and probably others. Back when Mariner was made the smaller ones were Yamaha and the bigger were Mercury. I think that worldwide Yamaha is #1 and Tohatsu #2 but I've been wrong before. Back in the 60s I even had an old Oliver outboard.

[YellowHammer]

So I hate Evinrude?  Nope, it's just an outboard, no different than saying I hate a brand of screwdriver.  However, I am very interested in outboards, and do a lot of research on them, as I am on the water at least twice a week, and when in the saltwater, I place my life and the life of my crews on their reliability.  When 30 miles offshore, engine reliability is paramount, and I don't fully trust any brand engine with my life, that's why I run twins, even though they are Yamahas.

The Yamaha 150 four strokes I own now, as well as the Yamaha 225 four stroke I did own, have many interchangeable parts with Mercury, even down to the oil filters, because Yamaha makes their power heads.  I had to change them just last week, getting ready for another trip to the Gulf.

The Mercury and Yamaha engines I've personally owned and used in saltwater and freshwater, various models from 1979 to current, some with over 1,500 hours of engine time, from 25 hp to 225 hp have had zero corrosion issues for me.  Yes, the sacrificial zincs need to be replaced and serviced regularly, but that is why they are on the motor.  I have had wiring issues on my older Mercs, but the newer ones seems to have more professional and organized looms.  

I will buy what what I think is the best engine for the situation, Yamahas for saltwater, Mercury's for freshwater, (my 200 Hp Mercury Pro XS on my Ranger Comanche will vapor trail down the lake) although I came very close to buying a Tohatsu this winter for my duck boat.  From what I understand, it is the most popular and reliable small engine overseas, especially in the third world riverine countries.  I was getting it for my duck boat, where reliability is paramount.  BTW, my buddy runs a Johnson in his duck boat, and one night, in the seeming geometric center of the Tennessee river, in the dark, in the cold, and I got to tow him back in, a few years ago.  

As Caveman says, walk down a commercial saltwater dock, and look at what engines are mounted and used.  Saltwater usage is the acid test for outboards.  

Most of my crowd who used to run OMC's now run Yamaha's.  The majority of the guides and commercial guys I see are running four stroke Yamaha's and a few are running Suzuki's.

I used to have to tow people back to the harbor so regularly, maybe once a week, I started and still carry my own towline, special length, special diameter.  With the more reliable crop of 4 stroke outboards, I haven't had to tow anybody in well over a year, a noticeable improvement, not counting PWC's.    

The engine I have had to tow back most?  The old Mercury in line 6 cylinder, but thankfully, I don't see many of them anymore.  

[Hilltop366]

Back in the mid 80's when I went to trade school the older Mercury had a bad reputation for being way more difficult and expensive to fix because they were hard to get apart, we were advised to drop the lower unit enough to get a cutting torch in there and cut the shaft off and try and get the rest of the shaft off with heat and a puller without destroying the power unit, you usually would destroy a prop trying to remove it so what was suppose to be un-bolt and re-bolt became a much longer job with a lot more parts than it should have been. No Mercury dealer would survive around here back then.

I just stayed away from outboards and worked on motorcycles and chainsaws.

[sawguy21]

My outboard experience is limited to mostly fresh water and less than 25 hp. We did a 65 Merc with a blown powerhead in voc school, it had been on a saltwater boom boat. You wanna talk about a harsh environment! It was miserable to work on with the corrosion, I never touched another one. My favourites were OMC, they were reliable, easy to service and parts were cheap but apparently quality control suffered toward the end. I had several and had zero problems with them except for fishing line taking out the seal and that wasn't the motors fault.

[caveman]

Today, I did nothing productive or resembling work, other than clean fish.  I did go bass fishing this morning.  My teaching partner and friend of over 40 years took me to a lake that I had never fished.  His Tracker boat has a four stroke Merc.  While we were catching and measuring fish to get 10 legal bass in the livewell (bass are my favorite FW fish to eat) I heard a motor running in the distance, it brought back bad memories for me- there was an old trihull boat with a four cylinder merc making laps around the lake.  

I was glad to see it. I also have to give credit where credit is due.  I hated that Merc I had but it would get my boat on plane.  My 25 hp Johnson would only plane the skiff when it was running out of gas and running lean.  The wiring on the Merc was self disintegrating and the cowl had to be removed to manually choke it to start, the lower unit would not hold oil but I ran it for years with mostly water in the lower unit and sold it to a good friend after rewiring ($500) and he ran it for several more years and sold it to someone else.

The day I decided to sell it.  I was in a local lake and a thunder storm came up.  Turned the key, no joy.  Pulled the three part cowling and wrapped my 1/4" get home string around the flywheel and pulled several times.  The lightning is popping.  The knot in the sting comes untied and I go into the drink.  Pithed off as I can be and try again to start the motor.  It started on the first pull after I had my dowsing.  Since I was selling to a good friend, we rewired it before he took possession.  Replaced with a used 1986 Evinrude 90 HP.  That motor is still on the transom and has Wiseco pistons and one rebuild.

[sawguy21]

 :D I am visualizing you going overboard with the rope in your hand, that is too funny.

[YellowHammer]

For some reason, the expression "mad as a wet cat" probably best fit Caveman's disposition at that time.

Here was a memorable tow in 2017, 32 miles offshore in the Gulf of of Mexico, out of Mobile, Al, with my daughter's expression of how lucky these guys were that we saw them while we were cruising back to port.  The sun was a going down, it was getting dark, their "white" motor wouldn't fire, and we luckily saw them dead in the ocean.  They had no radio, no Sea Tow, and did I mention they were 32 miles out??  We threw them our handy tow rope, and it was a happy ending for them.  We, on the other hand, got back in later than expected.  On flat calm seas like this, our twin Yamaha powered Pursuit runs in the mid 50's so it would have normally been a short run back to the beach.        



  

[Larry]

Same time as Evinrude got the ax BRP shut down a Alumacraft small boat factory in Arkadelphia Arkansas putting 90 workers out on the street.  Looks like they are cutting the losses....smart business decision but I feel sorry for the workers.  The Arkadelphia plant had been in production for a long time.

Late at night, I hit a rock with my Mercury Saltwater taking it out but my Evinrude kicker got me home.  Nother time my battery went dead and I pull started the rude to get juice to the Mercury.  Can't say bad things about either one.

Used to do fly in Canadian trips every year and the 9.9 Yamahas seemed to have nearly 100 percent of the market.  I asked questions and was told they were by far the most reliable.

[Walnut Beast]

Wow! They were lucky and I'm sure really glad you helped them out. I bet you would really like to be back out there fishing 🎣 

[caveman]

I don't know where the post I just made went.  

Robert, that would have easily been a $2000 tow for that Grady White(?) captain and probably a lot more.  Generally, whenever our motors have decided not to start, the seas are angry and 10' or so, the sky is dropping lightning bolts and torrential rain, it is dark and the wind is howling.  You should be at the top of the Grady captain's Christmas list.  

[Al_Smith]

Back in the day Evinrude,Johnson and Mercury were all dependable outboard motors .Most likely many of those now antiques still are . I've got a whole rack of old small outboard engines at my shop and one was sold by Firestone which is a Mercury .5 HP and two cylinders ,seems odd to me .I lost my enthusiasm for boating decades ago .A boat is a hole in the water you throw money in .You can rent them cheaper than owning one in Ohio .

[YellowHammer]

Boats are money pits, without question, I just spent $750 bucks on a new Tempest Plus surface piercing prop for my bass boat, I bent my other one a tad, and the prop guy couldn't fix it right.

However, just like many boaters, some of the most memorable and raw moments of my life have been while on the water in a boat.  

Rescuing a jet skier from almost certain death, him collapsed and floating on his back, unable to swim, after being ejected off his PWC, drifting out Destin pass on an outgoing tide, at dusk, about to be turned into ground hamburger by the returning fishing fleet ranks pretty high as a memory.  

The memory of a scary 75 mph chine walk in my Venture boat while leaving a 100 yard long vapor trail on the glass slick surface a Smith Lake with a Mercury XR-4 was absolutely as cool as gets.  

I've seen boats sink right in front of me, both freshwater and salt, rescued folks off a catamaran drifting seemingly to Cuba, and learned to barefoot ski behind a Mastercraft.

And the weather!  I've seen water spouts, lightning bolts exploding the water as I was running to safe harbor, and yes, the big seas I got caught in, taking green water over the bow.  

I'll never forget the jet black eyeball the size of a baseball, looking at me from 2 feet away, just breaking the surface, belonging to a truly monster Mako shark, so close I could touch him with my hand, just staring at me from across the gunnel, in a scene right out of Jaws.  

Of course, there's also the other memories.  Bass tournaments, sunrises on the water, and breaking ice duck hunting.  

Here's a Forum member who went out with us just last year and made some memories.  Does anybody recognize him without a cowboy hat?




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Anyway, maybe you can tell, I like the boating adventure.

[caveman]

Looks like Custom Snapper and his twin, Custom Cuda.

[firefighter ontheside]

My first experience with an Evinrude was running towboats carrying canoes across Lake Saganaga in MN.  We had 25 hp evinrude the first year and they did fine, but the following year my boss tried out a Merc and never looked back.  25 horse was the limit on that lake as it's part of the BWCAW.  Those were some fun summers on boats.

[petefrom bearswamp]

B.O.A.T. break out another thousand.
My Yamaha 50 a 2005 finally went in for a $700 fix up last fall.
Injector clean, plugs, and a bunch of filters.
This was after barely it making back about 10 miles to the go home dock on Lake Kipiwa QUE. last September.
My own fault for not taking care of business.

[petefrom bearswamp]

While we are in the war story mode my friend and I were out of Yankee Town FL in his 14 footer with an old 10HP  evinrude when we sheared a pin.
There were not many boats out there at the time. and we were drifting for the open gulf and had no spare.
Finally a guy came by and we were able to flag him down and he towed us back in.
Wouldnt take a nickle for the help.
Told us  that  if you go out of Yankee town enough you will do damage to the lower unit of some kind in fact he just got his boat back the week before after the lower unit was replaced.