Mercury
Bought new boat - what engine to get with it?
- Thread starter wallyuwl
- Start date
In 2005 I bought new a Johnson J140. It was a re-badged Suzuki four stroke. It was a phenomenal outboard. I think the Mercury four strokes have a slightly better performance over the Yamaha's. Personal observation!
So is this a short shaft or long shaft we talking about?
Yamaha would be my choice.
FYI in some years the Yamaha and Mercury are basically the same engines and share the same internal parts. I have a 115 HP 4 stroke Mercury and have been told it's almost the same as a Yamaha. The 40 HP and under Yamaha, Mercury, Nissan, Tohatsu, and many more share the same internal parts and many, many of the parts are interchangeable.
Yamaha is the king out outboards period. I would definatly get the SHO. Who cares if it's a lil ugly. I've never seen any boat owner complain about extra HP and torque.
!!!!
https://www.mercurymarine.com/en/ca...0r-delivers-unrelenting-outboard-performance/
This^^^^^ is the king but I agree Yamaha's are very very good.
No mention of Honda Outboards? A lot of people around here have them including the coast guard patrol boats
Nothing wrong with Yamaha, Suzuki's, etc.
Nothing wrong with Yamaha, Suzuki's, etc.
They were already mentioned, and are great motors. The downside is lack of dealers and not as much power as either Yamaha or Mercury as per the rating. Neither one will get the top speeds of the Yamaha or Mercury if that matters to the buyer.
The two happiest days in a man's life, the day he gets his boat and the day he gets rid of it. 
Your exactly right! I do get off track every once in a while, but in a 115 I would still do the standard over the Pro XS.
Suzuki is very popular around here and we have a 115 on our 21 Carlolina Skiff. Works great and we go out on the intercoastal all the time. I just did the first 20hr oil change. Super easy on it and the lower unit. It's my understanding that the Yamaha only has a one year warranty but the Suzuki has a 5 yr. At least that is what they told me when we purchased it.
You are only buying the engine once for hopefully many years of use. Find a dealer with certified mehcanics that you trust the most and buy an engine from them. Good luck.
It’s like oil…everyone has their loyalties. IMO With today’s outboards it boils down to the dealer support where you are. I like my Yamaha 200 HP 4 stroke. Light, quiet, and fuel efficient. I had a Suzuki 200 HP 4 stroke. It was swinging a 4 blade prop and made a lot of torque right off idle. Got the boat on plane quickly. Not as fuel efficient but was quiet. I recently fished with a guide out of Bud and Mary’s Marina. 99% of all the charter captains had Yamaha. I ask our guide-Captain why no Zukes or Mercs. He simply said “we think they are junk”. He didn’t say why but sometimes what you see tells a story…
Thanks for all your suggestions. I feel better about the Mercury. Which is good, because I backed out of the deal. The situation was not good and we made a hasty decision. Now need to get the deposit back, but the dealer is (of course) playing games. They are a high pressure, high volume dealer. I'll get a lawyer if they have to. But I was promised I'd get a call by the General Manager on Friday, he is supposedly the only one that has authority to credit back the credit card and he is conveniently out until Friday.
The more I looked into the boat, I read a lot about these boats listing to the starboard (left) side. Not everyone, but certainly enough to not buy a $47k boat to find out if it is one of the bad ones.
So now we are looking at either a Lund (probably Crossover XS), Alumacraft Trophy, or maybe a Triton Allure. All would come with a Mercury. We may wait until spring, too. I think we'd pay a couple thousand more but also one year newer and we wouldn't be making payments on something sitting in storage from October through April.
I will always worry about rivets leaking and fiberglass ride better, but Fiberglass are a little more $$$ and heavier to deal with at the boat launch (were we most often go the ramp is pretty steep). A big reason for getting a new boat instead of just fixing or repowering my current almost 40 year old fiberglass is it doesn't handle waves great (fairly narrow and the hulls were not designed to handle waves great back then).
The more I looked into the boat, I read a lot about these boats listing to the starboard (left) side. Not everyone, but certainly enough to not buy a $47k boat to find out if it is one of the bad ones.
So now we are looking at either a Lund (probably Crossover XS), Alumacraft Trophy, or maybe a Triton Allure. All would come with a Mercury. We may wait until spring, too. I think we'd pay a couple thousand more but also one year newer and we wouldn't be making payments on something sitting in storage from October through April.
I will always worry about rivets leaking and fiberglass ride better, but Fiberglass are a little more $$$ and heavier to deal with at the boat launch (were we most often go the ramp is pretty steep). A big reason for getting a new boat instead of just fixing or repowering my current almost 40 year old fiberglass is it doesn't handle waves great (fairly narrow and the hulls were not designed to handle waves great back then).
