merc engines

[throwback]

There recently was a post about merc verardo outboards and a few replies about merc engines in general. First let it be said that verados are decent engines but expensive and complicated . On the otherhand the optimax is far less complicated and the reality is the opti uses less fuel than the varardo runs just as clean and is far less complicated . I run my 225 opti on a 27 foot trophy pro and do about a dozen trips to the wash canyon per season and use about 70 gallons of fuel per trip. See my article in the July Aug Big Game Fishing Journal Small boat offshore fishing Va style. The most fuel I used on a trip was 88 gallons and that was on a 24 hour overnight trip deep into the norfolk canyon. I fish out of Chincoteague Va. Want to get a feeling for what works check out what watermen use. Down my way the guys who make a living on the water almost all use mercs. One guy I know has over 4000 hour on a opti and its still ticken. Some guys tried hondas had nightmare problems.
The reality of the situation is the 4 strokes were forced on the industry by uncle sam and the reality of the situation is they are not what there cracked up to be.
The downside of the opti is the cost of oil to perform well and last they require special oil which merc screws us on. No I don't own stock in merc but I operate a charter business- Magic Dragon Fishing Charters- and understand the bottom line. I also have a V20 and at some point plan to put a 200 opti on it just for fun. DON'T GET HUNG UP ON THE 4 STROKE MYTHS.

[Airslot]

Thanks for the other side throwback. I'm sitting on the shores of Chincoteague Bay now. What charter boat you run?

Airslot

[macojoe]

I operate a charter business- Magic Dragon Fishing Charters- and understand the bottom line. I

I have never and am still not covinced that 4 strokes are nothing more then crap!!

Give me a 2 stroke everytime!!

But I will pass on a Mercury if there is a Yamaha, Suzie, Johnson to be had first!

[Seacrets]

Had a trailer at Inlet View for 11 years. *Great place to raise kids. *I really miss Chincoteague. Do you know Kerry and Gary Howard, Tyrone and Weldon Bowden?

[sfprovyn]

I also used to stay at inlet view and toms cove when the kids were small...I cant tell ya how many flounder we caught in the inlet and queens channel..I like 2 strokes also but the time will probably come when we cant get them anymore..Good luck and I wish you continued luck with your Opti, mine blew two powerheads in less than a year. After the third one it never ran above 4900 RPM's so I sold it to a crabber who put a large pitch prop on it ......Frank

[throwback]

Airslot run out of greenbackville -Magic Dragon charters-
Just kind of a fun thing to do. Keven Thorne Thornes Marine keeps my opti running . Back in Pa for a week or so will be back around the 10th . Had a decent year offshore when the wind was not blowing. Plan to rockfish a bit then call it a year.

[garycorbett]

Merc is garbage - buy any other brand - I don't care.

[garycorbett]

Sorry - I had several in years past - nothing but trouble

[Airslot]

Well, I don't think Mercs are junk, but we all have opinions. Throwback, we must know each other and not know it? I live a mile from Greenback in one direction and work a mile from it in the other. Talk to Perry about everyday. Some crazy things going on around here these days.

Airslot

[turbinedoctor]

I am the third owner of my 84 merc, its been rebuilt once about ten years ago and still running good. There are lemons in everything, Mercs, Suzy's, chevy's, dodge's and once in a great while even Ford. Dont be turned off by one bad experience.

There are many people of every outboard that swears by that brand only. The important thing is that you are happy with your engine.

As far as 4 strokes its the same thing, some like them others don't. I've never had one but would be willing to try one.

Turbo.

[Seacrets]

Gary, Mercury bashing and you own a Ficht. *I don't care if it's a Bombardier motor, it's still a *Ficht. *You might want to check with Evinrude for any service updates on your motor. I wonder why they don't make them anymore. *;)

[TheTinMan]

^Agreed....I'll take my Merc over ANY FICHT any day!!!!

[sfprovyn]

Yes thats very true . No question the evinrude fitch was what the early opti max was to merc ( CRAP) but because of the $$$$$$$$$ problems with both a lot of guys myself included wont touch another one even though they may have sorted out the problems by now . When you pay $14 to 16 K for a motor you expect it to last at least a year. Most of this in my humble opinion is the manufacturers deliberately dragging their feet and failing to recognize the problem and trying to weasel out of a genuine warranty claim until they expired. I know merc dealers that did everything they could to right the problem and they were dealt a bad hand by the Merc reps and told to back off and not support the customers..Even the famous Yamahahahas are now blowing power heads on the HPDI big blocks ( if you run the 250 dry it blows up) but the difference is they are standing behind their product and trying to be part of the solution. My neighbor up the creek just had a free 250 replacement with no questions asked...An old retired mountie friend of mine runs a fish camp over a thousand miles from the nearest canadian city and the cargo work horses of his fleet which ferry 20 or so fisherman from camp to camp every day in big heavy wooden boats are a bunch of mid 70's and early 80's Merc tower of power 90's and 90 v 4 johnnyrudes with a few 55 bearcats and old chrysler 115's thrown in. These motors have never been serviced by a real mechanic. I cant understand how these old motors have managed to survive that harsh envrionment with drunk eskimos working on them that cant read or write and they go 4 thousand or more hours on crappy gas and cheap canadian tire oil which sometimes is diluted with chain saw oil or what ever they have on hand and they never seem to blow up. they may stink a little when you start them and make a little noise but they dont blow up like their high strung modern day $$$$$$$$counterparts which in my opinion is nothing but a big marketing scam and no one is comfortable working on them. Frank

[imported_admin]

Those homelite bearcats are bad *** motors!!! Those are the lightest, most fuel efficent, four stroke outboards ever made.

This boat was powered by bearcats racing in 1962.
http://www.wellcraftv20.com/gallery/albums/album07/MO1.jpg

[reelapeelin]

8)

[Sean]

I know Merc and Mariner are some what the same, but I was told that the Mariner was more amed towards a working motor with out all the bell and wistles???
Just woundering, I have a 96 Mariner 150 that so far has treated me real good...

[kamikaze]

throwback

I read your article in Big Game and enjoyed it very much. For all you out there if you haven't seen the magazine it well worth a look.

Kamikaze

[TheTinMan]

I had an older (79 I think) 140 Mariner Inline 6. I ran the hell out of that thing for about 5 years. Boat was kept on a mooring so it never got freshwater flushed. Not an ounce of trouble, bulletproof motor!

[bigshrimpin]

I know Merc and Mariner are some what the same, but I was told that the Mariner was more amed towards a working motor with out all the bell and wistles???
Just woundering, I have a 96 Mariner 150 that so far has treated me real good...


Sean - The mariner motors were mercs without black paint (same deal as the OMC Jonnyrude motors).

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh yeah . . . this boat was powered by twin 55hp bearcats. Those motors had serious torque too.

http://www.wellcraftv20.com/gallery/albums/album07/MO1.jpg

[chumbucket]

They must have had some serious torque the way they're pushing that old Sea Craft. :o 8)

[macojoe]

110 hp and the boat is out of the water!! :o

[garycorbett]

The Ficht I have has all the updates that Bombardier did when they got the company - I really like the motor. OMC was a crap company last going off. I would however buy any of the older 1985-1993 OMC motors - they were great motors. My brother has a 92 225 and never had a problem. Bombardier is selling a lot of the new ETec motors up my way and all the guys around here love um. I heard that the Bombardier factory IN THE USA (heh guys they are one of our boys!) not japan is running 24/7 to fill the demand.

[TheTinMan]

I heard that the Bombardier factory IN THE USA (heh guys they are one of our boys!) not japan is running 24/7 to fill the demand.

Made lN CANADA, close but not USA. :)


Actually, the BRP main plant and office is in Canada bvut it appears they do have a plant in the USA, along with Mexico, PR, China....

http://www.brp.com/en-CA/Directory/Snowmobiles.Watercraft.ATV.htm

[garycorbett]

Their big plant is in the USA and employs a lot of our guys! BUY USA fellas

[reelapeelin]

If BRP coulda been a little faster on introducing the 150-200hps, there'd be one on mine now 'stead of a Honda... ;) ...

[throwback]

If I am not mistaken the Homelite engines are based on the crosley block. For you young duds the crosley was a little car about vw size produced right after the war. The mill if I remember right was a 4 banger with an overhead cam. pretty hot little powerplant. I had a 55hp
homelite motor on a 17 foot criscraft plywood kit boat. Lots of torque but no speed. I bought the motor in verona Pa just up the allegheny river from pittsburgh.
The boat fell apart and I gave the motor to my uncle who used it in Fla for a lot of years.

[imported_admin]

I have yet to see one of these in person. They stopped making bearcats before I was born :) But they look like great engines!!

There's a place out here about 2hrs north of me in redding that rebuilds the bearcat 55's and sells them for $1500. I am considering repowering with a pair of these . . . them come with a 1 year warranty the down side is the lack of trim and tilt. Look at how simple this motor is

http://members.aol.com/home4cycle/port13.jpg
http://members.aol.com/home4cycle/star15.jpg

http://www.4cyclemarine.com/

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/history/bearcat.html

http://hometown.aol.com/homelite55/
http://members.aol.com/home4cycle/index.html

[imported_admin]

From the Article"

A comparision test from a 1961 Homelite Marine Marketing Bulletin compares the Homelite 55hp 4 cycle outboard to a new 75hp 2 cycle unit. The results are startling. The Homelite 55hp will out accelerate the 75hp unit by 2 or 3 boat lengths and will run within 2 or 3 mph at wide open throttle. At wide open throttle (5500rpm) the Homelite burns one quart of fuel in 6 minutes and 20 seconds. The 75hp 2 cycle engine ran 3 minutes and 12 seconds on its quart of fuel and oil mixture. At idle the results are even greater. The Homelite will idle (troll) 44 minutes on a quart of fuel. The 75hp 2 cycle unit only idled (trolled) 6 minutes on its quart of fuel and oil mixture. It's no wonder the advertising literature stated you could run the Homelite engine for less than half as much as the 75hp 2 cycle unit. Famed automotive writer, test driver, powerboat authority, and Daytona speed trial director Tom McCahill tested the Homelite 55 on a 202 mile run from Daytona Beach, FL to West Palm Beach, FL. This is what he reported.

In a 202 mile run, at a planned average of 25 mph, I was able to hold speed for better than three-quarters of the way, and was only forced to drop to a slower speed when we ran into weather conditions in which a small vessel, such as we had, should have been home in the backyard. The engine, however, never missed a beat, and would have gladly driven the hull to its complete destruction , if I'd ask it to. The oil consumption for the whole trip was 1/4 of a pint. In total gasoline and oil costs, from a dollar-and-cents standpoint, we made this run for about half of what most two-cycle jobs would have cost to operate at the same speed for the same distance with the same load. Several things about the engine impressed me. Its continuous smooth-idle ability, a complete lack of smoke and exhaust fumes and its general lack of commotion. The automobile-type dependability is what sold me to the hilt on its worthiness because the engine, as well as the boat, was taking a horrible beating when the going got rough. I was also impressed by the fact that this beautifully-styled 55 horsepower package, pushing a big 18 foot Lapstrake hull with a gross weight of 2230 pounds was able to average 25-mph-plus for more than 175 miles without the slightest sign of fading or dropping off."