All about Outboards ??. Educate me.

People say OB are better in salt because if kept in water the motors can be tilted out of the water unlike IO. If lift stored then it's a non issue,
 
quote:
Originally posted by Chesagansett

Thanks, Bob! Of the Mercs you ran, were any Merc Verados?

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No. Admittedly, they were all Optimax. But they left such a bad taste in my mouth I just steer clear.

We had one small boat on the St. Johns river that had a 115 Yamaha on it. I once pulled a 42' houseboat with it. Not bad.

Bob
 
quote:
Originally posted by PascalG

People say OB are better in salt because if kept in water the motors can be tilted out of the water unlike IO. If lift stored then it's a non issue,

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That makes sense. Thanks, Pascal!
 
quote:
Originally posted by rnbenton

quote:
Originally posted by Chesagansett

Thanks, Bob! Of the Mercs you ran, were any Merc Verados?

Click to expand...


No. Admittedly, they were all Optimax. But they left such a bad taste in my mouth I just steer clear.

We had one small boat on the St. Johns river that had a 115 Yamaha on it. I once pulled a 42' houseboat with it. Not bad.

Bob

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Thanks, Bob. From the reviews (including yours), it looks like good advice to steer clear of the Optimax O/Bs. I'm hesitant to get anything that is 2-stroke. The smell really gets to me.

Much thanks!
 
An Alaska halibut charter I know bought a boat from a competitor who was closing out his business. They had Star Wars names, and YODA had two MerC Optimax. They ran well for two half-day charters a day all summer. Fuel mileage was good, but the special oil Optimax calls for, that they bought by the barrel, drove the cost per mile to a level much higher than the four-strokes on their other boats. Those were Yamahas and Suzukis.
 
Glenn: Flushing after every use was just a part of wash down to prevent salt drying out.
Not a big deal as I used the flush inlet on the motor and had a hose ready to go near the boat. Of course sometimes I didn't flush but even if I planned to use it the next day stuff would happen and I might not so I was always safe flushing.

Did the same with the IO and OB. The IO had a flush fitting on the transom.

Got to say I like modern OBs they are a marvel of modern technology. I understand a chebby based IOs well but the new OBs are sweet.
My experience with mercs is similar to pascals but it is old experience because I vowed never again.
 
Thanks, Bruce! I didn't know that O/Bs had remote flushing ports. I figured it would be a pain to have to put earmuffs on while on the lift. But, remote ports would be convenient, and eliminate the need to put on earmuffs using acrobatic maneuvers!.
For the past several years, I have been spoiled. Even though I boat in the brackish Chesapeake, my dry stack marina is a few miles up a fresh river, where the salt never reaches, so I get a "fresh flush" on the way back to the marina. When in FL, I flush after very use, except for a couple days that I left it in the water at a dock, .... but then I used the built in Neutra-Salt system.

When I lived in RI, which has full salt, we had a O/B boat on a mooring, where of course we could not flush the O/B. The only time we could flush it was when we pulled it out at the end of the season, or if we pulled it out of the water for some other reason. We did tilt up the O/B after each use so that it did not hang down in the water. We did that for many many years without corrosion issues, but the season is only 5-6 months there, as opposed to the year-round boating in FL.

That was standard practice up there. You never really heard of people flushing O/Bs during the season. There was just no way to do it out on a mooring. Ignorance was bliss. We probably got away with it because of the shorter season.
 
quote:
Originally posted by j-d

An Alaska halibut charter I know bought a boat from a competitor who was closing out his business. They had Star Wars names, and YODA had two MerC Optimax. They ran well for two half-day charters a day all summer. Fuel mileage was good, but the special oil Optimax calls for, that they bought by the barrel, drove the cost per mile to a level much higher than the four-strokes on their other boats. Those were Yamahas and Suzukis.

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Thanks, j-d! Good info.
 
Glen,
I have an ex-brother inlaw that use to race for Mercury, he owns a boat shop (over 30 years) sells Yamaha, previous to that Mercury. He repairs both and if you email me I will give you his number so you can chat with someone that has a ton of repair experience. I will agree with Pascal though, and was told by my BIL years ago, Yamaha is bullet proof. Bottom line is there are years and models of Mercury motors that are fine, then there are years and models to avoid. MY BIL could help you with that.

PS,
I like that Donzi :)
 
Thanks, Walter! That would be great! You're on my Facebook friend list, so can send a private message through that. I'll send you a message.

Thanks much!
 
Got it glen and responded. Chip is a good guy and in this arena, certainly a go to person. Best of luck and hope this helps!
 
quote:
Originally posted by walterv

Got it glen and responded. Chip is a good guy and in this arena, certainly a go to person. Best of luck and hope this helps!

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Got it! Much thanks!
 
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