Mercury Outboards
 

I called a dealer that packages boats with mercury motors for new boat prices and they said mercury no longer makes 2 stroke motors. I was very surprised that I haven't heard that yet. I know a lot of people like the optimax motors and just figured there would be a lot of talk about that.

I have a Mercury 4 stroke EFI, if I can manage it I will never own another carbureated 2 stroke ever again. I see why they want to go that way, I have fuel in my boat from last year because the fuel consumption is so good. The downside is sensors/electronic modules, pricey. But they are super easy to work on....haha

I find that hard to believe... their 2 stroke line is very popular

Mercs 75-150 4 stroke line was so successful that they just released their new big block 4 strokes, 175-300.

My Merc 150 4s burns less fuel than my old carbed merc 75.

Only manufacturer still doing 2 strokes is Bombardier/Evinrude.

I just bought a new 200 Pro XS Optimax for my bass boat in march. Dealer I bought from told me he was certain 2018 was the last year for 2 stroke Optimax motors. I just looked on Mercurys website and they no longer list or show Optimax at all. Only the new 4 strokes are shown. The new Pro XS 4 strokes may turn out to be great motors but DAMN THEM THINGS ARE UGLY !!!!

When the new emissions rules came out several years ago, 2 strokes were meant to be phased out. I guess we are now at that point. I was a mercury guy with the 2-strokes. But I would only buy a Yamaha or Suzuki 4-stroke.

Hearing nothing but great things about the new Merc 4-strokes. Lots of commercial fishermen using them with no problems. If they can’t tear them up nobody can.

I wouldn't count out these new four strokes. My step dad used to take care of the crew boats for a drilling company. He said they repowered some 26 footers with twin mercury 150 hp 4strokes and had no issues up to 1600 hrs and counting. Except lower units but even the honda 150 hp motors had that problem. Some of the honda motors had 4500 hrs though and that is high for commercial use outboards. He said the mercury was 10 mph faster as well. The 38 foot boats had big verados and he said the first and second generation was junk but the third generation was good. They had so much trouble with the early verados that mercury sent their engineers down here a couple times to talk to him.

A bass fisherman in Texas just got his new Ranger with the new Mercury V-8 4S 250 HP Pro XS. The V-8 weighs the same as his old Mercury 2S 250 Pro XS. With 2 hours on the engine he hit 73 MPH with a light load. Here is his video of it: https://youtu.be/vbfACxuyd9w

Mercury is definitely making a move to recover lost market share in the outboard industry. Their first move was to step in on the lower HP line with simple, rugged 4 stroke outboards. Now you are seeing the second move on the high HP engines.

For years Yamaha has dominated the market on new boats due to their agreements with boat manufacturers, but there is always that corrosion problem they haven't been able to overcome.

when it is time to repower, those with plenty of funds and looking for performance would go with Merc, those looking for a cost effective motor would go with Suzuki.

I am not knocking any motor here, it is like saying one is the worst of the best. If the Merc reliability stays with these higher HP line, they will be the unquestionable leader shortly. the look is nice to some, ugly to others. Kinda like your kid, cute to you but ugly to everyone else.

Its going to be interesting , never thought I was look forward to a four stroke .
Its amazing that they were able to get the weight down to right at that of a two stroke and have much more displacement . And the sound of the 300R is bad to the bone , Like a ZO6 at idle .

I have been running outboards for a long time. I?ve had Yamaha 250 and the Mercury 150-300. All 2-stroke. I didn?t want to go to 4-stroke until I ran some Suzuki 300hp. I fell in love with the speed and reliability. I just thought it couldn?t get any better until I layed my eyes on the new 350 Suzuki motors. I will say this. The 350 motors are crazy fast. I think it?s because of the counter rotation props. My cat would cruise at 35 mph @ 5460 and get about 1.3 mpg with 2 motors. Top speed was 48 @ 6000rpm with the 300hp Suzuki. This is a fishing load. 300 gal fuel, 300 lbs ice and 4 people with all fishing tackle. That is pretty good. Until I dropped the 350 Suzuki motors on her. With the same load my eyes popped out. I was cruising at 43 mph @ 5100 rpm. I ran 90 miles on 70 gallons of fuel. Wow, Then at 5550 I was running 46-47mph. At 6000 rpm I could get 53mph. All speeds are heavy loads. Light boat I could hit 6200rpm at 56mph.
My boat dry weighs 6200 lbs and is 33 ft. I kinda feel like I?m back in a bullet with a 300 pro max. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e25233af17.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk