Outboard Quality

[CATransplant]

Re: Outboard Quality

JB,<br /><br />You're right...absolutely. Tool kit? I can just about disassemble my entire RDS-20 with three sizes of sockets, a pair of diagonal cutters and a 4-way screwdriver. The flywheel might give me trouble, but a cheapo harmonic balancer puller will fix that.<br /><br />It seems like, back in those days, things were designed with a minumum of fastener sizes and none of this mixing of metric and inch fasteners.<br /><br />All of this, of course, only applies to old OMCs. No Mercs of that vintage for me.

 

[kkj]

Re: Outboard Quality

CATransplant wrote:<br />"Well, your first point doesn't really ring true..... There are no outboard that are guaranteed to run forever" <br /><br />I will not argue with you, just wanted to be a little sarcastic. In the car world we don't have a spare engine in the car but on the other hand the car engine run forever<br /><br />"Your second point applies to ALL outboard brands....."<br /><br />I was thinking of Murphy's law

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Outboard Quality

Cars and outboards don't compare. Your engine dies and you're stuck by the side of the road until someone pulls over for you. Out here your engine dies and you could well end up dead. More a concern for the consequences rather than the chances.<br />Also, take an auto engine, throw it in the marine environment, and run it full speed all day long, and you'll have the problems listed over in the I/O section.<br />Ahh, the Gnat's got a leaky L/U this year. Just drained it and it was all milky.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Outboard Quality

That Gnat sounds like my father-in-law, leaky lower unit and all....

 

[lark2004]

Re: Outboard Quality

I also like the way the big twins can be mixed and matched, it's like a Lego set. I have a 68 block and leg with 71 inlet and carb and even later (don't know year) crank case drain that recerculats the unburn fuel/oil back to the inlet ports. Also using later model ignition where the coils are on the side of the head, no more spark leads coming out from under the flywheel. Works like a dream. And most of it I got for $80.00. bet you can't do that many of the newer outboards.

 

[kkj]

Re: Outboard Quality

Paul Moir wrote: <br /><br />"Also, take an auto engine, throw it in the marine environment, and run it full speed all day long, and you'll have the problems listed over in the I/O section."<br /><br />You are probably right, but on the other hand, a modern high-tech engine should be able to take the punishment. That's how they drive cars in south Europe, Small Fiats running flat out all day long. <br />I guess outboard 4-stroke engines are similar to 4-stroke bike engines Yamaha, Suzuki etc.

 

[Mercathode]

Re: Outboard Quality

Chrysler/Force would have to be at the top of the worst. They had a cheap price, but were gas hogs, slower, not reliable, etc

 

[Navigator]

Re: Outboard Quality

954Winns,<br />Force was not "All" that bad. You have to realize that Chrysler/Force was marketed and priced for the first time boater who was ignorant as to basic things like maintenance. "Simple" is a better way to describe them. If you took care of it, they would run a long long time and be trouble free. If not, they would quickly become a gummed up hunk of metal bolted to a cheap boat. A lot of "quality" issues are directly related to the quality of their owners.<br /><br />Nav

 

[umblecumbuz]

Re: Outboard Quality

Navigator's comment:

A lot of "quality" issues are directly related to the quality of their owners.

Too true. There was a recent post asking if you keep the engine running when on the water, because it's hard to start if you stop it.<br /><br />I made a comment about sorting the problem before you left the dock, because I consider my engine maintenance to be important.<br /><br />Yesterday, exploring a few creeks around our islands here, I noticed my motor running rough at idle. Never done that before. Reason was, I hadn't checked the spark plugs for months because the motor was so reliable. They were half shot.<br /><br />Simple this time, but in my eagerness to get out there, what else have I overlooked that could cause future problems? I'm gonna make a written checklist and use it every time I use the boat. Shoulda done it before.

 

[joblo33]

Re: Outboard Quality

Originally posted by kkj:<br /> Paul Moir wrote: <br />I guess outboard 4-stroke engines are similar to 4-stroke bike engines Yamaha, Suzuki etc.

Actually large four strokes look and basically are just like car engines. My friend has twin four stroke 115 Hondas and I'm told they're basically the same thing as Honda civic engines turned to face downwards.<br />Eric

 

[tommays]

Re: Outboard Quality

"Also, take an auto engine, throw it in the marine environment, and run it full speed all day long, and you'll have the problems listed over in the I/O section."<br />

or you could have and outboard and have all the problems up in the outboard section <br /><br /><br />or you could just follow the recomened PM on and outboard or I/O and have fun boating because the boats that get what there supposed to get seem to run good<br /><br /><br />tommays