where is evinrude /Johnson

[1983 ercoa 21']

Went to or boat sport and travel show today seen 100s nice boats of all types but only seen mercs and yamaha out board motors . Im a die hard johnny/rude lover and have always had late 70s - 80s motors crossflows . I had heard that the early ficht motors really hurt evinrude but wow i was really shocke when i didnt see a single one today. so whats going on with evinrudes reputation ?

 

[82rude]

the etec,s are great as far as im concerned.you will have to pry mine from my dead body before id ever try anything else.the early ficht motors were a issue but omc had more problems than that at the time they went under.ive owned merc,omc,Chrysler,mariner over the years but my etec is by far the best of the bunch hands down.with the exception of maybe some off shore Chinese junk most outboards today are very reliable be they 4 or 2 stroke.personal preference and dealer support play a big part in buying a motor .when I was out west on Vancouver island a couple of years ago id never seen so many yamahas and suzukis in my whole life.where I live theres a few that's it.merc is very popular here with evinrude a far second but only because we lost our dealer for several years.

 

[emdsapmgr]

Pretty much a marketing issue, instead of a product quality issue. Most new outboard engines are sold on new boats. Not many boat manufacturers offer the Evinrude on their new boats. Or, if they do, they will install a Merc or Yamaha when they take their boats to a show-as they are the bigger sellers. Evinrude has worked hard to convert/eliminate many of their old dealers into "parts only" dealers, instead of full-line dealers. So their new-engine dealer network is much smaller today. This causes problems for new Evinrude owners-as it's more difficult to find a dealer that is authorized to work on the etec. The fact that both Yamaha and Merc have strong/excellent 4 stroke engine lineups, coupled with vast dealer networks is appealing to today's buyers. For good reason. A pontoon manufacturer at the recent Chicago Boat show sported new etec 300's on two of their boats. An huge, impressive looking high-tech engine with an excellent supporting technical video to boot.

 

[Watermann]

Not many people have any brand loyalty now days. That's why you drive by 10 different Japanese or Korean cars in 5 minutes on the road. Same must go with boat motors I guess. Most guys don't think of their beautiful new North American built boat having an Asian motor hanging off it. I don't know why Asia hasn't flooded our boat markets yet like they did with their they all look the same cars?

Long live Johnnyrude!

 

[Crosbyman]

Loyalty.....interesting subject!

If I remember correctly a client is a one time shopper whereas a Customer is a client that keeps coming back because he is satisfied with your approach to service.

A good and satisfied customer won't rat on you and push away your next potential..client

Customer service is the key and nickel and diming is not the way to build Customer loyalty.

From reading scores of boards it seems to me that the major complaints are issues related to the most complex part of modern engines "the brains" ..EMM CPU whatever you may wan't to call it .

It just boggles my mind that a $50 computer chip and components stuck in black goo goes for over a thousand or more dollars.

Astronauts went to the moon and back with computers that could certainly run an a 3 cyl outboard motor.

It must be the black goo that is expensive ... and that is offensive.

 

[bonz_d]

Boats have gotten bigger, engines have gotten bigger and restrictions have gotten bigger. At the current pace some time in the future we won't see any outboards as they are today.

Looking back to the 60's on the inland waters of the Midwest most rec boats were about 15' to 17' with the exception of the inboard day cruisers. Then by the late 70's they grew to about 19'. As they grew so did the use of I/O's. Now think, how any I/O manufacturers are out there?

By comparison just look in the restore forum section at the number of 14' to 16' boats that are now being worked on.

 

[daselbee]

Where I live, Cape Canaveral FL area, we have a very large boating population. Also, because of the large boat population, there are two marine technical schools, MMI and Wyotech. They advertise heavily on TV, and they list the brands they teach.
Mercury, Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda, but NO EVINRUDE.
There are NO QUALITY Evinrude dealers withn 60 miles. Lots of 'Rude dealers, but absolutely PITIFUL knowledge and understanding of the workings of the ETecs, and forget getting your Ficht fixed, especially if it is a computer / EMM / runability issue.
It is glaring at us.......BRP and Evinrude are not well. My opinion....take it for what it is worth....

 

[Faztbullet]

Don't forget about the part pricing as they are getting ridiculous on their pricing, have heard the side panels on cowling the new GenII are close to $600 each..