Yamaha Vs Mercury

[sboyes]

I'm having some trouble deciding between a 70HP Yamaha or a 75HP Mercury. Yamaha is 849cc and the Mercury is 1386cc and both around the same price. there is a fair bit of a difference in weight (Yam - 105.5 Merc - 138kg) would this make much of a difference? my yamaha dealer showed me an interesting stat which kinda puts things into perspective
Yamaha = 70hp / 105.5kg = .66hp/kg
Merc = 75hp / 138kg = .54hp/kg
let me know which motor i should go for.....

[Zeeke]

you can trust the yamaha to be 70hp at the prop.. where as the mercury is probably 75hp at the motor and maybe less at the prop..

Plus.. mercs are nothing but expensive black anchors :-X

Tim

[AaronF]

Firstly - I'm a true believer in Japanese build quality, they do not cut corners unlike (unfortunately) the American competition. Talk to any mechanic about the gear sizes and shaft thickness of a Yammie or Suzuki compared to its OMC or Merc competition and you'll get the picture. There is however something to be said for big lazy engines like the comparison made above, Sure the Yammie gets 70hp but that is probably at much higer revs than the Merc and although it weight less are the HP burning more fuel for the same output due to the work being performed. Think of your average Falcon (it cruises at 120kph under 2000 rpm whereas a Mitsubishi Magna might be at 3000rpm doing the same speed and probable less economically except around town. Each engine has a sweet spot and you need to know what you want it to do, pick what suits your application best and obviously what is the best buy $$$ wise - look at the Suzies as they are generally the right money for the job and more than reliable in my opinion.

[craigie]

sboyes,

What boat is the motor being bolted onto ??

Also worth considering warranties/after sales service.

Which dealers are you talking with as some are more reputable than others ??

Have you hunted down Fuel economy figures for the Yammie and the Merc to do a comparison ??

The weight of the engine is only one of the many things to consider for your purchase.

Regards
Craigie.

[sboyes]

it's a formosa 5.2m centre console, spoken to a few different boating people at local tackle stores ect and most seam to think the merc is the go.....i'm confused

[banshee]

All motors sold in australia are rated at the prop,this has been the case for quite some time,a motor that has more capacity than another for same or similar horsepower will have more torque,that is it will perform better when pushing loads(more people/load in the boat),unfortunately it will also use more fuel.

[gropeher]

I have just sold my 4.8m tinny side console which had a 75 merc, I had no trouble, it ran like a dream, my new Cruise craft has a 4 x yamaha, this also runs well, my point is all of these are good products and much of a muchness as far as quality goes, these Companies do not remain in business for this long by manufacturing poor quality product, I compare it like Holden versus Ford. Most people will only answer from past experiences, some good, some bad.
Personally on a boat that size I would definetly go with the Merc, I used to get 80k on a very good day.
Also some sales people (I work in Sales) will try to baffle you with technical jargon/crap, I believe the Yamaha dealer is doing this to win the sale, good tactic.
Merc have a good name as do Yamaha, your call, its still a win win, for me I would have the Merc.

Ryan..

[macca]

Your joking, Yamaha or Mercury. ::)

Yamaha for sure for me.

First boat had a mercury, the very first day I used it, the motor had a problem. You can imagine how I felt !! >:(

Took it back to the dealer and had it fixed, wrote a letter to Mercury who in turn made no excuses and did nothing for me. In fact put me offside straight away, didn't even offer me a sweetener, like a promotional product for my trouble.

The motor continued to have other problems with oil leaks and power loses which the dealer had no idea how to fix.

Best day of my life was the day I sold the boat with that mercury on the back.

Now my current boat with the Yamaha 4 str 60 hp, motor just sensational. Very quite, easy to start and extremely economical. It just gets better with age. I love it!

Also had a warranty issue with a faulty tilt ram which replaced under warranty the same day.

Do yourself a favour and go to a busy boat ramp on a weekend, when I first did I was amazed by the number of Yamaha's out there. After spending three weeks on holidays recently, viewing the ramp near our unit Yamaha's were on more than half the boats that were going in and that was in a town with a prominant mercury dealer.



Just my opinion

Macca

[phewy]

And thank god it is just an opinion. :(.
Interesting site I came across recently with some good points. http://www.smalloutboards.com/review.htm Is about smaller motors, but interesting anyway. Personally, never had a problem with previous 5 motors and all of them were Mercs. But would never say a bad word about Yamahas either. Merc 3 yr warranty has to be good but. Just go with your instinct and I'm sure you would be happy with the one you choose.

[Steven78]

Just four week ago i got my first Merc. I had a major oil leak in the gear box to the point that all of the oil was gone. I took it back to the dealer and i have it back the nexted day. I was happy to have it back its now been out four time and has not missied a beat.

[DR]

i have had a Hanimex (air cooled) Mariner, Johnson & now a Mercury, all were great never a problem with any.

have been told Yamaha paint with leg on & when any work is done it breaks the paint seal & lets in corrosion. :)

[Cyclone]

Black anchor sorry they lost that name a fair while ago I have the 90hp Merc absolutly one of the best motors I've ever owned. not that I am saying the Yamaha isn't a good motor also and they do have a very good marketing department :-X

[Bashir]

I love how people bag mercs and then reccomend yamahas. Some models are very very similar sharing a lot of the same parts. I even heard one idiot say to get a yamaha 225hp 4 stroke over the merc equivalent. Of course had he done his homework he would know they are the same engine! I have a 200hp merc and had a teething problem from beginning but that was because of how the dealer fitted the motor, from then on it hasn't missed a beat, but its sure sucks the fuel! To answer your question, out of the two I would go with the motor that is most fuel efficient whenbolted to your boat at whatver revs you mostly sit on. Most engines are fairly good these days. If I had my way again I would probably go for the cheapest 4 stroke for our boat.

[Fishinmishin]

Go the Merk. They make great anchors :P.

[phewy]

Gee, havent heard that one before. :-/ Another highly informative and observant comment....So what your saying is that the yamahas are basically expensive grey anchors nowadays?

[Sportfish_5]

It getting very emotional in here ;D ;D ;D ;D

Cheers

Greg

[Mad_Barry]

What some of these posts about engine brands or 2 stroke vs 4 stroke really mean, is that in the absence of being able to offer any logical or technical explanation of why one motor is better than another for a particular purpose, people fall back to the old line of, I own such and such a motor, therefore it is automatically the best for everybody and I must also catergorically rubbish everything else ::)

[Somethn_Fishy]

Hi All,

Here it is ----- my 2 cents.....

I have had a Merc for over a year - it is a 2000 75 hp and i got it second hand at 70 hours ( barely run in). While the motor has been fine i have had problems with it for some time. The motor chews through oil. it has had persistent fuel blockage that at imes make it shudder until i pump the fuel ball and the other day the plastic receiver for the throttle pin broke leaving me stranded in the Tweed river only just inside the Bar.

I have recently purchased a new boat with a 225hp 4 stroke yammy ( which i beleive someone else has just said is a Merc motor anyway) and the guy i got to check it out said that the model of motor had been recalled to get the same throttle pin replaced due to them breaking.... interesting.

I can't comment on the yammy yet but observation has led me to believe that there are definately more yammies out there on the back of boats and also the yammy owners have never complained to me unlike the merc owners who usu. have a story or two..

Rick

[Sportfish_5]

Rick
Merc has/d an agreement with Yammie for the supply of their powerheads for the non-verado 4 stroke merc range. So your Yammie is a not made by Merc - its the other way around for merc owners- yammie powerheads with merc lower units for the small/med engines.

I believe they were in US courts recently and the agreement has now ended.

Cheers

Greg

[joeT]

Haven't owned a new Merc so can't say anything about them. But I've owned 2 Yammies from new and neither have ever needed to go back to the shop for anything other than regular services.

[lovefishn]

sboyes:

Well its seems I have found myself in this same situation, I have just purchased a formosa 5.2 C/C and it is being made as we speak. The boats we looked at all had Merc's and most of the articles I researched on the boat were tested with mercs as well. From what I understand the power difference between the two is a much of a muhness although the tourque produced is another story due to the block sizes (merc larger more torque). We have opted for the Yammy 70 over the merc only because of personal experience with yammies. Its going to be interesting to see how it goes put with the boat weighing just over a ton I'm fairly sure the Yammy will do the job fine.
Cheers

[basserman]

well i have had both brands as well as a few other and apart from some small things going wrong from time to time i have found that all motors when looked after well and reparied by people that truly know their job and not only know it but have a passion for it that you will never have any major problems

as others have said i would go with the dealer that is going to give you the best back up service and care
also while priceing them up you should bargin the first 10 hour service in for free ;)

[Big_Kev]

I would be choosing the Merc 75 due mianly to the fact it has the larger displacement and will do the job easier.
It is still the same engine that has been around for many years I beleive. The marine shop at Springwood was doing them for 6700aud as advertised. I am not sure what you get for that apart from the obvious, and I am not sure if you get a better deal with a pocket full of Johnies?
The Yammies are a very good product as well, but I just think that the HP is being wringed out of the smaller block.
Cheers Kev ;D

[Angla]

what sort of gauges come with these motors. I have a Jan 2004 mercury optimax 135 hp with the smart gauges.
Alarms include:-
Low oil Reserve
Water in fuel
Cooling system problem
Oil Level critical low
Oil pump failure
Engine overspeed
Sensor out of range

Warnings:-
Four beeps every minute
Four beeps every 2 minutes
Continuous beep
Intermittent beep

Engine guardian system activates as certain problems occur which limits revs to lower limits depending on problem.

Full readout when serviced of all system activities

not to mention the other information like :-
Engine temperature, Engine running in, Engine oil pressure, Trim angle + Rpm, Trim angle + water pressure, Water pressure, Battery voltage + hour meter, Fuel flow and fuel used, Engine Rpm digital, Depth, Boat speed, Fuel used, Cog/Sog (gps input), Distance fuel to waypoint (gps input), Clock Water/air temp, Oil tank level, Estimated travel range, Fuel economy and Trip odometer.

Did I miss something important?

My mercury has not missed a beat in 100 hours over a year and a half

Angla

[Angla]

What sort of gauges come with the Yammy?

Angla

[TheDeepSix]

On the subject of which is the best motor? Last year I met a captain of a water police vessel and put the question to him. His simple reply,...."A NEW one". He said that most brands these days were pretty much on par, with some models being better than others, regardless of the brand. He did however give the new Suzuki 4 strokes high praise, especially the 140hp, which he said a number of police boats are being refitted with. Hope this helps, Chris.

[Bashir]

Hi All,

Here it is ----- my 2 cents.....

I have had a Merc for over a year - it is a 2000 75 hp and i got it second hand at 70 hours ( barely run in). #While the motor has been fine i have had problems with it for some time. #The motor chews through oil. it has had persistent fuel blockage that at imes make it shudder until i pump the fuel ball and the other day the plastic receiver for the throttle pin broke leaving me stranded in the Tweed river only just inside the Bar.

I have recently purchased a new boat with a 225hp 4 stroke yammy ( which i beleive someone else has just said is a Merc motor anyway) and the guy i got to check it out said that the model of motor had been recalled to get the same throttle pin replaced due to them breaking.... interesting.

I can't comment on the yammy yet but observation has led me to believe that there are definately more yammies out there on the back of boats and also the yammy owners have never complained to me unlike the merc owners who usu. have a story or two..

Rick
Yep, your yammie is also sold by Merc. :P
http://boatpoint.ninemsn.com.au/portal/alias__boatpointau/tabID__200859/ArticleID__118408/DesktopDefault.aspx

[rumy]

Flip a coin ... you can't go wrong either way !
Like he said above, " a good motor is a new one".

[Burley_Boy]

Yamaha has marketed very very successfully hence the qty seen at the ramp I think. Just realize that you can get a problem with any engine that although possibly a very simple problem may be made into a real drama by the qty of dealers who don't really know their stuff or give a sh!!. T
this is how brand reputations are made or broken.

Ensure you get a good dealer that will look after you well if there is any issue.
I'm left scratching my head with the type of quality service some dealers offer. As professionals I expect a bit of knowledge from mechanics and people who fit out boats. Saw a brand new family fishing boat yesterday that the mechanic had done a right bunch of cockups while fitting it out, real basic stuff, so basically don't buy from the cowboys! ;)

[familyman]

Read in a magazine that the merc four strokes up to 175hp were(are)suzukis so it must be one hell of a big bed they've all hopped into!!!! ;D
Seriously I look at it like this -Yamaha do and make many things ,mercury only make marine propulsion systems (I think ;))
Ive got a big black anchor and there's plenty of them out there,mercs for me.
Unless some kind soul gives me a new 100hp four stroke yamaha ::)
[smiley=argue.gif]
cheers jon

[craigie]

That's odd..... Suzuki don't have a 175HP in their range ???

I'm with you Familyman, GO THE BLACK-ANCHORS 8)

[Sportfish_5]

150 and 175 Suzis 4 bangers will be coming to a boatshow near you this year. I dont think there has ever been a tie up with Merc and Suzuki. There is/was one with BRP that saw Suzukis painted white and sold as Johnsons - maybe that is what you meant. I think this has now gone by the bullet as well now that BRP will have a full ranger of ETECS.

Cheers

Greg