Outboard selection/transom weights and servicing

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salad

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Hello everyone,

Now I've finally selected a specific boat (thanks to everyone who gave advice on that thread) I'm now trying to decide on an outboard. The supplying boat dealer offers Honda and Suzuki. The difficulty I'm having is in the pricing, service location and transom weight. The new boats transom limit is 115kg. I've considered the following and it's left a somewhat difficult choice. Prices are without rigging.

Would anyone mind helping me reason this out?

Honda BF60
At list price these are £8,600! That is £3k more than the equivalent Mercury and £2k more than a Suzuki. I'm sure they do a good job but on a sub £20k boat, thats a lot of lolly....are they worth it? Servicing available locally.
Weight: 110kg

Suzuki DF60A
£6,500 approx. There isn't a Suzuki dealer anywhere close, which means a long round trip if I want to maintain the warranty, otherwise a fine choice. Light. Lowest displacement.
Weight: 104kg

Evinrude ETEC 60
£6,775 on offer for £5,500. I like 2 strokes in both bikes and outboards, but there isn't a dealer anywhere near me. Not sure on reliability.
Weight: 109kg

Yamaha F60FETL
£7,200 approx. The default choice for many I expect. Servicing is reasonably close by but the drive there would be a pain as roads are always busy. Heavy.
Weight: 114kg

Mercury F60 ELPT
£5,500. Many accessories available and priced keenly. I've had a Mercury (2T) before and it was solid. A main dealer is located very close to where I'll be keeping my boat. Sell in volume state side.
Weight: 112kg

Considerations:
Transom weight limit
Reliability
Servicing proximity
Price

Complications?
The boat I've chosen is made from triple skin ABS (plastic). I do not know if boat yards other than supplying dealers would be happy to fit outboards to an ABS boat. I feel like it would be a different process to GRP or other material, particularly installation of gauges and so on.

I'm also concerned about having a motor thats weight is very close to the limit of the transom, should I be?

At present I'm tempted to order the boat only and go to the local outboard dealer for a Mercury. It will really depend on the price for the package that comes back from the supplying dealer. I'm struggling to justify £3,000 extra for a Honda over a Mercury and don't want to compromise by going for the 50hp. It's a shame there isnt a Suzuki service centre close by as that would be a done deal.

Can anyone help? I feel like my brain may explode ;)

Thank you!
 
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I can only answer one of your questions but it should get the ball rolling. I am a serial Honda buyer. I’ve always specified Honda because if you only have one engine then you want the most reliable
 
The merc and yam are identical engines. Different peripherals but not significantly. This engine (whether 50/60/70 version) is super reliable and I would always choose it - I’ve had 2 and my brother has one. Obviously you’ll want the merc version due to nearby dealer. It is super quiet at idle and sometimes I forget to turn it off.
For pure performance the etec is best- the 2t has much more power at low rpm than the merc/yam engine.
Thing is- they are all good- you’re choosing between 9.8 and 9.9 out of ten.
Servicing is very easy diy btw. I’ve always just serviced mine myself. I dont care about warranty because they’re cheap things these days and super reliable.
I totally don't get Honda pricing. I might buy Yamaha over Honda @£3k more but never the other way around.
So in your case I’m voting Mercury 60.
 
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I thought the service schedule on e.tec was eons... less costs and maybe the lack of nearby dealer is not then a problem?
 
Bouba said:
I can only answer one of your questions but it should get the ball rolling. I am a serial Honda buyer. I’ve always specified Honda because if you only have one engine then you want the most reliable
Click to expand...

Thanks Bouba, would you still go for it at a £3k premium? Thats quite a heft when the entire package is only circa £20k. If it was going on a tender for a superyacht then the premium wouldn't matter I suppose.

It's not for nothing, it seems to be because in the Honda range, the 40 and 50 share a block, whilst the 60 is higher displacement. That said, the Honda 60's displacement only makes it the equivalent of the others at 996cc I think. I think only the Suzuki was lower than 1lt.
 
jfm said:
The merc and yam are identical engines. Different peripherals but not significantly. This engine (whether 50/60/70 version) is super reliable and I would always choose it - I’ve had 2 and my brother has one. Obviously you’ll want the merc version due to nearby dealer. It is super quiet at idle and sometimes I forget to turn it off.
For pure performance the etec is best- the 2t has much more power at low rpm than the merc/yam engine.
Thing is- they are all good- you’re choosing between 9.8 and 9.9 out of ten.
Servicing is very easy diy btw. I’ve always just serviced mine myself. I dont care about warranty because they’re cheap things these days and super reliable.
I totally don't get Honda pricing. I might buy Yamaha over Honda @£3k more but never the other way around.
So in your case I’m voting Mercury 60.
Click to expand...

jfm thank you.

I know Merc and Yam share components on smaller engines but I was under the impression that it was up to 25hp? Do you have any published info regarding that because that certainly would work in the Merc's favour, especially if parts are interchangeable. The warranty is critical to me personally on a £6k item, I wouldn't want to DIY it although I appreciate theres probably not much to routine servicing.
 
gjgm said:
I thought the service schedule on e.tec was eons... less costs and maybe the lack of nearby dealer is not then a problem?
Click to expand...

It is long yes. It's not really the routine servicing I'm thinking about when it comes to ETEC. I love the self winterisation feature, long service intervals and torque. What I'm not sure about is reliability on these engines. The nearest dealer is a two hour drive away and they don't seem to have great coverage across the UK if something went wrong in say, Scotland. I can imagine any marine tech being able to work on one of the common 4T units, but an ETEC is quite a different beast and I think you need specialist software.

I'd love one, but I sort of feel they might be the outboard equivalent of an alfa romeo.
 
I'd go mercury or evinrude.

The evinrudes are supposed to be fantastic, good power, reliable long service intervals etc.

But the Mercury looks like a safe choice for you given the cost and the proximity of dealers.
 
Does anyone know if Mercury and Mariner are the exact same engine, I know the brands are closely related.

Wasn't Mariner intended for use at sea originally with Mercury more for freshwater, at least in branding terms?

I ask because theres a price of £5,500 online for the Mariner 60, which is £750 less than what I've been quoted for a Mercury. Then again, I do like to support local firms and if the service is up to par, it's well worth the extra usually.

I am extremely grateful for everyone helping. Hopefully I can recipirocate at some point.
 
salad said:
Thanks Bouba, would you still go for it at a £3k premium? Thats quite a heft when the entire package is only circa £20k. If it was going on a tender for a superyacht then the premium wouldn't matter I suppose.

It's not for nothing, it seems to be because in the Honda range, the 40 and 50 share a block, whilst the 60 is higher displacement. That said, the Honda 60's displacement only makes it the equivalent of the others at 996cc I think. I think only the Suzuki was lower than 1lt.
Click to expand...
It’s a lot of money (that could be spent on a small kicker, get me home motor). I usually buy the boat engine combo so the difference gets lot in the big numbers.
As a general rule, all the big manufacturers offer great, reliable packages. As JFM says is small percentages. Another, and probably better way to choose, is which local dealer is best. Trawl the Internet for reviews, talk to locals, visit to get a feel for the place.
I doubt you can make the wrong choice (I’m not talking about transom weight :ambivalence:)
 
Can’t comment on your particular needs but but what I can say is we have had a mercury 5hp my dad bought it in 1987 NEVER changed the gearbox oil or the impeller NEVER flushed it.still on the boat hanging off the Davis in the open , Been used most of the time in salt water never let Us down great motor ,
 
salad said:
Hello everyone,

Now I've finally selected a specific boat (thanks to everyone who gave advice on that thread) I'm now trying to decide on an outboard. The supplying boat dealer offers Honda and Suzuki. The difficulty I'm having is in the pricing, service location and transom weight. The new boats transom limit is 115kg. I've considered the following and it's left a somewhat difficult choice. Prices are without rigging.

Would anyone mind helping me reason this out?

Honda BF60
At list price these are £8,600! That is £3k more than the equivalent Mercury and £2k more than a Suzuki. I'm sure they do a good job but on a sub £20k boat, thats a lot of lolly....are they worth it? Servicing available locally.
Weight: 110kg

Suzuki DF60A
£6,500 approx. There isn't a Suzuki dealer anywhere close, which means a long round trip if I want to maintain the warranty, otherwise a fine choice. Light. Lowest displacement.
Weight: 104kg

Evinrude ETEC 60
£6,775 on offer for £5,500. I like 2 strokes in both bikes and outboards, but there isn't a dealer anywhere near me. Not sure on reliability.
Weight: 109kg

Yamaha F60FETL
£7,200 approx. The default choice for many I expect. Servicing is reasonably close by but the drive there would be a pain as roads are always busy. Heavy.
Weight: 114kg

Mercury F60 ELPT
£5,500. Many accessories available and priced keenly. I've had a Mercury (2T) before and it was solid. A main dealer is located very close to where I'll be keeping my boat. Sell in volume state side.
Weight: 112kg

Considerations:
Transom weight limit
Reliability
Servicing proximity
Price

Complications?
The boat I've chosen is made from triple skin ABS (plastic). I do not know if boat yards other than supplying dealers would be happy to fit outboards to an ABS boat. I feel like it would be a different process to GRP or other material, particularly installation of gauges and so on.

I'm also concerned about having a motor thats weight is very close to the limit of the transom, should I be?

At present I'm tempted to order the boat only and go to the local outboard dealer for a Mercury. It will really depend on the price for the package that comes back from the supplying dealer. I'm struggling to justify £3,000 extra for a Honda over a Mercury and don't want to compromise by going for the 50hp. It's a shame there isnt a Suzuki service centre close by as that would be a done deal.

Can anyone help? I feel like my brain may explode ;)

Thank you!
Click to expand...

You are actually buying an engine with a boat attached, not the other way round!

I researched all makes before buying a Honda135 a couple of years ago. Yes quite heavy, not sexy and premium priced ((although I did secure a 23% discount on list price..)

Evolution rather than revolution is the Honda way and as the engine needs to be totally reliable then don't skimp on it.

I sold the engine as I changed boat - it was 2.5 years old and I had an 80 HR season then stored for 18 months. It cost me £2 k which in boaty terms is nothing. Look at commercial fishing boats, harbour master's boats. A high % use Honda
 
QBhoy said:
Hi
The mercury and Yamaha are certainly not the same engine.
Click to expand...
They are. As I said above, different peripherals but the actual core 995cc 65x75mm engines are the same. Designed during the merc/yam joint venture a while ago.

Indeed loads of non-verado mercury content is still Yamaha (and Tohatsu) sourced.
 
You are quoting engine list prices, which is not always helpful. With the Honda and Suzuki, you need to quote package prices and then add the boat only price to the engine only price of all the others for a proper comparison. The Honda and Suzuki should come in at less than list if you buy as part of a package.

Personally I love the ETec range and the three year service intervals should help offset the distance to a dealer. I am in the JFM camp and service my own anyway, or get a local independant to do it. On cost base alone, the Mercury would seem to be the winner, so for me it would be between the Etec and the Merc. All the engines are much the same in terms of reliability etc so the others, at the costs quoted, would be out.

Ref the etec, you can buy the software and use your own laptop if needed. No oil change really means that a service is little more than plugs, impeller and gearbox oil.

Edited to add: don't forget that evinrude are also doing 10 years warranties at the moment, which is something worth considering. The rest are 5 years I believe.
 
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