Sterndrive Engineering Inc. vs. Mercruiser

joliette

joliette

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I see that a pair of SEI sterndrives can be had for about £2K + shipping and import tax.

http://www.sterndrive.cc/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=MercruiserAlphaGenIISterndrive

Does anyone have any direct experience of the SEI replacements? As I am now on the hunt for a pair of used Alpha 1 Gen 2 drives I was wondering if I should take a serious look at the SEI drives? They have a 3 year warranty so appear to be an attractive proposition given the market price of used OEM drives, but is the quality as good? Afterall, the Mercruiser drives do have an excellent reputation.
 
Since no one answered yet.

Hearsay only - no direct experience, but I heard that SEI drives were either brill straight out the box or packed up in a few outings. They are supposed to have a good customer relations / warranty dept and will sort the problem pretty swiftly.

all parts are interchangeable with Merc OEM - Allegedly.
 
sterndrive engineering

We have purchased a couple of drives from them. The earlier Alpha one versions.

Only thing is we have fitted them to some boats and never seen them again so cant tell you how they are coping.

Only thing is i can say positive is quick turn around from order point to delivery 3 days!!!!

Downside if you order a complete drive they come seperate halves. So you will need to bolt the upper and lower units together and fill them with gear lube
 
A few of my mates and myself have installed them with no problems so far in several seasons.

Mine was a lower half (A 1 Gen 1), ran it fine for a season, then repowered (nothing to do with the leg), the leg is now part of a twin installation in a moored 28' Searay.

Like all things, run them in as stated on the box.
 
Never heard of them before but just had a quick read of their website. Most impressed with their 3 year fault free warranty. Seems just about any problem that may occur, even running with no oil, is covered by them. Now there's a manufacturewr with faith in their product. And all parts interchangeable with Merc parts.

As a guess, I reckon they must have sent a Merc drive to China and got them to reverse engineer it hence the price. US£1,500 for a complete drive as against OEM's what 4K? Bargain or what. Wonder how Bunswick feel about them?

IMHO if I were in the market for a new drive they'd be top of my list on price. Wonder if they're planning to do the same for VP drives?
 
coliholic said:
Never heard of them before but just had a quick read of their website. Most impressed with their 3 year fault free warranty. Seems just about any problem that may occur, even running with no oil, is covered by them. Now there's a manufacturewr with faith in their product. And all parts interchangeable with Merc parts.

As a guess, I reckon they must have sent a Merc drive to China and got them to reverse engineer it hence the price. US£1,500 for a complete drive as against OEM's what 4K? Bargain or what. Wonder how Bunswick feel about them?

IMHO if I were in the market for a new drive they'd be top of my list on price. Wonder if they're planning to do the same for VP drives?
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While they might source parts from China, I hope they are assembled and tested in US. Chinese assemblies worry me. They generally cannot make the original spec much cheaper, so they take cost out as soon as they can, leading to significant problems in my experience.
 
rafiki_ said:
They generally cannot make the original spec much cheaper, so they take cost out as soon as they can, leading to significant problems in my experience.
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Not quite sure what you mean by that but it's a well trodden path in all sorts of manufacturing and engineering businesses. Send a part to China and they'll make it for 1/3-2/3 less than European/US costs. Look at domestic white goods as an example, almost all of them now have "Made in China" on label and almost all the car makers have major assy's built there for that very reason. The aviation industry's catching up fast too with more and more sub assy's in Chiona and Airbus even has a complete production line in China.

If it's a repeatable labour intensive product, the Chinese will make it for pennies and then you either sell it in your market cheaply and push your competitors to either do the same or go bust, or sell at the same market price and reap higher profits.

In my experience Chinese quality is getting better and better and in many cases less troublesome than "home grown"
 
coliholic said:
Not quite sure what you mean by that but it's a well trodden path in all sorts of manufacturing and engineering businesses. Send a part to China and they'll make it for 1/3-2/3 less than European/US costs. Look at domestic white goods as an example, almost all of them now have "Made in China" on label and almost all the car makers have major assy's built there for that very reason. The aviation industry's catching up fast too with more and more sub assy's in Chiona and Airbus even has a complete production line in China.

If it's a repeatable labour intensive product, the Chinese will make it for pennies and then you either sell it in your market cheaply and push your competitors to either do the same or go bust, or sell at the same market price and reap higher profits.

In my experience Chinese quality is getting better and better and in many cases less troublesome than "home grown"
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I'm sorry, but my staff have "torn down" some Chinese products. They are generally not as the drawings, or as approved. Usually these are conformity issues, not specification, where changes have been made to reduce costs, without recognising the consequences. I am not anti Chinese manufacturing, but have learned to recognise their strengths and weaknesses.
 
Would Mercruiser or VP look any better than SEI?

coliholic said:
Never heard of them before but just had a quick read of their website. Most impressed with their 3 year fault free warranty. Seems just about any problem that may occur, even running with no oil, is covered by them. Now there's a manufacturewr with faith in their product. And all parts interchangeable with Merc parts.

As a guess, I reckon they must have sent a Merc drive to China and got them to reverse engineer it hence the price. US£1,500 for a complete drive as against OEM's what 4K? Bargain or what. Wonder how Bunswick feel about them?

IMHO if I were in the market for a new drive they'd be top of my list on price. Wonder if they're planning to do the same for VP drives?
Click to expand...

Yes, they certainly seem worth considering on price. Having looked at their website more closely they do have a warts and all customer forum up for view: http://www.sterndrive.cc/vbforum/forumdisplay.php?f=8 They have to be commended for being open and honest, rather brave of them! Some of the content does cause a few concerns. However, I don't see Mercruiser or Volvo Penta opening up like this and wonder if they would look any better if they did?
 
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