Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

[Knot Waiting]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

Why in the hell is this companies stock doing so damn good?

Mercury got a jaw dropping tax break from the city of Fon du Lac, WI to remain headquarted there.
The union offered to make some sacrifices to keep themselves employed.
Mercury announced it will be hiring up to 300 positions over the next few months.
Economists predict the economy is recovering (especially with the new boat buying wealthy and ocean boud coasties.
Summer is comming.
Oil remains relatively inexpensive and Obama aproved new Gulf drilling off La.
They build a good product.

 

[Woodnaut]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

Among other reasons include everyone reduced there inventories to very low levels.

Bingo. Two years ago many companies were sitting on a pile of inventory and production was cruising along nicely. One year ago many of these same companies were singing the blues and doing all they could to reduce inventory. These days, some of them are carefully (though optimistically) moving back into production. Nobody wants to get caught with that much inventory again so it may take some time to get back to "normal" delivery time on some items.

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

Someday I need to get in one of those Yamaha jet boats and see how they operate from the drivers seat.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

Someday I need to get in one of those Yamaha jet boats and see how they operate from the drivers seat.

They were ALL OVER the place when I was down in OC, MD last year. Must be something too it! They look pretty cool to me.

 

[45Auto]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

The thing I find amazing is that their fuel consumption is on par with an I/O of the same power in the same size boat.

You must have been trying out the "salesman special" !!

According to Boats.com, the Yamaha 242 makes about 360 HP (180 HP per motor). They show about 2.8 MPG at best cruise, while a comparable 23' 320 HP (5.7L) I/O gets 4.1 MPG and a 23' 425 HP (8.1L) I/O gets 3.6 MPG.

The Yamaha's are quick to accelerate, but the I/O's are easily 10 MPH faster at top speed. If you propped the I/O's to get the same top speed as the Yamaha (roughly 15% less prop pitch on the I/O, the equivelent of going from a 23" pitch prop to a 19" pitch prop), then the acceleration of the I/O would likely easily surpass the jet. Of course, that would also most likely drop their fuel economy down about 15% also.

 

[QC]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

What he said ^^^^^^.

With that noted, and yes, I am aware of the hijack and I want to contribute to it Why, and we are talking 23 footers here, is it often said that the Yamaha with Jets is "not a real boat"? I'll never get this. If it's the Jets then I need to go down to Newport Beach here and tell the Captain of the 500 Passenger Catalina Flyer that he is not a real Captain

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

I guess the 20+% increase was due in part to their first quarter earning being released, and their news being much better than expected. It ended up almost 5 bucks higher today. I unloaded one of the kids shares, but kept the others shares. A little experimentation. Can't say why. I don't know what I am doing. It's kind of fun, though! Not as fun as boating, but kind of fun.

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

I don't care about the hijack -- Its interesting to think of what all is going on in the industry, and those jet boats are interesting too.

 

[45Auto]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

Its interesting to think of what all is going on in the industry, and those jet boats are interesting too.

If the U.S. manufacturers don't watch out, the boat industry will go the same way the steel, automotive, and most other manufacturing industries have - overseas!

 

[Knot Waiting]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

Ive never driven one personally but I heard that those jet boats were hard to control at idle speed or when docking due to their lack of an in water rudder. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

ya know.... I wish I'd have seen this a week ago.... I think I might buy some stock.... If I can figure out how to do it that is

 

[bass striker]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

About Mercury Marine, bein I live in the county that Bases the global headquarters and manufacturing. Mercury is doin quite well. They have started calling back laid off employees mainly cause yes they are consolidating.

The county that homes Merc has done some aid to help them in alot of ways to keep its buisiness healthy and all of its workers working. Example the county of Fond du Lac has given Merc acreage to expand its headquarters plus $$. I live roughly 5 miles from the HQ, they may not bee as busy as when the economy was good bet yes they will survive and come out on top.

 

[45Auto]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

My 22' Crownline with a 425 Hp 496 HO easily gets over 3.5 MPG at just over 2000 RPM. It'll get 3.7 at 2200 but it's hard to hold it there. My mileage curve agrees almost perfectly with the Boattest results on their 425 HP, 496 HO 22' Cobalt. See Pic below of my instrument panel: Smartcraft GPS Speedo/Fuel flow showing typical 3.6 MPG cruise at 27 MPH.

The Yamaha top speed is right at 50 MPH. Top speed on the Caravelle and Cobalt are just below 60 MPH, which agrees with my observations on equivalent boats. Fastest I've ever seen on my boat (22', 496 HO) is 66 MPH, but if I remember correctly my boat is about 500 pounds lighter than the Cobalt. I'm also running 28" pitch props on a 1.8 ratio B3 instead of the 26" props on the 2.2 ratio B3 on the Cobalt they tested.

In other words, their data appears accurate to me, but feel free to believe any data that makes you happy!

The mileage figures I quoted came directly from the Boattest website:

Yamaha:

Caravelle

Cobalt:

 

[bass striker]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

are the verado's merc engines? I had heard those were possibly.

Yes they are and are made here in Wisconsin.

 

[HollaGeo]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

A boat company on the verge of bankruptcy in this economy, noooooo.

 

[Snobike Mike]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

No way, I have never seen one get that sort of mileage.

Sea Ray 230 Sun Deck 350 Mag - 3.1 MPG

Rinker MTX 210 350 Mag - 3.2 MPG

Crowline 202 350 Mag - 2.9 MPG

Tahoe Q6 350 Mag - 3.0 MPG


All of these boats have a top speed right around 50 MPH and thats directly comparable with the Yamaha. I have never seen a 350 Mag in anything over 20' open bow do much better than 3 MPG or so at crusing (3500 RPMs) speeds.

Boattest had my boat with a 5.7 Gxi DP running around 4.6 mpg at best cruise. My boat is 21'8" and weighs in around 4000 lbs plus fuel, gear, etc. My boat runs around 54 mph with full fuel.

Powerboat television tested the yamaha and it ran 47 mph. It also has very loud sound ratings in the cockpit compared to an I/O.

 

[joe_nj]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

Regarding Brunswick/Mercury finances, they're fine. Here's yesterday's data.

Regarding my starter, I bought one but I can't get the outer bolt out of the old one to replace it.

First-Quarter Highlights
..the company made money. Operating income was $10.1 million against a $127.5 million loss the year before. Revenues increased 15% to $844.4 million. Cash on hand sits at $552.4 million but long-term debt is still high at $844.2 million. CEO Dustan McCoy said this about its first quarter, "The successful execution of our strategic initiatives over the past several quarters was a key factor in our improved first quarter results."

The boat segment had a decent quarter and although its turnaround is far from complete, things are looking much healthier. Its revenues were up 19% to $243.6 million and its operating loss was $26.7 million, an improvement of $45.6 million year over year. The company believes its wholesale boat shipments will continue to improve throughout 2010 to the point where they equal retail demand. This is critical to any future success in the boat business.

The marine engine, fitness and bowling/billiards divisions all made money in Q1 with the Mercury division leading the way with a 30% sales increase to $445.7 million and operating earnings of 26.5 million. She's ready to be set free.

 

[tawood]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

At any speed above planing speed its no contest, the jet drive wins in every way.

Hogwash!!! I owned one, and it was near to impossible to pull water toys with one. It wasn't because of lack of power, but more because of too much power without enough weight and stability/tracking....I would be sweating my arse off, trying to maintaine +- 10 mph constant speed, and not letting the skier turn the boat. If the skier cut hard, he could make the boat 360!!!
Here was my routine: get the skier up, look down, oops going 45 mph! Slow down watch the speedo, look up, oops skier turned the boat. Turn back, oops, slowed down to 20 mph, give it some gas, look at the speedo, oops, overshot now going 40 mph, look up, oops, going the wrong way again...etc etc.

 

[redone4x4]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

Anyone know if mercruiser is on its last legs? A local shop says parts are very hard to get and they are not doing good. Is this hogwash?

-1990 Bayliner Capri 2052CK 20' Cuddy, 5.0L V8 Mecruiser Alpha One, anazingly no rot! Stored indoors since new w/ 140HRS

Just wanted to point that out for ya

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Mercruiser on the verge of bankrupt? A rumor?

Hogwash!!! I owned one, and it was near to impossible to pull water toys with one. It wasn't because of lack of power, but more because of too much power without enough weight and stability/tracking....

what kind of jet boat? i've owned a couple, and none are anywhere close to what you described. Some are now coming with perfect pass also. Speed control on my jet boat is really no different than an IO. (i suspect you might be talking about a big block connected to a berkeley or something similar. Yeah those are an entirely different animal.)