omc vs mercruiser

[snowman51789]

hi i am looking at buying a different boat. its a four winns sundowner 205 with a chevy 5.7 350 omc. i know about the average amount of info about mercruisers however i no absolutly nothing about omc. is there anything wrong with omc's? do they have many problems? in your opinion witch is better and why. any info would help.

thanks

David

 

[Mahoney]

Re: omc vs mercruiser

You an prolly do a search on this forum and come up with hundreds of threads on the differences. Short answer is OMC is out of business, parts are coming harder to come by and more expensive if you can find them. Mechanics are hard to find that will work on them.

Unless the boat is a steal, everything works great, you are a mechanic, and have great google foo for parts, steer clear of the OMC's

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: omc vs mercruiser

hi i am looking at buying a different boat. its a four winns sundowner 205 with a chevy 5.7 350 omc. i know about the average amount of info about mercruisers however i no absolutly nothing about omc. is there anything wrong with omc's? do they have many problems? in your opinion witch is better and why. any info would help.
thanks
David

The biggest thing wrong with OMC is they have been out of business for over a decade, which means parts availability is dropping with each sunny warm day. If the boat is a '93 or older, you would be getting a true OMC, which means you are at the mercy of whats left over, or reproduced, for parts. A regular cobra drive with serious mechanical problems can be replaced by a Merc alpha 1 style unit if you are willing to buy the conversion kit from SEI. A king Cobra or stringer drive will mean only used, aftermarket, or rare NOS parts will be available to fix any problems. A '94 and newer Cobra is more or less a Volvo in different clothes. Allot more parts should be still available.

 

[snowman51789]

Re: omc vs mercruiser

What about as far as how reliable they are? Are they pretty much on par with mercruiser?

 

[seaboo]

Re: omc vs mercruiser

What about as far as how reliable they are? Are they pretty much on par with mercruiser?

In my opinion yes (except for some earlier models). I own one and have had no problems to speak of. As mentioned they are no longer in business and parts are getting harder to find, so IF it does give a problem you may have added cost, wait, and location problems on parts. It is said ALOT of mechanics are not working on them (so finding a knowledgeable mechanic may be a problem also, but in my area I have found this not to be true).

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: omc vs mercruiser

What about as far as how reliable they are? Are they pretty much on par with mercruiser?

They pretty much have similar reliability. (the engines are the same)

But depending on year model, if you break something internal, you may not be able to buy a (new) replacement part.