Outboards earning there keep

[pine island fred]

Was reflecting on another post and this came up in my mind. Have an awful lot of commercial/work boats around. Island ferries, commercial clam and fish,work barges for docks and pilings,large skiffs for materials,workers and trash hauling and tourist sightseeing,smaller tugs. Anything over 100 hp. has YAMAHAS both 2&4 stroke with an occasional HONDA. <br /> These babys are started in he morning and run till late afternoon. Never see them flushed, cowl never comes off. Some boats look like delerects except for a shiny motor hanging on the transom or mounted in a well in the center of the boat(looks weird). Did YAMAHA go after the commercial market or just running on reputation? What motors are working for a living in your area? Not talking about the occasional charter fishing as these shinny ctr consols have a variety of power but the ones that work all day. regards fred

 

[05GlastronSX]

Re: Outboards earning there keep

around here whether its on police boats, commercial boats, or your average runabout or fishing boats, id be willing to be that 90% or more of all of those are equipped with mercury outboards. it seems like while driving down the highway, 9 of every 10 boats has a mercury engine on it and then the ocassonal evinrude or yammy. not many hondas or johnsons around here.

 

[JB]

Re: Outboards earning there keep

Different makes are popular in different areas.<br /><br />Worldwide, I would guess that Tohatsu is the most common make for commercial use.

 

[pine island fred]

Re: Outboards earning there keep

Good to see the people are supporting the local manufacturer. Got a 2 yr. old 50 merc. classic. Wonderful motor. FRED

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Outboards earning there keep

It's all regional marketing and price...Except that you will usually see Mercurys on the back of Federal, State and Local Gov't boats because....Mercury has pre approved government pricing in most states that allows those agency's to buy them at close to 30% off of dealer without the agency having to go through a local bid process.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Outboards earning there keep

Its all Honda on our law enforcement boats, which are big ol 24' plus aluminum jobs.

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Outboards earning there keep

I would imagine part of it is because when something goes wrong, it's easy just to chuck the entire outboard and buy a new one. Much more time consuming to replace an inboard engine/outdrive.

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Outboards earning there keep

If an agency needs a new boat package it usually goes through a competitive bid process...The boat/engine bid is almost always written in such a way as to lock in a particular boat/engine. If an agency needs a replacement engine....then Mercury is the cheapest engine and they do not have to put out a bid.

 

[pine island fred]

Re: Outboards earning there keep

Tax payers money is a wonderful thing. How about the private fisherman, water taxi, barge operator? What predominates in the caribbian? i have not been there. fred

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Outboards earning there keep

I have a crabber that I frankenstiened him together a 120/140 rude from 1985 to 1989 parts. last spring he had fuel reciepts from over 13K gallons of gas. and yes its still oil injected. goes out daily. when he is not pulling pots he is netting with it. it did finally lunch a reed assy. did not break but was tossing fuel out the carb. replaced all the boxes and he is off again.<br /> it just wont quit. but I did tell him the warrenty was up. he is 72 years old and goes daily. I tend to insure he is always running. he is on my stops when I am out playing by water. but the poor beast just keeps chugging.

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Outboards earning there keep

It's regional...Depending on the island. Yamaha(commercial version), Mercury/Tohatsu(commercial/export version) or Tohatsu(commercial version). Very little OMC/BRP, Honda or Suzuki. The models that you buy in the U.S. are not as popular as the simple models you can get elsewhere.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Outboards earning there keep

internet outboards<br /> my experience with tohatsu is like old suzukis's. after 4 years of salt aint a thing will come off, after 5 your lucky if the hood comes off. but if the maint is done strictly by the service manual it works for years and years. suzuki used to say retorqe all exhaust and head cover bolts at 100 hour intravals. the correct procedure for a retourqe is to remove the bolt clean it lightly oil it and reinstall it. if done every 100 hours OR once per year as per the maint schedule they will always come out. but no one does it. same as manually decarbing. the scedule was every 50 hours OR once per year. if done the head bolts never stick. in this country its to expensive. in south america they actually do it.<br />sometimes<br /> usually after it cost them 2 years wages to replace it cause of lack of maint. the labor rate there is nothing so its doable.<br /> but what I saw in venezuela is tohatsu and yamahas and some suzukis are very popular. especially for work motors below 40 HP. its right funny to watch the fisherman come in in the evening and take the motors off and take them home each night to prevent theft. went over to my tech friends friends house and he had 2 40 hp yams in the kitchen area. prevents theft somewhat <br />he said if it was merc or jonny you can leave them on the boat but not with yam or tohatsu <br /> most of these skiffs are 18-20 ft with twin tiller 40's<br /> I can post some pics of them sometime if I ever figgure out how

 

[pine island fred]

Re: Outboards earning there keep

Damn, i would be afraid to touch those exhaust cover bolts. Rodbolt saw on another post that you are calling it quits after this year, sure the people around there will miss you. Sometimes visit a friend in a place called COLLINGTON, you anywhere on the road going there with the soft shell crab farms? Does the wind ever stop blowing there? regards fred

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Outboards earning there keep

nope<br /> I live across the bay in kitty hawk but do a lot of work in colington. was there just yesterday. most my cousins do the soft crab shedding. I did some years ago but did not like it. my family has been in this area since sometime in the mid 1700 according to the census and currituck court house records. the wright brothers park in KDH was owened by my great grandfather. he sold that sand hill to the parks service about 1924 for something like 3K. laughed about screwing the govt out of the money for a useless sand hill.so I ended up related to many of the beachams, beasleys,midgettes,baums, twifords, doughs and a few others . sometimes I think on doing a family tree but I am scared there wont be any shade .<br /> exhaust cover bolts on suzukis and tohatsu motors are very scary. bad enough on the rest.

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Outboards earning there keep

Back in the early 80's up to the early 90's we found that the steel bolts that all the Japanese brands used tended to rust the heads off if they were not protected with a sealer. That was a downside. The upside of that was that the bolts tended not to break as easily as the one's used in OMC and Mercury. Around the mid 90's the Japanese began using the same or similar grade steel as the U.S. engines. They started breaking more often when you tried to get them out, but they didn't rust anymore. Side cover bolts and lower unit bolts seem to be a problem in every brand, even today.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Outboards earning there keep

yamaha started chrome plating them. they usually come out now. I still have to drill a few. but if ya wanna get some fun remove the exhaust cover from a late 80's early 90's suzy or tohatsu to replace a bad divider plate I made a drill fixture for that reason. at least the steel is faily easy to drill. not like some I see. but they all break after saltwater use. keeps us techs busy anyway. if its 10 years old in my area usually at least 5 bolts break at teardown. dont care who made it. some I wont even attempt to teardown