Re: sail outboards
I don't think there's any 'dealers' in the USA, but I have seen a few on the water. So either someone is buying small quantities and bringing them into the country or buying them online somehow. I haven't had the opportunity to have the lid off of one to see what their like. If their a Yamaha clone they may not be all that bad, but Chinese electronics so far have been notoriously bad.
What comes to mind is a brand of small engines that I've been seeing from China lately which are exact Honda clones, so much so that all parts swap. They are actually decent motors, but if you can't recognize the proper corresponding Honda part in the event of a repair, there are no parts. The same thing with some of these cheap gas powered scooters we see everywhere, most are clones of something with a few changes, but there is no parts source for these other than a dealer who may buy extras just to sell for parts. Most that I've seen here have been Suzuki copies with a crap electrical system and plastic carb.
Keep in mind that many major manufacturers use China to produce their own items, what happens most often is that they will change designs and move on to a newer product, and the Chinese plant continues to make the old model without the knowledge or consent of the original company, they in turn begin to sell that product under a new name with no real chance of any legal issues. It appears that so far China has no patent laws and does not abide by ours.
There isn't much that they haven't copied at this point, some items are good, others are still pretty crude, but they do usually get better as they perfect their manufacturing procedures and catch up to the rest of the world.
