Re: what's the biggest outboard?
Josip, I think JB was refering to all the people on this site that own old Mercs and Johnyrudes that still run. The vast majority of the problems people have with those old motors are minor and easily repaired. I personaly own a 35 year old Merc that starts and runs as well as anything out there. Comparing the new technology to the old is apples and oranges. When 40 years has passed, what is still running will be considered quality. Mercury has been around for a long time, and have much more experience building a marine specific engine than the asian units. Hey, I like the new stuff too, but anything can run for a few years, lets get some decades under these new outboards and then see whats still running good. A lot more people work on their own boats and motors than you obviously realize. Not everyone has a bottomless bank account and can afford to run to the overpriced marina at every hiccup. Go look at those Merc and Johnnyrude forums and look at the post amounts. That number does not indicate that those brands have more problems, that number indicates the truth that there are vast amounts of Mercs and Johnyrudes on the water and people fix them themselves. Reading magazines is irrelevant, their content is dictated by sponsors, not real world information. It is simply looking at message forums like these and seeing all the real world people with real world experience that matters.<br /><br />The Verado will smoke those asian outboards hands down. The asians are mostly marinized auto engines, the Verado is all new and specific the the marine industy. You won't find a Verado engine under the hood of an Accord, thats for sure.
