Why All Outboards Are Trash

We've got a lot of comments about outboards being trash, hah, they're junk, they're crap

they got all these problems, all the different models, this, that, and the other. It seems that we've forgotten the outboards are just a bunch of dissimilar metals

assembled together with electricity flowing through them, spinning at 5 to 6,000 rotations per minute

and then submerged in a highly conducive and sometimes a salinity-rich water

pushing a massively heavy object through that water, and then most owners are going to put off maintenance for as many years as possible

and then leave the boat either in the water or out in the weather, in the wind, in the sun, in the rain, in the snow, in the ice

and whatever else the weather's going to bring for that year. And then when they break, we're surprised

I guess when you look at it like that, yeah, all outbirds are trash. They're just going to fall apart in a few years, but if you look at the ones that have been maintained, they last for decades

Out of the top four major brands being Honda, Suzuki, Mercury, Yamaha, none of them are putting out a trashy, unreliable product

Yeah, they've all had their models that seem to be more problematic than others, but I guess if you were one of the owners of one of those problematic engines during one of those eras, then you've probably got a bitter taste in your mouth from that brand

And there is some of the brands that didn't really take care of their clients or the owners of those engines as good as they should have

So I guess there is that issue. But brand perception has just been shaped over the years

and I don't think that any of the manufacturers are, like I said, putting out a trashy, unreliable product

Yeah, they all kind of have their own thing. Like, if you say Yamaha, most people think of reliable

If you think of Suzuki, most people are going to say cheap because they've been coming out with just a cheaper engine for so long

that that's just how people see them. Even though Suzuki, as an underrated company

is just as reliable as Yamaha, in my opinion, in my experience

And then if you say Mercury, most people are going to think cool, and fast because they've always got the newest stuff, the coolest stuff, the most innovation

They're coming out with a 600 V12, a V10. They got the best joystick stuff, their skyhook stuff

They've got, you know, the fully autonomous boat. Just everything that they do is just totally innovative and new and futuristic

And that's what they push to be. They say, you know, bold, Mercury, be bold. So, I mean, I think that in the Honda, I don't know if there's really a word for Honda

used to be heavier, but they were just not really in the outboard game as hard as everybody

else was over the past few years. So I don't know if they really have a public perception outside of the actual brand being

Honda as reliable because Honda, name one product that Honda makes it's unreliable

Not their weed whackers, not their generators, not their cars, not their anything that they

make, you know, I mean, anything of their lawn equipment, their tractors, none of that stuff. Honda doesn't really make a bad product that anybody's like, oh, no, don't buy that

That's not going to be reliable. So I don't know if they really have a word just because they've been more focused on other stuff

not really outboards over the last few years. I don't think that any one of them is any trashier or less reliable than another one

I think that the perception comes from the different eras where they had certain models that

had certain problems and that they had these specific issues. with like flagship products

which you're going to have no matter what it is, whether it be a car, a truck

a, you know, anything, any engine related product, like all the Teslas

any homes, any product that's brand new is going to have problems

And so whenever you have different models that have specific issues, then the people that purchase those engines

and that stuff during those eras with all the problems, those are the ones

ones that are going to be stuck on, this brand is either junk or trash

I've never had a worse experience than with this engine and this brand and this thing

So over time, I think the idea has been cemented into people's minds based on a specific

experience that they've had with one engine or one model or something like that

Because the vast majority of everybody else is going to be using a different product and have a

completely different experience. That's why everybody hated on Evan Rude for so long because it was such a 50-50 brain

where there's so many people that had such a great experience with the ocean runners

with the ocean pros. There were a couple fix out there that actually ran really good

But then the other half of them were just horrible experiences. People lost their shirt

They spent thousands of dollars and just washed it down the drain because of the problems

that were with those specific engines. that kind of carries on with somebody

And it's also kind of interesting because of different people's different experiences based

on where they're at. So the education of someone or the experience that they have working on this type of boat

in this certain area, in this type of water, I guess you could say that they become accustomed

to different problems and different things to have to deal with. And they never see another side of something where someone that works on a different body

of water with a different type of boat with a different type of engine will not even think of the

different problems that you could see between or not have the experience of like, you know

we make this type of boat for this reason and then this person over here is going to be like

well, that boat's junk. I would never use that. I don't like the look of it. I don't like this

I don't like that. All because of their experience being over here and not over here in this region

I think it's like that with the brand perception as well and why people think that this brand is junk or this brand

is trash because of their experience. But again, I want to put it back on to those with the different maintenance that they do

You know, the way we treat an engine and a boat is just crazy

You know, people take such good care of their car and they run the car every day

They take care of it. They keep it in a garage. And the thing lasts for years and years and years

Meanwhile, their boat, they use it 10 times a year. It sits on the side of the house in the sun, uncovering

with rain and wind and debris and all kinds of stuff just bashing it and the fuel gets stuck in there

They never use it. And then whenever the thing breaks and they got all these problems, then all of it's like

oh man this brand this boat this thing is just junk even though it the lack of care and the lack of maintenance and the lack of use that turned it into that because it is again a dissimilar metal We have run electricity through it put it in water and run it at very high RPM and it just

abused, just like batteries and other stuff in it. I mean, you think about a boat when it goes through the water, it's going over chop

It's just constantly slam it against the water, and you've got all of these components that are

taking that abuse. So things are going to break, and that's just what it's going to be

It's not like a car running on the road, which doesn't get to see the same amount of abuse

So in order to say that they're all junk and they're all trash and to see all the comments of all the different people

I think it all comes down to experience because I'll use Evan Rood as a scapegoat

There is a lot of people that had really good experiences with that engine

Grinate once Evan Rood sold and BRP bought them, a whole different story, different models

the reliability on some of them was very questionable. And then this last stitch effort with the ghost model

I mean, that is a whole other thing that is almost like a comedy sketch

If you look at it and read the things that they, I mean, look at the product

I mean, it's an outboard that's under the water. You can't back in a slip because you're afraid of getting water in it

They come with a builds pump on it. And like, I mean, it's just the whole thing is a problem just waiting to happen

You know, the G2, the company went bankrupt, so put them out of business

There's a whole discussion over there on that stuff. But I think for the whole topic of something being trashy, it really comes down to how it's taken care of

And, you know, is it one of the problematic engines? You know, it's just kind of what it comes down to

Railroad fishing adventures. My Yamaha F-150 horsepower is a 2014. It had 1,700 hours when I bought it nearly three years ago

now at 4,600 hours, and compared to the rest of the hundreds, around model here

all have about 6,000 to 10,000 hours with a different, with a few different models over 15,000 hours

With only minor problems here in Red Rottonga, Cook Islands, we can all sell our fish as no commercial boats

so most boats do 50 to 100 hours a week, but mainly all trolling speeds

or some guys catch fly fish at night, but that is a lot of speeding and slowing down

to catch the flying fish with nets. 90% of our engines are Yamaha with the odd Honda and Suzuki

but we don't sell our engines. We use them until they die. See, there you go

I mean, you're talking about engines that have 15,000 hours on them

and they're using them every single day, putting 50 to 100 hours on

in a week. So it goes back to the care. If you take care of it and you run it all the time

it's going to last a long, long time. And it's surprising that there's no mercury's out there

but that is way over in the, you know, I think somewhere around the Philippine Islands

somewhere in there, like not sure exactly where the Cook Islands are

And why they call them the Cook Islands, I don't know either, because Raritanga is like the main island

When I looked at it on a map and there was like, two other, three other islands on the side of it, but they were like really, really small

islands. So you would think they would just have their separate names and everybody would

just call it Rar Tonga, but I don't know. You can let us know. Broad Bill Hunter. I had a pair of

Yamaha F-150s, 2006, that rained great for me for about 2,000 hours before they both basically

had powerhead leaks and I didn't want to deal with fixing the seals. Somebody did and still runs them

I repowered during 2022 and paid about 40,000. grand for a pair of brand new fly-by-wire 200 Suzuki's and it was a total game changer all

around so there you go the f-150s i'm surprised that you were only able to get 2,000 hours out of them

because solid engines balancers probably kind of coming into question there in the 2006 era but

um nonetheless f-150 in my opinion is probably one of the most reliable engines that yama's ever made

So the 200 Suzuki, though, I do think that that is also an underrated engine, super reliable

It's got power. The fly-by-wire, everybody loves the digital controls. So 100% game changer as far as the functionality and the user experience when you go to fly-by-wire

and you added 100 horsepower to the back of your boat. So I bet it just changed the performance all around, and I bet you love the boat

now Philip Christensen, great content. How about a video on what tools should be carried on a boat while on the water

I run a Hughes 18, so weight is important. But so is getting back to the hill

I don't have to carry as much as some because I'm generally not more than a few miles from some form of safety

So my box isn't going to be as loaded as someone running 50 miles who can also handle more weight

So basic tools for common issues and what are some good combo or multi-purpose tools that can accomplish

multiple tasks. We all know everything is a hammer so I can do with that. I'm going to say that

you want to have a simple socket set, usually like I would say a metric set over a standard set

because metrics going to fit a lot more stuff on the boat. I'm going to say a Leatherman

Super Tool 300. That thing does so much. You're going to want to have some zip ties. I would also say

some sort of like a wire brush so you can clean stuff

Like if you've got a bad electrical connection or something like that

you can kind of clean it off and put it back together, tighten it down

That's actually probably going to cover most of what you need. Honestly, I don't think having a leatherman

having a wire brush, having a simple socket set that's got metric

and then probably maybe a set of vice scripts to clamp something down

Honestly, I think that for that, those tools there because you're going to have some of your other stuff on there

You're going to have some fishing line on the boat. Most people keep some lead weight on the boat

You got dock lines on the boat, keeping some fenders on the boat, and then your safety equipment

Honestly, I think that that's going to be all that you're going to need to carry for the most common issues

Obviously, we can get way more in depth and go, you know

trying to cover anything that could possibly happen while on the boat

but with those simple tools like a leatherman and a wire brush and stuff like that you can you can pretty much kind of diagnose everything vice grips you can clamp something together if it breaks zip ties you can hook stuff up I going to go with that being the best basic set

So that way you won't need a bunch of other stuff. Like if you're going way offshore and you're going on multiple, you know, different distances

maybe even having like a jump pack on the boat, you know, some sort of an extra power source

but that's going to be probably what I'm going to say is the best thing

Outside of like first aid stuff being stuff to make, you know, a lighter, some matches

something make, you know, stuff like that for whatever reason of the things that you can need

Spray pave, great clip, but doesn't explain why my Honda 90 won't always engage in reverse

Sometimes it does engage. Other times it grinds and won't engage. Clutch dog is in good condition with no round

edges. There could be multiple different things. This is probably on the video where we're doing the

lower unit completely disassembled it, kind of show you what the gears look like, what the

clutch dog looks like, all the different things, the bearings. Now as far as an engine going into

reverse and not going, most likely it is a problem that's not with the gear case. Usually you're

going to find, we've talked about this on quite a few episodes, that either the control cable

the shift mechanism, the shift shank. something else is affecting it where you think you're putting it into reverse

but from the time that you put the handle in reverse, the control cable

the shift mechanism, the shift crank, and then down to the shift shaft

something in there is not going to, you know, you'll put the handle all the way in reverse

but the shift shaft on the lower unit is not turning all the way into reverse gear

That's usually what it is. Usually not the lower unit that has a problem

because the lower unit, is completely mechanical. So unless you have a mechanical failure being rounded off clutch dog teeth or something like that

or a broken piece like a spring or something that's not moving the shift dog into place fully

But there's, I mean, it's there's only a couple components. You got the shift shaft and you got however, whatever the shift mechanism that attaches to the clutch dog and it goes back and forth

Like that's it. There's not a whole lot to it that can be the problem when you're talking about not engaging all the way in gear

My guess is you've got something engine, boatside, outside of the lower unit that is making, that is, you know, your problem here

So I guess what we'll have to do is just make a video on how outward shift and kind of go through some of that kind of stuff

Mr. Water for fun, great video. Thank you. I have a 2005 Suzuki 250 with a leak around the prop shaft even after replacing the seals

There is a visible bearing carrier crack near the seal to remove the carrier on a Suzuki

Is it pretty much the same process as this video? No special removal tools

Thanks. Mr. Waterful Fun, I'm not 100% on a 2005 Suzuki 250

Most Suzuki do have the bearing carrier, where there's just a couple of bolts to hold it on

and it just pulls out the same way, but then a lot of everything else uses a spanner nut or a gland nut to hold the carrier into place

I want to say on that 250 Suzuki, though, that it is just a couple bolts

You pull the bolts out and you can pull the carrier out because you're going to have to replace that carrier

If the carrier is cracked, then that's going to be your leak 100%. And, yeah, to remove it

I want to say it's just two bolts, not 100%. What I would do is go to partsview.com or boats

net and I would pull up a 2006 Suzuki 250 and then I would go to the gear case and I would see

what that carrier looks like and it'll show you, you know, whether there's a spanner net or there's

two bolts that hold it on and then I'll kind of give you an idea because all you got to do is

then just take it out based on that. Brent Spalding, what size PVC pipe diameter did you

use to install back on talking about putting a prop shaft seal back into a lower unit? Usually most of them

are going to be an inch and a quarter for the PVC pipe

And then if you've got like a V8, 350 Yamaha, it's a bigger one

That one, you just get an inch and a quarter PVC pipe that's got the flanged edge

And you just use the flanged edge to push that prop shaft seal back down into the carrier

Super simple. And if it doesn't happen to fit for what you've got going on

depending on the different lower unit that you've got, Just get a different piece of PVC

You know, you can get PVC for a couple bucks. So not a big deal

T. Butch 130. Does boss still make that A40 Marine silicone you used

I can't find it anywhere just the 801 pool and spa. I'm not really sure 100% on that

So what we used in that talking about how to lay silicone

how to make it look clean, and how to clean it off and apply it to make a look like it's factory

That boss that we had is actually going, to be that was a color matched sealant

We actually got that sealant from Scout, and Scout orders that directly from the factory

They have it color matched to be, you know, the specific cream color that they wanted on that boat specifically is, you know

we got it from them. So I don't know whether or not, you know, you can buy it from Boss or where else to get that stuff

That's where I got it from. We got it from the factory. And I'm assuming that they still make it because, you know

they're supplying major. brands with color match specific silicone. So my guess is that they do still make it, but where to get it, not 100% sure

maybe call the boat manufacturer as far as, you know, being able to get it from somewhere

like that. Like I said, we got it from Scout and it was color match. So that's how we got it

Eric Davy, I would actually like for a boat that needs a new outboard and negotiate accordingly

The engine is the heart of the boat. A new engine will make the boat feel brand new and you'll have years of enjoyment

Buying a 10 to 15 year old boat with the original engine, even if it has low hours, is going to stress you out

You're probably going to end up repowering anyway, except now you've paid too much for the boat

because it had a quote-unquote good engine. I'm with you 100%, Eric

That is like a great technique to be looking at as far as a boat

Buying something that like 10 15 years old and then repowering it with a brand new engine I mean yeah it changes the boat phenomenally I think that it might be a little bit different from people that are say

up in the north areas where they don't get to use their boat like we do down here in Florida

Down here in Florida, a 10 to 15 year old boat is going to have a lot of hours on it

Whereas a boat that comes from, you know, New York or these places

they only have like a three, four month boating season, 10 to 15 years, they might only have

a few hundred hours on their boat. But the abuse that that boat took is going to be way different than the abuse that the

boat took down here. So that might be something to think about. I'm with you 100% that that is a huge negotiating tactic to get something that's 10, 15 years

old because the boat should be in really, really good shape. But like he said, a 15 year

old engine, for a lot of people, it is going to still stress you out because depending on what

you use the boat for, you're going, you know, way offshore or you're, you know, using it where

it's a life and death situation, you know, you need to have a good reliable engine to go in

certain areas on the water because you need to get back. So I'm with you 100%. I love the idea of

getting something discounted because it's got, you know, a bad engine or whatever

and then doing the repower because it is, it's going to be and feel like a brand new boat

because you got a whole new power package on the boat. So I'm with you, Eric

Rich Figlia, Ralph Evanrude passed in 1986. After that, it just started slowly going down

Also, you can't talk about Bombardier that owns it now. They bought the name

They are not Evanrude. You can't even call these engines Evan Rude. Roads. So yeah, I mean, yeah, they bought the, they bought the brand after 86. They totally did. It was a total different change. I mean, I think once you get past the ocean pro and the ocean runner, um, yeah, I've always been a 50-50 on Evan Road. I've always tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, even through the fix, even through the E-Tex, even through the G2s. I can't go to the ghost though, the Rotax. I could never support that because the

that is just insane to me to take an outboard and stick it down in the water and then

no, there's just, you don't do that. It's just a bad idea. So that's the only thing that I never have ever been like positive about

But every other one, I mean, the G2s, I know people that have had G2s and have had great

experiences with them. Same thing with E-Tex. Same thing with Fix. We've got someone that commented a few weeks ago about having twin Fix

and they did all the work, they did all this change to it, and they maintained them

and they run great. So I'm with you, but I also still try and get people the benefit of the doubt

Martin Rodriguez, I've got a 1978, 23-foot center console, Maco that I saved for my brother

Long story short, he bought it a few years ago and ripped it all apart saying he was going to fix it

Fix it up. Problem, he don't know what he's doing, aka the boat murderer

So I plan on getting to work on it this winter slash spring and will video and capture before and after processes

P.S. this boat's a tank. Hope to show you guys my progress soon and love to channels, bro

Thank you, Martin. That's awesome. I wish you the best of luck on the Mako

Huge Mako fan, especially those 78, 80s, 90s to 23. I mean, the thing is a tank in the water

It's phenomenal. The ones that I've had, 250 and a 300 on them

Um, yeah, they'll cruise in the 30s. You'll get into the 40s top speed

They maneuver like, I mean, they're great. They just grip the water

So they're, I mean, they're really fun, right. And they're dry. A lot of other boats that, you know, in that area

especially when you get into the 23 stuff like that, a lot of other boats are wet

You know, you get offshore, you get in a two, three foot chop, and all of a sudden, everybody in the boat is soaking wet

I've never liked that about a lot of boats, and I don't talk about a lot of brains because they have that issue

Those makos, you didn't have that issue. They take it. You stay dry

I'm a big fan of that boat. Tukin Man, the first Mercury 4-strokes were Mercahaz, half Yamaha

What a mess parts. Forget it. Forgot it. We had to toss it and repair after thousands spent trying to fixing it

What a lemon. There's a lot to unpack right there. So yeah, you got the Merkhas or the Yammerks

whatever you want to call them. Yamaha people call them Yammerks. Mercury people call them Mercos

Basically, it was a 3-3 Yamaha and packaged as a mercury. So interesting thing about some of the other ones

I don't think that the 3-3 Yammerks, Mercahaz were that big of a problem

I think that the 3-3 Yamaha was a really good engine, and the platform was good

Now, the carbureted four strokes, not the biggest fan. Those were the ones that gave most people the most problems

One particular problem is that the way the TPS has worked, they were reversed

So the way it read the voltages, they put it in a couple of adapters in there to reverse voltages

from the way the computer read the TPS. So there was that kind of an issue

but by and large, the 3-3, whether a Yammerk or Merkaha, I didn't think they were that bad

I didn't think they were limin. I didn't think that the 3-3 Yamaha was that bad of an engine

You know, the 225, yeah, old, heavy, slow, all that stuff. Unreliable

I don't think so. Even though they did have the two years with the exhaust, you know

the exhaust housing rotting out, they were still a good engine and reliable

I mean, still thousands of people out there running that engine today

So I'm not going to call it a limit. I think it's still a good engine. But I think we're going to go ahead and wrap it up for this week

We thank you all for the comments. If you want us to talk about something, drop it below

Email us, ask BAB at Borgantbbbbbbborgantbbbbogne.com. Check out our boaters program at Borghum

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so everything looks great. We hope to see you next week