Haters of 2-strokes

[johnyrude200]

I had to bring this topic up.

I have so many modern marina’s call the old motors I work on for a living "Junk!."

Customers who didn’t grow up on the things (which only become more and more of these customers each year) ask me why the 2-stroke is something they should invest in.

My simple answer is, show me a 4-stroke sold today (or 10 years ago) that is still in service 10 years later. I can show you 1,000’s of 2-strokes that are 10, 20, heck…50 years old that are still running just fine. The investment is your’s to decide…..

And if anyone brings up a Larson I will block you from my friend list…. 😮 😯 😕 😎

[ryanjames170]

quote johnyrude200:

I had to bring this topic up.

I have so many modern marina’s call the old motors I work on for a living “Junk!.”

Customers who didn’t grow up on the things (which only become more and more of these customers each year) ask me why the 2-stroke is something they should invest in.

My simple answer is, show me a 4-stroke sold today (or 10 years ago) that is still in service 10 years later. I can show you 1,000’s of 2-strokes that are 10, 20, heck…50 years old that are still running just fine. The investment is your’s to decide…..

And if anyone brings up a Larson I will block you from my friend list…. 😮 😯 😕 😎

i can agree with u there… but also what modern made outboard will be still there in 20 years.. they seam to drop like flies after 10-15 years.. not sure if its the actual engine or the modern consumer just buying new all the time..

[johnyrude200]

My business explanation why Mercury survived(s) and OMC DIDN’T.

Two words:

PLANNED OBSOLETE-NESS.

OMC motors are still running and THEY’VE BEEN OUT OF BUSINESS FOR 17 YEARS.

Yes, there are Mercurys still running but beat the heck out of them and see how many have been rehabbed or are just stubborn enough with original components not quite ready to give up…..

BRP seems set to discontinue support of parts for 50 year old motors…probably because there are still so many in service holding back old timers from replacing them. And ETEC’s are just too darn expensive to maintain when the usual things fail (EMM, fuel injector, electronics in general). 10 year old ETECS (which BTW are still using leftover 1980’s components in certain ….YES, THEY ARE) don’t make sense to repair when the computers die. Very expensive components. The old 2 motors = 1 motor formula doesn’t necessarily work for these motors unless you have a laptop and are a laid-off service tech!

I MEAN, the 40, 50, 60hp motors are all the same less the computer programming. Can’t just switch the carbs on these motors anymore.

@$5,700.00 for a 30hp ETEC….or less than 1/2 of your tax refund for a use OMC….I rest my case…..

[vintin]

Mercury didn’t survive.

Carl needed money and sold Mercury in 1960, to Brunswick I believe.

I’m very much into the old OMC motors like you are but I hardly see any in actual use. I bet half of all vintage Feather Craft owners are using newer motors these days.

Good seeing you at Tomahawk!

[wbeaton]

What’s a tax refund and where can I get one?

Everything started to change around the mid 1990’s when outboards started to become cheaper built and more sophisticated. For these reasons I don’t think modern motors will have the longevity of the old ones. I completely understand why people would rather a new four stroke than an old 2 stroke. The smell and the noise is a big detractor for some.

Wayne
Upper Canada Chapter

uccaomci.com

[johnyrude200]

Whats universal healthcare and where can I get it?

You guys north of New Hampshire must be having some side-splitting laughter at the idiocy we have on TV everyday known as the US government politics….

[49hiawatha]

Mini-history. Planned Obsolescence. Back in 1932/3 there were efforts to encourage the Federal Government to mandate the useful "life" of products. The thinking was that the Depression could be beaten by making more products. WWII solved that. However, our own OMC designer Brooks Stevens, Ralph’s buddy in 1954 gave a talk and ran with the need to constantly upgrade design and stuff, forcing people to desire the new, be the first on the block. It worked. Next came Vance Packard, an established social critic and wrote the 1960 Waste Makers. He blew the whistle on this practice. there was a stutter but consumerism was in. Go, go, go! Look at the craze of basketball shoes. Cabbage Patch…Microsoft;s forced up grades, XP, 7, 8, and 10s…Look at the groupie crazed techies with the new stuff. Gotta have it. They did that with motors/boats.cars…toy, clothing…everything- Status!

[outbdnut2]

When I hear someone talking about buying a 4-stroke for an older (1950s/1960s) small boat, I advise them to look at motor weight. Most 25 to 40 HP 4-strokes weigh 80 to 100 pounds more than same HP 2-stroke, and that’s too much weight to add to a lot of older small boats. Exceptions that are lighter are the 20 Honda and I’m told that Yamaha redid their 25 this year to make it lighter, but I haven’t looked it up. Their 25s were lighter 10 or 15 years ago, but they got heavy after that.
Dave

[garry-in-michigan]

Tell me about it – I just got another"free" upgrade To better integrate my watch (which I don’t have) my Tablet (which I also don’t have) and better speech recognition (so I would have to buy one of there $100. microphones) for text messaging (which I also don’t do) So everything is running slower and in unfamiliar ways. I am told I need a new computer to handle the larger files the new software generates. . . 😆

[fleetwin]

Today’s younger technicians have had little exposure to conventional two strokes, fuel/direct injected or four strokes are the norm for them…
So, it understandable that they simply dismiss the older two strokes as "junk"….There is certainly room for us older techs with experience, the problem is being able to run a business and make money working on older two strokes. Generally speaking, folks aren’t willing to spend a lot of money repairing old outboards, so the tech/manager has to be a pretty good salesmen in order to convince owners that old outboards are worth the investment.
It pains me to know that OMC made our own bed, and eventually ended up laying in it. We could have learned so many valuable lessons watching the automakers get killed by the Japanese, but chose not to. Our next boneheaded move was to buy up boat companies to ensure our engines ended up on transoms, this just killed the boat companies and made our outboards the red headed step child. We lost control of our engines, they were all sitting in boat company plants. Many were damaged, improperly rigged, and essentially "used" before the actual owner got them.
Finally, the ficht direct injected engines were released to the market way before they were ready, which was the final nail in the coffin.
This is a sad story indeed, Ole and the Johnson brothers must be rolling over in their graves. It is my hope that future American industries can learn from these foolish mistakes and not repeat them.

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