Interview I did with Mercury Racing about 565 / 1350
06-07-2012, 11:34 AM
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Lets define Entry Level?
RD:
Yes ,or kits are dialed in and working well all over the world. Over 700 at last count.
Fred is a great interview and he has contributed and done more for marine high performance engines in the last 30-40 years than probably anybody alive in the industry. I have the utmost respect for his knowledge,contributions and opinions!
This is a very nice offering from Mercury Racing and I was not being sarcastic, just a bit conflicted and curious. Sometimes when companies like Fred's talk about entry level it is a bit of a question mark as to what price level they are talking about. Obviously when you are comapring their 1350 to their new HP565 there is no real comparison and everybody realizes that the 1350's and the boats they go into are not entry level by any means.
Before the great economic crash of 2008 most performance boaters considered an entry level performance boat as something like a 25 foot Baja Outlaw or like with a Merc 496 Mag or HO engine. This boat was a lets say $75,000 boat new in base trim. Now even with the smaller boats available like Checkmate, Sunsation, and a few other survivors the same entry level boats even with the now more expensive Mercruiser 502Ho (+$8K-$10K replacement for the Mercruiser 496) standard Bravo drives and base equipment and these boats are well in excess of $125K-$140K certainly a big $ jump for entry level boats. If one were to assume that the fine new Mercury Racing HP565 is priced with drive to the builder at lets say $45K or about +$22K more than even the 502HO it starts to become a real stretch in my opinion to call the new HP565 racing engine or any other new offering in this price range an entry level performance boating engine. That's what I am conflicted about.
This is why the Mercruiser 496 Mag and HO was such a great offering for the industry and the entry level boat builders at about $16-$18K (engine and drive) an entry level boat was built around a nice performing power and drive that kept the cost of the boat within affordability for a lot of new entry performance boaters back then.
This is what the future obviously holds for entry level with the demize of all the former boat building companies and may ultimately greatly diminish the ranks of the performance boating community and could make the "entry level performance boat" a thing of the past. I certainly hope not, I as Fred and many others love this sport and hope to see it prosper once again!
Again, JMO
Dave:very nicely done interview and its nice to have Fred's thoughts, knowledge and contributions as well as yours here on OSO- Good Job! Keep it coming!
Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar
Yes ,or kits are dialed in and working well all over the world. Over 700 at last count.
Fred is a great interview and he has contributed and done more for marine high performance engines in the last 30-40 years than probably anybody alive in the industry. I have the utmost respect for his knowledge,contributions and opinions!
This is a very nice offering from Mercury Racing and I was not being sarcastic, just a bit conflicted and curious. Sometimes when companies like Fred's talk about entry level it is a bit of a question mark as to what price level they are talking about. Obviously when you are comapring their 1350 to their new HP565 there is no real comparison and everybody realizes that the 1350's and the boats they go into are not entry level by any means.
Before the great economic crash of 2008 most performance boaters considered an entry level performance boat as something like a 25 foot Baja Outlaw or like with a Merc 496 Mag or HO engine. This boat was a lets say $75,000 boat new in base trim. Now even with the smaller boats available like Checkmate, Sunsation, and a few other survivors the same entry level boats even with the now more expensive Mercruiser 502Ho (+$8K-$10K replacement for the Mercruiser 496) standard Bravo drives and base equipment and these boats are well in excess of $125K-$140K certainly a big $ jump for entry level boats. If one were to assume that the fine new Mercury Racing HP565 is priced with drive to the builder at lets say $45K or about +$22K more than even the 502HO it starts to become a real stretch in my opinion to call the new HP565 racing engine or any other new offering in this price range an entry level performance boating engine. That's what I am conflicted about.
This is why the Mercruiser 496 Mag and HO was such a great offering for the industry and the entry level boat builders at about $16-$18K (engine and drive) an entry level boat was built around a nice performing power and drive that kept the cost of the boat within affordability for a lot of new entry performance boaters back then.
This is what the future obviously holds for entry level with the demize of all the former boat building companies and may ultimately greatly diminish the ranks of the performance boating community and could make the "entry level performance boat" a thing of the past. I certainly hope not, I as Fred and many others love this sport and hope to see it prosper once again!
Again, JMO
Dave:very nicely done interview and its nice to have Fred's thoughts, knowledge and contributions as well as yours here on OSO- Good Job! Keep it coming!
Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar
Last edited by Raylar; 06-07-2012 at 11:37 AM.
