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By far, I am no expert.... But outboards have been improving ( V/8's..... 4 strokes ..etc)

Until they break ^^^^ and one can not go to the auto store to buy the parts - then one will see how well outboards are liked especially when the repairs are going to require a oem dealer .

And for the record the Verado especially for the first 5 or 6 years had a chit load of service bulletins because they broke alot. The had many years of FSM issues and many broken gears / gear cases as well.

10 to 12 years from now when the timeframe starts of outboard parts failure remember this post.

outboards do suffer from the same fuel issues and cooling issues and lack of proper maintenance and boat owner screw ups as I/O s plus Joes machine shop is clueless how to machine & rebuild a blown up outboard but was the ace for I/O s --- wait till that day comes. The do it youirselfer is out of the mix with outboards --- The OEMs and dealers know this and are extremely happy that 99 percent of the parts buying has to go thru the dealer / OEMS.

Think about how much money they have lost to rock auto - online part sales - online fix em forums for service and part sales.. . Outboards are the answer to bring all that back to the dealers and oems. No auto parts period will work.

The next issue is the performance outborrd has taken the avaerage joe boater out of the mix - it is super easy to make a low budget 450 hp even with a small block for a forth of the cost compared to a 450 R at 46 K and most hulls will have 2 of them on it. Thats almost 100 K in engines. Average family is out of that expense and boating.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BUP (Post 4695485)

10 years ago as one went to the lake on the weekends, it was mostly I/O boats running around unless there was a bass fishing tourny in the mourning and few pontoons running around. Anyways - the huge gap in the market is now -- I/O s - the lakes are mainly - wake boats - pontoon boats and anything else on the water has outboards installed. By far 2019 and beyond ??? is the death of I/O s. 2019 is the biggest gap in the market I have ever seen and I have been in the marine industry for 30 years

I am blown away by the market shift from I/Os to outboards. I saw a statistic that said the boat manufacturers sold 10,000 I/O boats in California in 2005. Ten years later that number was only 450!

Ahhh.... I miss the days on a lake in a Shiada w / a 454.....

The sound was 1/3 of the pleasure!!

Perhaps I am incorrect on the definition of a performance inspired day cruiser you are referring to, however doesn't the Fountain 48 Express cruiser provide what you are looking for?