Offshoreonly.com - Merc 500R vs 520/XR

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- - Merc 500R vs 520/XR (https://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/general-boating-discussion/380175-merc-500r-vs-520-xr.html)

One of the issues with the 2 stroke OB's they are starting to get old, and then you lose reliability on most of them.

I own both I/O and OB, and have friends with older OB performance boats, they are NOT any more reliable then my old HP500EFI's.

Old performance anything means you will work on them.

Sure a brand new twin OB 500-700K plus new or slightly used cat is reliable, that is just out of my league.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wildman_grafix (Post 4877368)

HP500EFI is great. Mild enough cam that the engine could last most of the life of the boat it was in. I think some of Mercs blower motors had the same cam.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hustlerguy (Post 4877007)

Two guys you know bought new boats and motors and didnt do research to find out what was important to them? Fuel economy... Isnt that there own fault?

Having experience in many many types of boats and I/O motors, having experience in OB motors as well. I know many here are die hard I/O guys, but the reality is, the 450's sip fuel compared to I/O's in that power range. they run on very low maintenance compared to I/O's. Are they perfect, nope, but show me a mechanical item that is. I know many of you hate to hear this but They are a step forward in technology.
Show me a High 37-39 cat with a I/O that runs around at 75 mph doing 2mpg, show me a I/O that can run for hours and hours at a time going 100+ mph at 1.8 mpg. Show me a I/O that can get away with over 110 hrs and need nothing but the 100 hr oil changes and belt change service.

I love my I/O power. The qc4v power and reliability is awesome. The O/B wont have that same punch ever but dang they OB are pretty darn reliable and fuel efficient for me.

That's quite the testament from a guy who has both a QC4V boat and a 450 boat. Don't see you out in Topless much anymore since you got the OB cat lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plowtownmissile (Post 4875978)

This is something I've been thinking about lately. With the price of a Merc 520EFI/XR combo being about $40k and the Merc 500R being about $70k, at what price do you still save money going with outboards? Seeing all the new boats being built with twin outboards on them I've been asking myself this question a lot.

Everyone's statements here are good food for thought but don't get talked out of an I/O if that's what you want and it fits your boating needs. At the end of the day you are going to spend a ton of money on the boat, fuel, maintenance, docking, storage and insurance - so it doesn't really matter that much which 500 HP engine you have. If you want to keep the boat long-term, you need a connection with it and for some it's sleeker lines, a sun-pad and loud exhaust. I've gone outboard because we have shallow water and boat late into the season. Heaven forbid but in a few years this debate will be between ICE and electric.

Menage
I love my I/O boat "Topless". Its a awesome piece of hardware. You are correct that I use the OB boat alot more just simply because it makes boating much easier. The OB boat Cats Ass is still fast and fun as heck.
In the past 12 months I've boated about 150-155 hrs between these two boats and 125 of those hrs are on the OB boat with very little maintenance expense especially compared to the I/O.

Very similar discussion of new muscle cars Vs old/orig.

Would definitely be interesting to take an OB layup 36-39 Wright Performance or MTI and rig it new from the factory with some 565's and 6's. My only question would be if they would even fit with these new OB cats being cut down so much.