Yamaha Outboards Reveal
01-19-2024 | 12:39 PM
#12
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 4,470
Likes: 2,107
From: Milton, Fla!
And Honda!
Remember, Honda was the first to have a well engineered and brilliantly marketed, large (225) 4 stroke OB.
They owned that market for 10+ yrs.
Everyone else was left scrambling.
When I lived in Fla they a R&D center on the ICW in our town.
Everything 4 stroke OB was Honda.
Then they got lazy and in came Yammy!
Then it was Yammi for next 10+ yrs.
Then Merc came out w/the super charged I-6 Verados.
I didn’t think they’d last due to their highly loaded small displacement packages but they did.
So Merc got a big chunk of the pie w/that platform for many yrs.
In the meantime…….., Merc was at work behind the scenes on their new platform.
During that period they were in the trade mags all the time for the new patens, mostly in the foundry/casting process.
I was way impressed!
Maybe 30 or more patens in a short period!
Things never done before.
They then released the current model platform.
They were the first to design/mfg a large 4 stroke OB that was as light as a current Gen DI 2 stroke!
And they worked!
Most of the other guys were maranising their auto engines so it was all existing technology.
Basically Merc caught em asleep at the switch and cleaned their clocks!
Only negative I’ve heard is finding support/svc as they’re so new, no one knows how to work on them or get pts, tools etc.
The other is lack of inventory due to their popularity.
I hear they’re a yr out.
Remember, Honda was the first to have a well engineered and brilliantly marketed, large (225) 4 stroke OB.
They owned that market for 10+ yrs.
Everyone else was left scrambling.
When I lived in Fla they a R&D center on the ICW in our town.
Everything 4 stroke OB was Honda.
Then they got lazy and in came Yammy!
Then it was Yammi for next 10+ yrs.
Then Merc came out w/the super charged I-6 Verados.
I didn’t think they’d last due to their highly loaded small displacement packages but they did.
So Merc got a big chunk of the pie w/that platform for many yrs.
In the meantime…….., Merc was at work behind the scenes on their new platform.
During that period they were in the trade mags all the time for the new patens, mostly in the foundry/casting process.
I was way impressed!
Maybe 30 or more patens in a short period!
Things never done before.
They then released the current model platform.
They were the first to design/mfg a large 4 stroke OB that was as light as a current Gen DI 2 stroke!
And they worked!
Most of the other guys were maranising their auto engines so it was all existing technology.
Basically Merc caught em asleep at the switch and cleaned their clocks!
Only negative I’ve heard is finding support/svc as they’re so new, no one knows how to work on them or get pts, tools etc.
The other is lack of inventory due to their popularity.
I hear they’re a yr out.
Last edited by Twin O/B Sonic; 01-19-2024 at 12:41 PM.
