What is Mercury Marine Thinking?

[mjw930]

You’ve gotta love this quote in that article

This is the direction Mercury Racing is going, big engines, big boats. The big offshore boats, center consoles and large cats can use these heavy beasts but they are not good single engine sport boat options. These are for guys that drive their boat a few times a year, wear loafers and slurp vodka sodas at parties while bragging about how many times they've been married.

[aggiestckl]

The whole sport of small performance boating ****ing sucks in my opinion.. from the bull**** to find the right boat, to having to store the boat, to damn near having to blow the shop to take your $150/HR to work on your boat, to dealing with the people who think your Kia and should warranty used items you sell for 10 years / 1,000 hours.. The whole deal is a royal pain in the ass for like maybe 4 hours of smile time.. If I divided up the amount of money x the amount of actual fun it was to use the thing it would be like legitimately $7,500 hour..

[aggiestckl]

and everyone who cries on here about this or that being discontinued - do you really care? Who is really going to buy a new boat or a new motor? Or even a new prop?

When selling on here if a motor is over $12K or a boat is over $20k its almost impossible to sell.. You will get tons of offers to trade for some beat up Shadow bass boat or an old OMC looper and $2500 cash though..

[JBS]

[QUOTE=MODVP22;2996275]Interesting read

https://www.wavetowave.com/home/2017...g04yzgm3zse9ha[/Q Thx mod VP.what a great article. It summarizes a lot of what the members are saying here.I feel fortunate to be old enough to see mercury and mercury racing in its hay day.Things change.As said earlier,it's all about the bottom line.Sadly,when I repower the Triad,my options are limited to fishing motors.Perhaps the 175 pro xs.?

[JPEROG]

Try airplanes or classic sportscar racing and it will make boating feel better for you again...

Joe

[WavetoWave]

We just wrote an article on Friday about the fall of Mercury Racing. I think there is a huge opportunity for someone to swoop in. I know there is a market in the 200 to 300 HP range, that is light and is a true high performance offering.

And, I am pretty sure the Mercury four-stroke 150 (3.0L) will go up market to a 175 and maybe a 200, and have a "ProXS" offering as well, like how they switched the 115 from 2 to 4 stroke. That engine is 450 Lbs. If they tuned it to make 225 HP, had solid mounts, sportmaster gearcase etc. Shaved 25 LBs off, then I think they would have a winner at least in terms of sales.

I actually believe the 200 XS would've sold if they offered it in 20" and even just a 1 year warranty. Instead, they jacked the price and made impossible to buy.

Another point I made was, Seven Marine, in 2010 many laughed at their concept and the prototype at the Miami Show, saying there was no market for it. I saw it in 2011 and thought it was crazy too. But, they were extremely successful. The market is there, you just have to have a compelling product, which nobody has in over 15 years.

[powerabout]

Volvo will step in buy Merc racing 2 stroke business as it will make a nice product fit. for the kids of the guys that own the 50' CC with 4 Sevens on the back

[Bullet 20cc]

I think the writer could have gone on further.

Well, CRT is starting to make blocks, plenty of prop makers out there, Geiger Teck and Tarver got some sweet mids, Dave Bush has the electronics figured out, just need someone to start making gear cases. I know I make that sound easier than it is-but the void can be filled.

'Scream and Fly 290' sounds about right...even the brand name is already established. Just need the lowers and some team players like the guys you mentioned with the know how and this baby is born. Probably wouldn't even have to make very many before buyout offers started rolling in... What can I say...I'm a dreamer.

Looking at that brochure in the article brought back some memories for sure...miss the square cowl days...

[David - WI]

Seems like the dumbest possible time to be giving up on performance two-strokes, with Trump/Pruett forcing the EPA to use some common sense and not bend over for every environmental group that threatens to sue them: http://www.thefencepost.com/news/pru...ed-door-deals/

Unfortunately, the "decisions" at Merc were probably handed down and set in stone years ago.

[WavetoWave]

[QUOTE=JBS;2996348]

Interesting read

https://www.wavetowave.com/home/2017...g04yzgm3zse9ha[/Q Thx mod VP.what a great article. It summarizes a lot of what the members are saying here.I feel fortunate to be old enough to see mercury and mercury racing in its hay day.Things change.As said earlier,it's all about the bottom line.Sadly,when I repower the Triad,my options are limited to fishing motors.Perhaps the 175 pro xs.?

Ya, that's one of the best options. I can definitely see the four-stroke 3.0 150 HP going up to 175 or 200, eventually.

[NICE PAIR]

The whole sport of small performance boating ****ing sucks in my opinion.. from the bull**** to find the right boat, to having to store the boat, to damn near having to blow the shop to take your $150/HR to work on your boat, to dealing with the people who think your Kia and should warranty used items you sell for 10 years / 1,000 hours.. The whole deal is a royal pain in the ass for like maybe 4 hours of smile time.. If I divided up the amount of money x the amount of actual fun it was to use the thing it would be like legitimately $7,500 hour..

Damn, Aggi, you boat that cheap? ;-) If I couldn't do my own work, I'd been done boating 40 years ago.

[blacktruck]

and everyone who cries on here about this or that being discontinued - do you really care? Who is really going to buy a new boat or a new motor? Or even a new prop?

When selling on here if a motor is over $12K or a boat is over $20k its almost impossible to sell.. You will get tons of offers to trade for some beat up Shadow bass boat or an old OMC looper and $2500 cash though..

I care for sure, I'll be re-powering brand new soon. Boat and outboard sales are through the roof. Good used stuff, priced right, sells like hotcakes.

[Onetime]

Damn, Aggi, you boat that cheap? ;-) If I couldn't do my own work, I'd been done boating 40 years ago.

Steve, Some people just don't have the talent to do it.

I completely understand where Aggie is coming from.
What really sucks is if you have stepped up and paid the money and received garbage in return.

Don't get me wrong I do most all of my own work on my boat. But I can relate having experienced this in other areas of having work done. Can be very frustrating spending the money and not getting what you've paid for.

Really can't blame Mercury for using their pencils to figure out what's making money or not and then acting on it. It is business and the bottom line of any business is to make money. If not then they will no longer be in business.

[aggiestckl]

Damn, Aggi, you boat that cheap? ;-) If I couldn't do my own work, I'd been done boating 40 years ago.

I’m probably way off.. I think the fact it’s impossible to find a way to get the work done quickly

[bahamatrama]

Kinda before my time, but wasn't the racing division pre 2006 more about r+d/marketing than profit?