What is wrong with Mercury?

[JR IN JAX]

When my 1 1/2 year old Hill Drag 5 cracked a blade back on June 19 and I ordered a new 31.5 Pro Max that was supposed to ship in 2 days. The Date then changed from 6/19 to 7/1 and then to 7/19, then 8/9 and now 8/31. Is Merc Racing having to get someone to swim to China and pick up my prop?

Can Merc Racing be trusted to have my prop to me on 8/31 or should I have someone build a custom prop again.

Please advise.....

[mercace]

Shortage of resin that they use in the slurry to coat the wax castings.

[LaveyT]

Shortage of resin that they use in the slurry to coat the wax castings.
A friend cannot even get a projected delivery date on some fiberglass insulating tube for his products. Its costing him a bunch of missed sales. The company says its because of a Resin shortage (China is the main supplier)(for this particular company)

[25two.stroke]

And shortage of source metals probably even though merc mixes their own concoctions here...
All dealers were warned about a shortage of stainless props 2 years ago...its nothing new.

Mercury availability predictions are never accurate and should not be treated as such. When I order parts for someone and Merc says they are not available till _______ I automatically add a month or more. New motors add 3 months, sometimes 6. All parts a month. Mercury was out of stock on upper motor mount bolts for a 280 and fat tube water pump housings...they changed the availability 4 times before I finally got the parts 3 months after the original estimated availability.

Bottom line, if merc doesn't have it and you can get it somewhere else then do so. Merc will not come through on backordered stuff.

[powerabout]

JIT supply line, instantly goes wrong when one link in the chain hiccups
How is the Jap stuff doing?

[TooStroked]

JIT supply line, instantly goes wrong when one link in the chain hiccups
How is the Jap stuff doing?
I find it interesting how many self proclaimed "supply chain experts" on the internet blame Just in Time (JIT) practices for everything that's wrong with supply chains these days. Virtually every one of these folks also proposes that if we went back to the "good old days" of warehouses filled with inventory, none of these problems would exist. They conveniently forget how many of the parts in those warehouses were defective, lost, out of date or just plain the wrong parts. Oh, and they cost a bloody fortune for all of those reasons and more. Trust me, I spent 36 years in manufacturing and I've been there, done that and got the t-shirt.

The truth is that today's world is truly a global economy and nobody can survive without everybody else. There are some products that can only be sourced in one or two places in the whole world. The bigger problem is companies seeking short term gains by sourcing everything in China. The US has done a stellar job of chasing business there by making US based manufacturing more and more (and about to get way more) expensive. An unexpected - and hopefully once in a lifetime - problem showed everybody the weaknesses of a global economy. This is not a simple problem and there is no simple solution.

[XstreamVking]

Solution, bring all critical major mfg back to the continental US. If you are a US company, all parts must be made in the US. Not 20% or 60 %. but 100%. We could do it if we wanted. Stuff coming in would have a giant tariff. Wait, wasn't this the previous admin's plan? Yes it was, now we know why. Say it out loud, china is out to wreck our production capability and steals everything they can product development wise.

[David]

Toyota has lost less production due to shortages then the other big OEMs and they might be the best at JIT. What I know for sure is that if the OEMs had not lost a lot of production due to the chip shortage, companies like my employer would have shut them down due to steel and resin shortages. It’s very hard to get supplies.

If I needed a prop I would buy off the shelf (if anyone had one) or used. Getting one made is likely to take time. As it turns out I have a prop habit and have a bunch more then I need.

[boostalmighty]

Solution, bring all critical major mfg back to the continental US. If you are a US company, all parts must be made in the US. Not 20% or 60 %. but 100%. We could do it if we wanted. Stuff coming in would have a giant tariff. Wait, wasn't this the previous admin's plan? Yes it was, now we know why. Say it out loud, china is out to wreck our production capability and steals everything they can product development wise.
I agree with this entire statement, we need to become a nation of producers again. fill our metaphorical glass and stop trying to fill the world's glasses.

[XstreamVking]

We will all be like the Cubans living in Cuba after a while. Can't buy it? Make it locally or buy used and refurbish it. The govt is making another "crisis" out of our supply chain. I'm convinced they are going to crash our economy on purpose. The 5 trillion spending bill just approved is valid proof of it.

[powerabout]

I find it interesting how many self proclaimed "supply chain experts" on the internet blame Just in Time (JIT) practices for everything that's wrong with supply chains these days. Virtually every one of these folks also proposes that if we went back to the "good old days" of warehouses filled with inventory, none of these problems would exist. They conveniently forget how many of the parts in those warehouses were defective, lost, out of date or just plain the wrong parts. Oh, and they cost a bloody fortune for all of those reasons and more. Trust me, I spent 36 years in manufacturing and I've been there, done that and got the t-shirt.

The truth is that today's world is truly a global economy and nobody can survive without everybody else. There are some products that can only be sourced in one or two places in the whole world. The bigger problem is companies seeking short term gains by sourcing everything in China. The US has done a stellar job of chasing business there by making US based manufacturing more and more (and about to get way more) expensive. An unexpected - and hopefully once in a lifetime - problem showed everybody the weaknesses of a global economy. This is not a simple problem and there is no simple solution.


The supply chain has failed, where's the problem?
Shipping doing bigger volume than it has for decades, what are they shipping?

[Chaz]

You should ask <!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention -->@Chaz (https://www.screamandfly.com/member.php?u=7927)<!-- END TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> what is wrong with Mercury. He might have something to say.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words .

In short , here was the solution to most of our problems ...:thumbsup:



https://d3ebobe8l15pwo.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/o50620_Trump-wearing-MAGA-hat_e.jpg

[Dave S]

Why ask Chazz......go to the guys that KNOW.........;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO-ttUAiVDw

[TooStroked]

The supply chain has failed, where's the problem?
Shipping doing bigger volume than it has for decades, what are they shipping?
You are correct in that supply chains have failed. What you fail to mention is why they failed. To partially answer that question, let's go to New Orleans - an entire city built well below sea level. How did they do that? A complicated (and expensive) system of dikes, levees, dams and pumps designed to keep everything dry. But when you design a system like that, what level of natural disaster do you design it for? Do you design it for storms that happen every week, every year, every 100 years? The reason that's important is that designing the system to withstand a storm that happens only every 100 years is much more expensive than for one that happens every week.

Because nobody could afford to build a system that withstood anything that could happen, when Katrina hit, New Orleans flooded - and the engineers that designed the system were not surprised. It was literally a once in 100 years situation.

Back to supply chains failing. What caused the failure(s)? COVID 19 shut down assembly lines, factories and even whole countries. The first link in the chain broke, then each succeeding link failed in pretty short order. "But if we had tons of inventory we wouldn't have this problem" some say. As I've previously stated, that wouldn't have worked either. COVID is to supply chains (and many other things) the 100 year storm.

As to your question "What are they shipping?" good question. Lot's of supply chain rookies are doing a classic knee jerk reaction and ordering way more than they actually need "So this never happens again." Just like in the "good old days," this leads to large shipments which effectively contain 1) What you have back orders for, 2) What you actually need for true consumption, and 3) A whole bunch of JIC (Just in Case) inventory. By the way, the stuff in #3 is by far the majority. So in effect we're shipping tons of stuff that we don't really need and this is clogging the arteries preventing them from moving what we actually need.

I could go on for hours on this topic because I have a lot of experience in both what works and what doesn't, but this isn't the proper forum for it. Hopefully this short dissertation will help at least some of my fellow S&F members understand what's really happening though. And again, this is a very complex situation so no single, simple solution is going to fix it.

[TooStroked]

Solution, bring all critical major mfg back to the continental US. If you are a US company, all parts must be made in the US. Not 20% or 60 %. but 100%. We could do it if we wanted. Stuff coming in would have a giant tariff. Wait, wasn't this the previous admin's plan? Yes it was, now we know why. Say it out loud, china is out to wreck our production capability and steals everything they can product development wise.
On the surface, this sounds like a very obvious solution. Dig a little deeper though and one runs into "issues." For instance, the cost of doing business in the good old USA keeps getting driven up by things like the $15/hr. minimum wage (which drives up all wages), increased regulations, new / mandatory time off with pay, higher taxes on corporations, etc. These increased costs would have to be passed on to consumers, but consumers don't want to pay more for their (insert name of product), so corporations do the only thing they can do - shift production to lower cost locations.

True story. A number of years ago, country singer Toby Keith - who is from Oklahoma - found out a textile manufacturer in his home state was going to close due to foreign competition. He wanted to buy the company and make blue jeans. Cool! People were thrilled. Then he started digging into the numbers. He found out he couldn't even manufacture the jeans for anywhere near what the foreign made jeans were retailing for. End of story.

Getting back to making everything here, one has to remember that we've chased whole industries out of the country - and they're never coming back. Did you know that the equipment used to manufacture microfiber towels doesn't even exist in the US? (That's just one example.) If Mercury (or anybody else) decided to actually make all of their products, parts and sub-assemblies here, the already ridiculous costs would go even higher. Do you really want that? Could we even afford it? Unfortunately, I think not.

I've been to China and you know what? The people there are much like all of us. They want a better life than their parents had, but they're willing to work their asses off for next to nothing to get it. We have it pretty darn good, but nobody wants to work any harder to get even more. And don't even get me started on millennials. They all want to sit on the couch and make $100,000 a year for doing next to nothing. Like I said before, not a simple problem and no simple answers.

[David - WI]

China just bought a huge swath of land in Texas... can't be any good reason for that. :nonod:


“You’ve got a former People’s Liberation Army general billionaire who has bought over 130,000 acres of Texan land, including a giant wind farm in an area where there isn’t particularly a lot of wind but happens to be right beside a very sensitive U.S. military installation,” Bass said.
https://www.worldtribune.com/former-chinese-general-owns-200-square-miles-in-texas-next-to-air-force-base/

[XstreamVking]

You want to support communist's, go ahead. I go out of my way to buy American goods. If it costs more, so be it. Just bought a speed queen washer, cost more sure. Will last 20+ yrs. Made in the USA. You can have the chinese junk. It may last a couple of years. What they make is "disposable". The logic of buying cheap disposable stuff over good USA made goods is the reason we are in the mess we find ourselves in today. . No doubt about it.

[TooStroked]

You want to support communist's, go ahead. I go out of my way to buy American goods. If it costs more, so be it. Just bought a speed queen washer, cost more sure. Will last 20+ yrs. Made in the USA. You can have the chinese junk. It may last a couple of years. What they make is "disposable". The logic of buying cheap disposable stuff over good USA made goods is the reason we are in the mess we find ourselves in today. . No doubt about it.
I do not try to "support communists." You might be surprised how many components in your "assembled in the USA" Speed Queen come from other countries - including China - though. A friend of mine owns a Speed Queen distributor and we have one in the basement. They do make top notch stuff. I will agree with you there.

[XstreamVking]

Lot of parts we cannot get, come from china. That's the point I made on my previous post. GOAL: 100% made in the USA. If we just became independent from outsourced stuff and made our own, we could pick and choose what we want to buy from overseas. Not be stuck in the situation we are in now being at their mercy. And commies have no mercy, ask any chinese citizen, they will tell you a thing or two about their family members disappearing one night after talking bad about the govt., or complaining to a snitch about their job. Are these the kind of dictators we want to buy from? Oh, hell no I say.

[mr fun]

lets see ,,, a country that has unleashed a plague on the rest of the world as a means of biological warfare to dominate the global economy and cut back exports to the global economy ,,, who comes to mind. Fun Out

[TooStroked]

Lot of parts we cannot get, come from china. That's the point I made on my previous post. GOAL: 100% made in the USA. If we just became independent from outsourced stuff and made our own, we could pick and choose what we want to buy from overseas.

Laudable goal, but unfortunately impossible from a practical standpoint. For instance, Lithium is very popular these days due to the proliferation - mainly driven by our own government - of battery powered vehicles. (It's a key ingredient in batteries.) We don't have any of it and the little bit we do have is what I'll just call "environmentally unfriendly" to get out of the ground. Oops. So your goal / solution sounds simple, but unfortunately it isn't.

[JR IN JAX]

I find it interesting how many self proclaimed "supply chain experts" on the internet blame Just in Time (JIT) practices for everything that's wrong with supply chains these days. Virtually every one of these folks also proposes that if we went back to the "good old days" of warehouses filled with inventory, none of these problems would exist. They conveniently forget how many of the parts in those warehouses were defective, lost, out of date or just plain the wrong parts. Oh, and they cost a bloody fortune for all of those reasons and more. Trust me, I spent 36 years in manufacturing and I've been there, done that and got the t-shirt.

The truth is that today's world is truly a global economy and nobody can survive without everybody else. There are some products that can only be sourced in one or two places in the whole world. The bigger problem is companies seeking short term gains by sourcing everything in China. The US has done a stellar job of chasing business there by making US based manufacturing more and more (and about to get way more) expensive. An unexpected - and hopefully once in a lifetime - problem showed everybody the weaknesses of a global economy. This is not a simple problem and there is no simple solution. They interviewed the CEO of the largest IC CHIP MFG and he blamed the short-sided American Mfgs expecting the 4% of the chips [that don't go into Cell phones] to be supplied to them anytime they need them. He said Toyota was the exception. Years ago when I was working with cutting edge automation companies, I learned that chips had to be ordered well in advance with a Definite quantity. The Chip Mfgs with build yours and then retool to build another type/another customer's.

[XstreamVking]

I will end this game of tail chasing by standing my ground and insisting that if we are going to survive in this world, we must be independent as a country. China has no good intent for anyone. Doing business with them and relying on them for critical goods is like the story of the wolf and a sheep discussing what's for dinner...

[JR IN JAX]

I can not find anything/anywhere that is on the shelf. I too have a garage full of "wrong" props from past purchases.

[4Speed]

Went to pick up a 1/2 gallon of Crown Royal last weekend and the liquor store didn't have any, only the smaller bottles. Guy behind the counter said they can't get the glass for the half gallons - that's pretty bad when you talk about supply & demand.

[Will hedrick]

A supply plant in tx. Burnt a few months ago, that is why we are having a resin shortage, not only in the boat world but try to go buy a bathtub right now, next to impossible, apparently it was the only plant in the US as it supplied to the entire north America, so every thing that uses resin is struggling around the board, same thing with nail on electrical boxes and not to mention a roll of 1000' 12-2 wire, which you could buy at lowes a few months back for 300$ is now 600$

[David]

I can not find anything/anywhere that is on the shelf. I too have a garage full of "wrong" props from past purchases.

I don’t think of my props as wrong, just options to try. I can have fun and go fast with any of them

[TraceF3]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words .

In short , here was the solution to most of our problems ...:thumbsup:



https://d3ebobe8l15pwo.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/o50620_Trump-wearing-MAGA-hat_e.jpg

Have the Earth's poles reversed today?????? Chaz has actually posted something meaningful? And factual? Can this be true... or are my eyes deceiving me??????

[bigbore]

Must be bowling ball season/there to busy to work on outboards.

[HStream1]

All you need is a Dubai address and youll get what you ordered Cat Quick.

[Chaz]

Have the Earth's poles reversed today?????? Chaz has actually posted something meaningful? And factual? Can this be true... or are my eyes deceiving me??????

And here you were starting to show sign's of improvement.

Everything I post is from a meaningful factual basis or from my experience.

You on the other hand , can't trust your own eye's or judgment. (see above)

Now that you have relegated yourself back to pond scum level ... tell Gumby .. I said howdy ... :p



TooSkroke said :

I do not try to "support communists." You might be surprised how many components in your "assembled in the USA" Speed Queen come from other countries - including China - though.


Same as new Mercury's. That's why it's impossible for them to give an accurate delivery date on anything.
Those kids that want to sit on the couch and make $100,000.00 a year , become exec's at big company's or leftist politicians . Look at the fine job they are doing thru-out or country ... Ppffttttttt

[Chaz]

All you need is a Dubai address and youll get what you ordered Cat Quick.

Or be a high volume boat manufacture , then you get top priority.

Just think , it you were a Mercury dealership ( we have two Yamaha dealers a little more than a stone's throw from each other on A1A) that had to buy a franchise , send tech's to school , stock parts , stock less popular engines , have a service writer that will stand in the parking lot with an irate customer for as long as it takes to bring him back off the ledge , provide warranty work ... sometimes ahead of work already in progress , yet be put on the back burner when it comes to getting the "new" popular models.

Chaz = thinkin, when Cigarette needs a rack of fo-fiddy's .. they should have to go down the street and buy them from the mom and pop shop .. like everybody else .:thumbsup:

[XstreamVking]

Bingo, you win a prize....That's our problem right there....

[Will hedrick]

Bingo, you win a prize....That's our problem right there....

I bet his prize says made in China or Vietnam lol:icon_bs:

[mr fun]

glad i have all the junk I need, just getting parts is the problem paddle board parts are apparently back ordered

[bigbore]

I have to say/my family bought a tri/toon about 10yrs ago with a Mercury 150hp 4 stroke n they’ve had good luck with it/it runs well and does what it should.

[mr fun]

merc is so busy schmoozing the fatcats that drop tons of money with the big high dollar stuff they forgot the little guy . when you can buy a 650 hp smallblock chevy crate motor for 7500.00 bucks and they want close to 40,000 grand for a zink propulsion unit something is outa whack .

[JR IN JAX]

Good news... I found a new ProMax 32" at Offshore Specialties in Fort Myers and it will be leaving to come here this afternoon.
I remembered that I had purchased from them before and they had a huge stock of inventory there, ready to ship. My Performance Propeller 28" Drag 4 will be my spare prop.

[Petey]

When my 1 1/2 year old Hill Drag 5 cracked a blade back on June 19 and I ordered a new 31.5 Pro Max that was supposed to ship in 2 days. The Date then changed from 6/19 to 7/1 and then to 7/19, then 8/9 and now 8/31. Is Merc Racing having to get someone to swim to China and pick up my prop?

Can Merc Racing be trusted to have my prop to me on 8/31 or should I have someone build a custom prop again.

Please advise.....

Merc Racing is 8 weeks out on all new prop orders.

[XstreamVking]

Offshore is a great dealer. Donny and Don are good people. They are my dealer and long time friends and are xtreemly reliable and honest.

[JR IN JAX]

Got my new prop already this afternoon and hope to test it tomorrow. I hope my 300XS will spin a 14.5 x 32 Promax enough to get it out of the hole.
If it works well, we are planning to go back to Silver Glenn on Friday [via the Palatka ramp].

The trailing edge of the Promax is the thickest I have ever seen on an outboard blade.

[engineermike]

The trailing edge of the Promax is the thickest I have ever seen on an outboard blade.

When I first saw one I thought the blades were bent from hitting something. Nope, that’s by design and to date it was the fastest 4-blade I ever tried.

[Chaz]

Good news... I found a new ProMax 32" at Offshore Specialties in Fort Myers and it will be leaving to come here this afternoon.
I remembered that I had purchased from them before and they had a huge stock of inventory there, ready to ship. My Performance Propeller 28" Drag 4 will be my spare prop.

Pre Ninja-19 .. Trump era wheel ... hidin out , waitin just for you ... :thumbsup: :cheers:

[bigbore]

It’d still be nice if a 2-stroke was in production/they just build power quicker/better acceleration n run higher rpm’s normally.

[Will hedrick]

The omc wankle motor.... if they would finish it

[David]

I think the Wenkel is done forever. Too thirsty.

[Capt j]

It's not just Mercury. I've had 2 Yamaha multifunction gauges on order since June 15th. Still waiting

[JR IN JAX]

I finally got my 32" Promax to work. The 300XS would require several tries to get it on a plane, so I enlarged the factory PVS holes [ to 1.125"] to get more starting slip. That Merc alloy is tougher than any I have drilled before. It still did not want to come out of the hole so I drilled 1/8" index holes about 7/8" forward of the enlarged factory PVS holes. I then took it to A&K Machine and had them machine them out to 5/8". Now the boat will plane OK with about the same amount of surging as the Drag 5 Hill that I brought from Wildman [that cracked a blade]. The performance of the Promax is really great with 65 MPHGPS at just 3K RPM [1/2 throttle]. At 5K I am touching 83 GPS. The boat handles great and gets the same great MPG as my PP Drag 4 28" at 10 MPH slower.
Between the Prop and machine work I have quite an investment, but it now seems worthwhile. I called Merc Racing to get some advice on adding the PVS holes but their Prop shop did not bother to return my call. I guess the $100K I have spent with Merc did not warrant a returned phone call.

[John S]

Ever try a hydromotive quad 4?

[JR IN JAX]

Ever try a hydromotive quad 4?

I tried one back when I had the 2.5 15" mid and it was OK with it. I don't think it would work well with the 3.2 liter.

[JR IN JAX]

Update on my thread about my new Promax Prop and Mercury Racing. I was contacted by Mercury Racing and they said my call was routed to the wrong person by accident. The "Right" person listened intently to my story and then had me send the Prop back to them for checking. He checked my prop and Mercury Racing earned themselves an "A+" in customer service by working Magic on my prop which was sent to me with no charge and even overnight air [free shipping].

The prop's performance over the 39 mile, each way, trip from Palatka to Silver Glenn was fantastic on a rough /windy day. The boat came out of the hole with almost no surging and then accelerated quick/smooth. At 4K I was running 64MPHGPS and 5K took me almost to 80. It was too windy to try a top end run but my Garmin showed a 64 MPH average speed and I still got 6MPG. Best of all the MR Representative was the good kind of Corporate Professional that seems to have become extinct over the last 18 months.
Kudos to Merc Racing!

[WaterZebra]

It's not just Mercury. I've had 2 Yamaha multifunction gauges on order since June 15th. Still waiting

Ha Ha.............try getting a boat trailer! I've had an EZ Loader ordered since March. Still don't have it. Your gauges are probably on one of seventy cargo ships parked in the LA harbor?:eek:

[JR IN JAX]

Ha Ha.............try getting a boat trailer! I've had an EZ Loader ordered since March. Still don't have it. Your gauges are probably on one of seventy cargo ships parked in the LA harbor?:eek: I talked to John at Advanced Boat trailers and he said materials were hard to get and prices were high.