Evinrude Test Center Auction, Stuart, FL

[FUJIMO]

I guess they had to shut down the test center because of lack of spark.

...that and customers had to be "prodded" into buying in the first place...

[Chaz]

...monty mustof been there...

Why would he need to go to the auction .. ???

They treated their "trouble shooter" like royalty .. they love him long time ....

Even got them hooked up with other outside vendors .. for welding , machine work and misc projects over the years ..

As long as they don't **** with my Snook hole .. I'll be happy .. <---(river water)

[FUJIMO]

...snook are along this breakwall...

[Chaz]

Actually , that the exact spot I took my father in law ... a couple weeks before he went in the the old folks home .
It's a great spot to catch Jack Crevalle during the mullet run. Snook are more of a scavenger fish and work the debris on the bottom . The tide will run it from Wahoo's to the Palm City bridge ..

[H2OPERF]

People paid big money for boxes of junk and parts in open boxes, I figure most of the stuff was there from warranty returns and probably had some kind of issue and went way to high to be worth rolling the dice on. There were quite a few g2 gear cases in open boxes all of which i'm sure were warranty returns... i figured maybe $500-700 for the ones that turned and the housings looked ok but NOPE... all went for more than 2k apiece, waaay too much for buying something that may be toast inside. There were only a couple of new powerheads and the build dates were older so another reason not to pay too much but they went pretty high too. Looking thru the new props i could tell right away they had been picked thru by the amount of L/Hs... they were selling lots of 3 and 4 new rakers most all lefts so some body snagged the R/Hs. There were some deals if you knew what you were looking at and what may be worth good money down the road. The way i see it the mfg plant is closed and they were issuing some long ass warranties so how many g2 powerheads, gearcases and emms do they have to fill the future warranty claims ??? What happens when they don't have anymore stock??? Maybe people didn't pay too much for some of the stuff maybe they did time will tell.

[lars strom]

FYI
The auction last weekend at the former Evinrude Test Center in Stuart was not a BRP auction.

The test center was sold Sept.1 2020 in as-is condition, with all materials left there (which was most everything)
As such, the auction was being conducted by/for the new owner, who was selling his merchandise.

[FUJIMO]

...all worthless junk from previous owners...

[InjectorService]

Interesting that it was not a BRP auction. I do agree though, pretty much everything I saw went for more than it was worth. That seems to be the way auctions go though. I saw a boat motor out here go for more than a new one is from the dealer down the road. People just get excited and bid anything without knowing value.

[Chaz]

It's hard to buy good used machinery in Florida. If you balk while trying to make a decent deal (for both parties) ... it's gone. Even the junk that's wore out gets scooped up for top dollar , put on a cargo ship .. never to be seen again ..

At one time , there were over 50 people working there. When the Maple Surrr~up folks took over .. it went to less than a half a dozen .
I knew they were ****** when they took the paint coupon stands down .. sumptin told me that the sun N. of the frost line .. just weren't gonna be the same ..

I'm gonna miss seein them grey boats with 4 different size motors hangin off the back runnin wide open up and down the river. Worst part is, it didn't matter who you thought you were. If you went in front of the county to try and get an idle zone implemented by your dock .. you found out quick, next to OMC .. your shrimp **** didn't mean nuttin ..
We still got some of the "good ole boys" in office. How long they can hold on .. who knows ...

[Markus]

I figure most of the stuff was there from warranty returns and probably had some kind of issue and went way to high to be worth rolling the dice on. There were quite a few g2 gear cases in open boxes all of which i'm sure were warranty returns...

On the other thread, someone Lars(?) said that the Test Center was where they did endurance testing.

So many of the parts have probably been through a few thousand hours of endurance testing.<object id="__symantecPKIClientMessenger" data-supports-flavor-configuration="true" data-extension-version="1.0.1" style="display: none;"></object>__PRESENT

[FUJIMO]

...chaz, the last time there were numerous employees working there, was decades ago. long before the end of omc even... you know, like before our first gray hair showed up...

[Chaz]

Thats what I said ... let me make it easier to understand ( best i can remember)

In the ninety's ... bustling little complex.

Early 2000's ... not so much.

2010 ish ... there was "starboard~starboard" testing .. None of the guys I spoke to liked it.

Last five years or so .. just the Martin Sheriff's boats parked there . Door(s) were sometimes open ....

This year ...

Sheriff boats are serviced at Meriden Marine here in Palm City ... Never guess who their chosen OMCJohnsonBRPEvenrude technician is ..

Time flies when your havin fun ...

Chaz = I looked, not a "pepper hair" in sight, they are all chrome plated now ...

[FUJIMO]

...the good news here...the snook never went bankrupt. i'm a glass half-full kinda guy...

[H2OPERF]

Going to be boat storage and a restaurant now so there will be a bit more traffic.

[InjectorService]

Going to be boat storage and a restaurant now so there will be a bit more traffic.

Could be cool, maybe an OMC themed restaurant? Otubards hanging up somewhere.