2 Stroke Market updates?

[John S]

Yep. The 2.5s aren't obsolete yet. Too much stuff still available for them. Pricey, but still available.

It would be interesting to know the average age of the ODBA, SDBA, SLDBE, etc. That should help gauge how much life is left in the 2S market.

[Revenge22]

No OMC stuff only mainly. I use Jay's Block shop in Doyle, TN for all machine work. He's the best of the best in my opinion. He can work his magic ob your Merc stuff or if its Nykasil he would know as well.

[donmac]

maybe polaris should start making outboards powerheads that will bolt onto a merc mid! there still in the 2 stroke market! just marry a few 850 boosts together!

90hp a slug stock is making good power.

[Revenge22]

id buy one

[AlliStan]

maybe polaris should start making outboards powerheads that will bolt onto a merc mid! there still in the 2 stroke market! just marry a few 850 boosts together!

90hp a slug stock is making good power.

Tohatsu is still making 2 strokes in Japan. Two stroke outboards are just not on the market here anymore. Government banning?

Tohatsu builds 40 and 50 hp 2Ss and they're imported into the USA to one small company (Raider) who tears them down, and totally rebuilds them to their specs for our Special Forces. When delivered to the U.S. military the motors can be dropped out of a plane into the ocean, submerged for an indefinite length of time, surfaced, and purged in a matter of minutes, clamped on an inflatable and used for SpecOps missions. They will run on almost any fuel imaginable with just a flick of a switch. It's really an amazing story of a family run business creating a product to help our nation stay "on top".

https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/b...r-the-military

[powerabout]

brp was doing this for the previous 20 years.

[RADER]

It’s such a shame that mercury stop making two-stroke motors. The 2.5 promax, 300, 260, 280, 300, and last, but not least the 300X. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with them. I understand the four cycle concept, less pollution, better fuel economy, but there are so many applications that those motors just don’t work well on.

[pcrussell50]

It’s such a shame that mercury stop making two-stroke motors. The 2.5 promax, 300, 260, 280, 300, and last, but not least the 300X. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with them. I understand the four cycle concept, less pollution, better fuel economy, but there are so many applications that those motors just don’t work well on.

Not only that, but for the recreational/family user who puts maybe 50 hours a year on a motor, if you bought a Merc v6 as a twenty year old in 1990, and with routine care and inspection, you'd be dead of old age before you ever wore out the bore and the rings. The 50 hour-per-year family/recreational user would NEVER be able to make up in fuel savings, what it would cost to replace that motor with four-strokes every few years. EVER. It would just be a travesty of flushing money down the toilet.

===

That's me by the way, except I didn't even start boating until 40'ish in 2009 during the Obama recession when boats were selling for cheap. I find that the mid-'80's-'90 Merc 2.0/2.4 V6's are the sweet spot for us. And thankfully, there are dismantlers/resellers who supply all the parts we need, (for now, anyway). Keeping old things running and not throwing them away is miles more socially and environmentally responsible than throwing otherwise perfectly good things out, and buying something new.

Ironically, it's our 20 year old four stroke that is harder to find parts for than our 2.0/2.4 V6's. Seems like the kind of people who go cow-eyed over four strokes are more inclined to be of the wasteful, disposable, throw-away mindset. Don't get me wrong, we like our Mercaha 90 four-stroke. We like it a lot in fact. But it's not on a fast boat, and if I can't keep it going due to parts unavailability, we will replace it with a 2.0/150 or a V4 crossflow 115. There is zero chance that we (or the environment) come out ahead by replacing with something new that we will never capture the fuel savings from.

-Peter

[Instigator]

IMO, there is a business to be had for a guy buying blown up two strokes and rebuilding them, doing them right, with a good guarantee, and standing behind them, compared to what the new car motor outboards cost.

I think you could market a 225 V6 two-stroke as described at 50% of new cost, which would put it at $12,000 plus and have a pretty good market for them.

I have enough crap in my barn to build a half a dozen of them and I’ve been threatening to do it for the last 10 years :-)

[pcrussell50]

My last post was long, rambling and unfocused.

The more focused version:
For the 40+ year old 2.0/2.4 V6 family everything that actually wears out (pistons, rings, stators, switch boxes, harnesses, are not only widely available, but in production.

For my 20 year old Mercaha 90 FourStroke, things are rapidly becoming NOT available. Shame, because it is otherwise a great, if not grossly overweight, motor.

Edit to add: How many of today’s four strokes will continue to have their major wear items still available and in production in 45 years like the 2.0/2.4 family of V6’s?

-Peter

[RADER]

Nothing like a pair of 260’s

[powerabout]

There are original v4 omcs out there...almost 70 years old...

[John S]

It’s such a shame that mercury stop making two-stroke motors. The 2.5 promax, 300, 260, 280, 300, and last, but not least the 300X. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with them. I understand the four cycle concept, less pollution, better fuel economy, but there are so many applications that those motors just don’t work well on.

What application are you referring to? There's been a few recent threads with Allison's, STV's and Hydrostream's where the 4s seems to be working fine. Like anything else worth doing, it will take some time and setup, but thats what performance is aboot anyways. Otherwise, it's fairly cheap to keep the old motors running. And there should be a decent supply of them to pick from.

[pcrussell50]

What application are you referring to? There's been a few recent threads with Allison's, STV's and Hydrostream's where the 4s seems to be working fine. Like anything else worth doing, it will take some time and setup, but thats what performance is aboot anyways. Otherwise, it's fairly cheap to keep the old motors running. And there should be a decent supply of them to pick from.

Well, you can always ignore the recommendations of the boat manufacturer (and quite possibly unknowingly waive your liability coverage) by going with an overweight motor. I suspect people do it all the time. most of the reports I read about overweight motors on Hydrostreams include clunky compromise things like having to be careful where you beach or moor, in a place where water can come up over the splash well. Or you could go four stroke by moving down in power until the weight is right and the boat floats as it was designed to. For the person hell bent on four stroking a light boat, the compromises are always least painful for the most motivated.

-Peter