Rich Stern wrote:

Thanks for these posts, Del has always helped with research & unbiased
info; even back in the early ficht days, so I respect his views greatly,
even when we argue:-).

Rich has on well too many occasions tried to be the honest peace broker
within rec.boats & alas I've oft given him a hard time on account of it
so I certainly don't count him as a supporter (he banned me for a
month!!!:-)).

I say it's a measure of how straight a shooter he really is that he can
at least now entertain that our original worries "might" have had some
merit.

We were never "sure" of anything & certainly have no pleasure that OMC
rolled over with all those jobs in tow, however buying the latest
version of the same basic technology is risky.

Thanks to you both & have a special christmas.

K


As a man of science and a neutral mercury owner, let me try to summarize
the background.



(snip)

Del, that was nicely stated.

My biggest concern is that Bombardier has the marine engine portion of their
business on the selling block. This is the same business they bought just
three years ago out of OMC's bankruptcy, and the same business they advertised
as one they are investing in, in order to reassure potential customers.
Remember the Bombardier ads where the newly acquired motors all had to "pass an
audition."

So, here we are, just a short while later, and the company has a line of new
DFI motors. They are advertising that the the injector technology is different
and improved, and the metalurgy is different and improved, to withstand higher
temps. Frankly, that advertising claim gives credence to some of Karen's
long-argued points about Ficht. While Bomb and it's interested parties have
been telling us Ficht has been fine for a couple of years now, Bomb saw fit to
reengineer the engines in ways that specifically support Karen's past arguments
about inherent design flaws.

Hmmm. Maybe we need to give Karen some credit for sticking to her guns despite
enormous abuse by many here.

Also, when a company is selling off a division, it's not unusual for the
employees in that division to spend time worrying about what their future
holds, instead of thinking about quality control, engineering, production, etc.
That behavior, while natural and understandable, doesn't usually result in the
best products on the market.

E-Tec may turn out to be a good product. But, it's very hard to look at the
history and the current circumstances and conclude that it's as safe a purchase
as competing brands.


-- Rich Stern
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