Anybody have one of these outboards?
 

On Sun, 4 Apr 2010 09:08:15 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:
Much trimmed.

As a target to shoot for, I bought a 3 H.P Mercury motor 10 years ago.
When I sold the sailboat, last month, the motor would still start with
two pulls from cold. Maintenance problems? Certainly, I changed the
waterpump impeller about every two years. Propeller? Once after I hit
a log.


Good to hear it because that Mercury was also made by Tohatsu. I have one of
the very same but in Mariner guise and it has, indeed, been a super reliable
motor. Mine is a 3.3, however. Has the fwd/neutral shifter on the side.
But, it is over ten years old now and still going strong. I've had to
replace two impellers for the cooling water as they become hard and one or
more of the flexible arms break off.

My point is people are ignorant and stupid if they say their small Mariners
are better than the Tohatsus because they are talking about the very same
motor with different paint/decals. All the mechanicals are identical. So, it
is just a matter of it being in their minds (or what passes for a mind) that
Mariner is the best. Shows what word of mouth and a bigger advertising
budget can accomplish. You know, like, "there's a sucker born every minute."


Wilbur Hubbard


Actually they are not all exactly the same motor. The 3.3 Mercury has
a larger carb then the Mariner, some of the various small 2-3 H.P.
engines, that appear to be the same, use different crank shaft seals,
the cases is machined differently, however the basic casting are
certainly the same. It is obvious that they all started with the same
design and probably castings and major innards but are not all stamped
out with exactly the same cookie cutter.

You are of course correct that advertisement is the name of the game
when it comes to marketing. Have a look at Coca-Cola's annual balance
sheet and see what probably is one of the most widely known companies
in the world spends on advertisement. It is a major item in their
accounts.


Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)