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Mercury or Yamaha main motor

6371 Views 92 Replies 43 Participants Last post by  Paddler
Ok dogs it’s time to get a new main motor for my 20’ raider. Currently has a 90 horse 2 stroke mercury on it. She pushes it just fine but is cold blooded as hell. And wanting to get away from 2 stroke oil. I have a 2020 4 stroke 25 horse Yamaha I’m putting on for a kicker”runs flawless”. Looking at a 115 since neither mercury or Yamaha sells a 135 that my boat is rated for. Both brands go from 115 to 150 with nothing in between. So in your opinion what is the best salt water motor. I fish salt 80 percent of the time. Thanks for your input. Good or bad
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We have Mercury 115 Command Thrusts in stock at Stevens Marine. With that you get the robust 2.1 liter displacement with the 150 lower unit/prop. With Mercury you don’t compromise on weight to get displacement.

We offer the five years of warranty on Mercs year around but that’s not all dealers.

Our pricing also tends to be very competitive because of the volume we do. Controls, cables and prop are free right now.

Even though they all say 115 on the back, performance will not be equal with the variance in displacement, smaller props, etc.

All EFI four strokes in this category are rather reliable these days.

I really do think Mercury does the best job with corrosion resistance these days.

It really comes down to splitting hairs on some of these. But Hondas are too heavy to even be in conversation, I think. Suzuki and Tohatsu seem fine but depending on where you are, parts and service can be scarce because overall market share and dealer/service network is limited. That would leave Yamaha for me and I think the Mercury with 5 years of warranty and 2.1 Liter for less weight than the Yamaha 1.8 liter with 3 years of warranty (Mercury probably also less money) are all factors in why you see a ton of the Merc’s out there. Plus you can get a matching EFI kicker.

Yes, I sell them so this is rather biased. But also mostly just facts. Shoot me a PM if you want to talk pricing and availability.
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I’m Nelson and I work at the Tigard store. I’ll shoot you a message.
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Sounds like you have horrible luck. I’m on my second motor 3000 hours ea.
No doubt Honda’s have a good reputation for life duration. That said- the most corroded and nasty looking engines I have seen have been Honda’s. And I’m not talking high hour engines. The majority of Honda’s we take in on trade are unsellable on the retail market because of their corrosion. I think a good bit of it is superficial/cosmetic, or it must be for folks to get 3000 hours on them.

I’m envious of your hours on the water. Most folks, including myself, can only dream about logging that many hours out there!
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He must, those are the only people who compliment Mercury motors, still waiting to hear from a 1000hr saltwater only Mercury customer...

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Minus, of course, the OP of this thread that complimented his own Mercury engine.

Lots of people loving their Mercs- several on the other thread.

It takes most folks a lot of years to get 1000 hours, particularly saltwater only. But they are out there. We just traded in a 4000 hour 150 with probably half saltwater usage- still looked and ran great!
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