Sad Day The End of an Era

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

This has been out there for a few weeks. Very Sad. Just sold a boat with a 250HP with a jet pump.

https://journaltimes.com/news/local...cle_22ef29ad-de37-5cfc-9d94-48daad28fa98.html


https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/blogs/breaking-brp-shutters-evinrude-outboards

 

[KnotYet]

My very first paid job was as a helper to an Evinrude dealer along the Fox River in IL.
He knew the motors inside and out and I spent hours by his side soaking it all up.
(I should have been paying him the $1.25 an hour I made!)
We knew for a fact that Evinrudes were the best outboards ever made in those days.

 

[lwarden]

I don' think OMC ever fully recovered from the Fitch injection failure years.
Really too bad since I think Johnson/Evinrude 2-stroke engines from the 70's thru 90's were some of the best engines made. We used them in a rental fleet and they were very reliable, especially the 6, 15 and 25hp models. A look on Craigslist will show these motors still available and going strong even from the 70's. You don't see many Merc engines still around from that era.

I'm actively looking to replace my Yamaha 4-stroke 2.5hp with a Johnson 8hp 2-stroke. The constant carb issues with modern 4-strokes is simply a pain and you can't beat the power to weight ratio of those older 2-strokes.

Hopefully they continue to keep the parts for these older engines available.

 

[PM]

I really think that the Evinrude group made an error in not embracing the four stroke concept, instead going the e-tech route with two strokes.

pete

 

[Russell Clifton]

I don' think OMC ever fully recovered from the Fitch injection failure years.
Really too bad since I think Johnson/Evinrude 2-stroke engines from the 70's thru 90's were some of the best engines made. We used them in a rental fleet and they were very reliable, especially the 6, 15 and 25hp models. A look on Craigslist will show these motors still available and going strong even from the 70's. You don't see many Merc engines still around from that era.

I'm actively looking to replace my Yamaha 4-stroke 2.5hp with a Johnson 8hp 2-stroke. The constant carb issues with modern 4-strokes is simply a pain and you can't beat the power to weight ratio of those older 2-strokes.

Hopefully they continue to keep the parts for these older engines available.

You can get a Suzuki 9 hp. four stroke with fuel injection. I have one and a 60 hp also.

 

[High Wire]

My current dinghy engine is a 1973 6 hp fishermen. Starts cold 2nd pull. Warm 1st half pull. It is much smoother than the single cylinder 4s. I have bought and sold two tohatsu 5 hp four stroke engines. I have a 3rd one as a backup in my shed now for 3 years. It buzzes my arm numb and the low speed jet clogs every 20 hrs or so.

 

[BandB]

Don't know who it's saddest for, the owners seeking warranty service and other help, or the dealers sitting with inventories of motors they'll have to sell at drastically reduced prices and left without a line of outboards to carry. Many dealers had been more loyal than deserved and worked hard to be successful with Evinrude, then got the rug pulled out with no warning.

 

[Captain Max]

Don't know who it's saddest for, the owners seeking warranty service and other help, or the dealers sitting with inventories of motors they'll have to sell at drastically reduced prices and left without a line of outboards to carry. Many dealers had been more loyal than deserved and worked hard to be successful with Evinrude, then got the rug pulled out with no warning.

That’s what big Corporations do. Look what Brunswick did to all their Bayliner Dealers when Meridian came out. They had just signed up (you had to buy inventory up front)a dealer in St.Petersburg right before they pulled the rug out from under them, then they gave the Meridians to the Sea Ray dealers, sometimes right across the street.

 

[syjos]

Sad day indeed! I remember the Evinrude engines of the 60's to 90's.

Had an air cooled Evinrude 1 or 2 hp outboard on a 14' aluminum row boat and my wife and I took it across Puget Sound from Maury Island Island to Redondo, WA, down to Browns Point and back across to Vashon Island when we were in our 20's. No VHF, cell phone, flares. What were we thinking? Later a 3 hp water cooled Evinrude on a Star and Lightning sailboats.

We had an 110 hp, oil injected, power trim/tilt Evinrude outboard and a 6 hp Evinrude Saildrive trolling motor on my 17 foot Glasply fish boat when we were in our 30's. I chased salmon from Point Defiance to Seiku and Neah Bay, plus Westport and Illwaco on the Pacific. Tuna fishing for tuna out in the Pacific. That Evinrude took us up the Columbia/Snake river from Astoria to Lewiston Idaho and back, Wenatchee to Steheiken on Lake Chelan, Lake Roosevelt, Banks Lake.

When we got into big boat boating, we had an Evinrude 8 hp pull start outboard on a Livingston 9 foot tender carried on the back of our Mainship 34 for 15 years and on Sandpipers boat deck for about 10 years. That outboard weighed like 70 pounds and stowed in the lazarette of both boats. I could trouble shoot and repair the simple 2 stroke outboard and kept it running for 25 years.

Great memories.

Really sad to see another historic American manufacturer whose founder invented the outboard go dark.

 

[Nomad Willy]

I presently have;
2hp Yamaha single cyl two stroke .. 28lbs
4Hp Evinrude Twin (Like the 3 and 3 1/2 hp) w the angled down prop shaft “angle-matic drive” .. 33 lbs
6hp Johnson two stroke twin .. 60lbs
8hp Yamaha two stroke twin about 60lbs.
First gen Susuki 60hp four stroke 4 cyl. .. heavy.

As for hairy old two stroke stuff the natives usta run in to False Pass on Unimak Is. .. 20 miles of open ocean (Pacific). Usually for a bottle.15 to 18’ plywood flat bottomed skiff.Never heard of anybody in distress out there. I would have heard about it soon as I was the radioman. KWF27 False Pass. Still remember the call.

High Wire what brand is your “6hp fisherman”. I have a Johnson 6hp but I have no knowledge of it’s being called a “fisherman”.

 

[lwarden]

You can get a Suzuki 9 hp. four stroke with fuel injection. I have one and a 60 hp also.

Yes, I know, but what does it weigh? Do you think it will still be running in 30 years?

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

I really think that the Evinrude group made an error in not embracing the four stroke concept, instead going the e-tech route with two strokes.

pete

The newer 2-strokes actually produced less pollutants than some 4-strokes. The 2-strokes were lighter, faster out of the hole and were great jet boat engines when a pump was installed. Just sold my riverboat with a Evinrude 250hp with a jet pump. Good skinny water boat.

 

[Blissboat]

Some of my flats fishing friends, including professional guides, prefer the E-Tech over four-strokes on account of the favorable power-to weight ratio. Inspired by their loyalty, last year before re-powering my own flats boat, I shopped the E-Tech line and had such a hard time connecting with a dealer that I gave up and stuck with four-stroke technology.

It is sad to see another American legacy manufacturer close up shop, but I guess the market has spoken.

 

[rgano]

I'm actively looking to replace my Yamaha 4-stroke 2.5hp with a Johnson 8hp 2-stroke. The constant carb issues with modern 4-strokes is simply a pain and you can't beat the power to weight ratio of those older 2-strokes.

Hopefully they continue to keep the parts for these older engines available.

I get the weight issue in 2-cycle versus 4, but I have had carb issues with my two-stroke. What's the issue with four-stroke carbs you cite? Just curious.

 

[Rebel112r]

Carb problems on most outboards 2 or 4 strokes, almost always is related to crap or water in gas. Newer 4 strokes have such small primary jets, it does not take much to clog them. Water collecting in float bowels will start to rust from inside and create same problem. Drain them when they are out of service and filter the gas going to them and they normally give great service.

 

[High Wire]

High Wire what brand is your “6hp fisherman”. I have a Johnson 6hp but I have no knowledge of it’s being called a “fisherman”.

Evinrude. Same engine, different paint job.

 

[PM]

I agree that some two strokes are as good as better than some four strokes, but..

Four strokes are all the rage right now.

pete

 

[Jeff F]

I grew up with OMC outboards, with a few Chryslers thrown in for comparison. Made the OMCs look good

I remember when I was about 12 doing donuts in my buddy's tinny with a 3 hp. No gears, just start and go. It fell off the transom at WOT and I watched it do a couple of quick spirals as it sank before it sucked water. We fished it back out and carried on

Is there a big OMC museum in Waukegan? I went through the collection at Clayton NY and it brought back lots of memories. Well worth a visit if you like old outboards and boats.

 

[hollywood8118]

For a small dinghy motor(-30hp) there is no way you could give me a new 4 stroke.. I have seen too many issues from the 4 strokes that are not field repairable. One of the Nordhavn's I delivered a few years back had a 40hp new 4 stroke that was plagued with problems. I worked on that damn motor from California all the way to the BVI, when the boat got to Florida the owner got rid of it and bought a legacy 2 stroke. I get that some hate the smell of a 2 stroke.. if it is smoky your not going fast enough.
HOLLYWOOD

 

[BruceK]

Is there any USA located outboard manufacturer now?

 

[syjos]

Is there any USA located outboard manufacturer now?

Mercury over a certain HP is still made in the US. Their smaller outboards less than 30 HP are made by Tohatsu. The middle HP in China.

 

[BruceK]

Looks like you have lack of local manufacture issues too. Our problem is cost of manufacture/inability to compete. One day, maybe today, we`ll wish we made more locally. I`m already seeing lack of stock at my local chandlers.

 

[lwarden]

For a small dinghy motor(-30hp) there is no way you could give me a new 4 stroke.. I have seen too many issues from the 4 strokes that are not field repairable. One of the Nordhavn's I delivered a few years back had a 40hp new 4 stroke that was plagued with problems. I worked on that damn motor from California all the way to the BVI, when the boat got to Florida the owner got rid of it and bought a legacy 2 stroke. I get that some hate the smell of a 2 stroke.. if it is smoky your not going fast enough.
HOLLYWOOD

Some of the new 2-stroke oils create very little smoke and no fouling. I've experienced the same issues with the modern 4-strokes, mostly related to clogged jets. Any tiny debris that floats through the fuel system and you have to take the carb apart, something I would prefer not to do in the middle of a vacation. I ended up buying a cheap replacement carb so now I have a spare which can be swapped in.
My last dink motor was a 2-stroke Evinrude 3.3hp, which was actually a Tohatsu and it ran great for many years with no problems.

 

[Northern Spy]

Another "win" for private equity.

Of course the Bombardier family is no slouch at self-destruction either.

 

[SteveK]

Another "win" for private equity.

Of course the Bombardier family is no slouch at self-destruction either.

True that, first they buy out Johnson and they go belly up with it all.
Mercury is still there. Funny thing, the mercury of old did not stand up to Evinrude and Johnson

 

[BandB]

Another "win" for private equity.

Of course the Bombardier family is no slouch at self-destruction either.

It's the world of judging a company by it's stock market value. It's the world of quick return.

I was once inside a company looking to be acquired. I saw a deal almost made. Our CEO and a couple of others had put this deal together. Venture capitalists ready to acquire at what I felt was below value. Clearly had a plan to start stripping pieces out as that's what they always did. I knew all the companies they'd destroyed. Why then were the CEO and his two cohorts pushing them? Guaranteed Employment Contracts for five years at substantial increases over current pay. The $20 million in employee contracts was like a commission on the sale.

I found it all very disturbing so called the Chairman of our Board. I got permission from him to on my own contact Berkshire Hathaway and anyone else I felt I should. Well, we became a Berkshire Hathaway company. No employment contracts as part of the deal. You look at the companies they've acquired and they're still there and growing.

It's just the way of being in business for the long haul. There are other good companies to be acquired by. Sara Lee was prior to their being acquired and re-acquired. Hanesbrands, which they spun off is still very well respected. VF was always good and even with the spin off recently of jeans hasn't really hurt any company.

I remember a group of three Panamanians who were wonderful for LBO's because they built rather than tearing apart and all the companies they were involved with were successful and were later acquired by a good company.

A major criticism that has been made of US corporations is that so much of executive compensation is based on short term performance and that discourages looking long term. In fact, most key executives don't even foresee staying more than five years so don't care what happens ten years from now.

 

[lwarden]

Yet another once-great US company being mismanaged and falling to the scrap pile.
So many examples of this, usually a result of corporate greed or poor (and overpaid) management.
I've used Pony Jorgensen clamps and vises most of my life. The company was sold off to a Chinese tool company and they moved all production from Chicago to China. The company could have easily stayed domestic and become a strong brand, but no, they had to make a few more bucks and went off-shore. They were still making money when production was in the US, and the brand was highly regarded.

 

[BandB]

Yet another once-great US company being mismanaged and falling to the scrap pile.
So many examples of this, usually a result of corporate greed or poor (and overpaid) management.
I've used Pony Jorgensen clamps and vises most of my life. The company was sold off to a Chinese tool company and they moved all production from Chicago to China. The company could have easily stayed domestic and become a strong brand, but no, they had to make a few more bucks and went off-shore. They were still making money when production was in the US, and the brand was highly regarded.

Were they making money in the US? How do you know that?

 

[lwarden]

As I understood it from someone who worked there they were making money. Don't know how much their profit was, but apparently they were in the black.
I haven't see their financials, so this is second-hand information.

 

[PM]

I remember well the Evinrude outboards of the 50's and 60's, up to about 35 hp before they went to the huge four cylinder 75 hp monsters.

Standard Operating Procedure.. One quart of straight 30 weight oil for a six gallon tank of fuel. (leaded gasoline). Always about 25 or 30 new or cleaned spark plugs in the garage or shed, a set would last a few tanks of this "greasy gas". Sheen on the water? Of course!! You could tell an Evinrude from a Mercure by the smell, many mercy owners used "white" gas, lead free. It burned cleaner and I think they used less oil.

pete