New Outboard - Which One

[harrison]

Excellent choice, great tiller, love the edgy hood design. In fairness they’re all good.

Barnet Marine Centre are a good outfit and possibly the largest Merc/Mariner dealership in the uk. Not done any research but price seems ok, particularly with the 5% cash back offer. Might also be worth ringing direct for a price...you never know.

Are you going for a Mercury or a Mariner?

Should easily get your T40 quickly onto the plane and rapidly disappearing over the horizon.

[GT912]

I Like both Harrison, i think i will go for the Mercury...

[GT912]

But i may go for the Mariner ... i dont know yet

[harrison]

Ha! Choices. Choices. Only you can decide!

Good news is.... it’s only cosmetic. Both the biz, both the same.

I’m biased. Went Mariner. It was cheaper though and it matches the boat. Win. Win.

[Martin]

Martin....not come across the Mariner lower leg profile being problematic and causing excessive splashing, interesting...always put that down to poor set up. Anyway assuming the new efi Tohatsu/Merc/Mariner all same lower leg now.

I may be slightly incorrect with my facts here as it was some four years ago we experienced this.

Paul used to own a Prowave 3.8m sib, he initially ran it with a Honda 10hp long shaft. The boat ran fine, ran dry and no floor or splash issues whatsoever.
Paul purchased his 20hp tohatsu short shaft as he wanted more power on the Prowave, Again he had no issues of splashback or such.
When i purchased my Honwave, I ran it with a 9hp smoker.. Though it was superb, i too longed for more power and had a little borrow of Pauls tohatsu, i believe he used my newer 15hp suzuki on the prowave, again i'm not aware of any splash issues..
Paul then sold his prowave to a chap from the forum, The new owner bought a 10hp mariner. Straight from ownership he complained (not to or about Paul) about severe splashing over the transom, poor handling and a weird flex in the floor.
Out of curiosity - (bare in mind i'd already used the prowave with other outboards attached) I asked if i could try the Prowave with the mariner attached just to see exactly wht the issue was.
It was horrendous!
Floor wobbling, Splashing over the transom and some weird tiller control.
I can only (in my opinion) put this down to the Mariner outboard, as everytrhing else on that sib was the same as the day Paul bought it.

Martin

[Martin]

Ok Guys,

Been sifting through the specs
I think ive settled on the MERCURY MARINER F 20 EFI SHORT SHAFT.

Whats the teams view on this , £2500 on ebay from a company called BMC Ltd
Is this a good deal ? is this gunna move this SIB of mine onto the plain and off coast

Regards
GT

Obviously it's your choice, but if the specs are the same and the price is about the same, i'd have to point you in the direction of EBC - As a "supporting member" they are part of our discount scheme.. Buying from EBC helps us keep a healthy relationship with EBC which in turn hopefully helps with future discounts to our members and extra sales for EBC.
EBC have been superb on customer service over some of the Honwaves they have sold... I've heard nothing but good reviews of them.
https://www.ebcmarine.com/suzuki-15hp-30hp

Martin

[harrison]

I would point out (to Martin) that the new EFI mariner is a totally different engine to the one he tried.

[harrison]

It was horrendous!
Floor wobbling, Splashing over the transom and some weird tiller control.
I can only (in my opinion) put this down to the Mariner outboard, as everytrhing else on that sib was the same as the day Paul bought it.

Martin

Sounds like Mariners are not for you then!

Seems strange it’s only Mariner’s you don’t like as all Mercury/Mariner/Tohatsu’s up to 30hp are all the same, and all manufactured by Tohatsu. Potentially that’s a hell of a lot of motors to right off!

Plus as Chris rightly pointed out, the offending motor is not even the same as the new 20hp’s being discussed in this thread.

From what you describe I still believe this would be more attributed to poor set up rather than lower leg design. In particular the leg being too deep in the water.

I can’t think of any sib/motor combination I’ve had that’s worked efficiently straight ‘out of the box’ without some packing required to lift motor. I do however see many motors set too low with the resulting plumes of splashing evident.

Having owned a Suzuki 20 I would add that the larger than average splash plate located above the AV plate does make this motor more tolerant than many for running slightly low. Still works better though set at the correct height. In fact, with a bit of tweaking, the Suzuki even managed to tame the infamous Aerotec transom splash...which can be more akin to a tsunami.

I respect your opinion but wouldn’t wish to think any new members reading this and righting off all Mariner motors.

Moan over.

[harrison]

I respect your opinion but wouldn’t wish to think any new members reading this and righting off all Mariner motors.

Moan over.

Not at all matey,
This is a discussion forum allowing people to voice their opinions
People will always have different views and as yourself and Chris have highlighted, the newer 20hp mariners are a different motor to the one i experienced... I for one should know better than to get stuck in that rut

Saying that, I'll stick to my Suzuki

Martin

[Andy]

well....

1) Thats Martin Bitch Slapped then !

2) Actually, I can confirm what @harrison has said, that me raising my OB by as little as half an inch, using a bit of wood on top of the transom, really made a difference worth the effort of carrying around this annoying bit of pine tree! I would have liked another half an inch, but the bolts holding the OB in place would not have fitted properly.

Oh, I have a Suzi and I dont get wet, or need to bale after a day out