Are Mercury Bigfoot motors made in China?

nbragtop · Mar 2, 2012

I heard they were made in China and some have probles. I am looking at a new 50hp bigfoot to go own a new pontoon 20 ft boat. The dealer says they are made in America and that the 50hp bigfoot equals a 60hp regular motor. Is that correct? I want a good motor that will give me the best mpg at maybe 10 mph on a 20ft pontoon.
Thank you

erwinner · Mar 2, 2012

Re: Are Mercury Bigfoot motors made in China?

I know the smaller ones are made in Japan by Tohatsu, but I think 50 and up are still in the US.

smokeonthewater · Mar 2, 2012

Re: Are Mercury Bigfoot motors made in China?

best mpg at 10 mph..... that's probably gonna be a 20-25 hp.

as far as 50=60... bs 50 hp is 50 hp is 50hp.... bigfoot is I believe nothing more than a bigger gear box on the bottom with a larger diameter prop.

Silvertip · Mar 2, 2012

Re: Are Mercury Bigfoot motors made in China?

40/50/60 HP Big Foot motors are identical except for the lower unit. Standard motors have a 1.83:1 gearset and Big Foot units have a 2.34:1 (which just happens to be the same unit as used on the 75/90 HP engines.) The small gearcase motors run a 10-1/2 inch prop and the Big Foot motors run a 13-1/4. The Big Foot motor was originally designed for workboat and pontoon service which requires a lot more push than a planing hull. Push (thrust) requires a larger diameter prop. So No! There is no 50=60 relationship.

Texasmark · Mar 3, 2012

Re: Are Mercury Bigfoot motors made in China?

When I was in high school I worked on a Tug boat in the summer. Boat was 100' long and weighed many tons. Had a 400 hp Atlas diesel engine that only ran at 1000 rpm WOT that you could crawl down into the cylinders. Turned a 13 ft diameter prop. Could push half dozen 20 x 135 ft barges at 8' draft full of corn with the top full of brand new Chevys at about 10 mph. That's what big props can do for you; course you have to have the ponies to turn them and push the load you are trying to move.

Mark

nbragtop · Mar 3, 2012

Re: Are Mercury Bigfoot motors made in China?

I read in Wiki-pedia yesterday that Mercury motors up to 30hp are made in Japan by Tuhatsu, 40hp-60hp Bigfoot are made in China, and above 75hp are made in the USA. I don't think I want a Chinese motor. I know we live in a global world economy now but .... Do you know if Honda, Yamaha, or Suzuki build O/B motors here? Thanks for your input.

toonin22 · Mar 4, 2012

Re: Are Mercury Bigfoot motors made in China?

Its my understanding that the larger merc powerheads are made by yamaha....Thats what they taught me.

Faztbullet · Mar 4, 2012

Re: Are Mercury Bigfoot motors made in China?

Its my understanding that the larger merc powerheads are made by yamaha....Thats what they taught me.

Someone taught you wrong as there were only a couple of years(2002-2004 i think) Yamaha supplied a powerhead and that was for the 4stroke EFIs..

I read in Wiki-pedia yesterday 40hp-60hp Bigfoot are made in China

Wiki is only 1/2 correct, the only china made motors are the 4 stroke EFI motors, all the 2 strokes are USA built.

bassman284 · Mar 4, 2012

Re: Are Mercury Bigfoot motors made in China?

To summarize,
30 hp and under made by Tohatsu
40 - 115 4 stroke made at a Mercury run plant in China
Optimax and Verado made in Fond du Lac, WI
China made motors with problems are sent to Fond du Lac for repair.

Yamaha only made the non-EFI 4 stroke powerheads. The EFIs were made at Fond du Lac until a couple or three years ago when they moved them to China.

Faztbullet · Mar 4, 2012

Re: Are Mercury Bigfoot motors made in China?

Yamaha supplied the powerhead for the 4stroke 115 EFI in the 2002-2005 years....

Timestep · Mar 5, 2012

Re: Are Mercury Bigfoot motors made in China?

Aren't/weren't some engines made in Belgium ??

Regards

Dave

dunc333 · Mar 7, 2012

Re: Are Mercury Bigfoot motors made in China?

yes i see belguim serial #s here in australia and our motors here in oz from 2003 2005 have inspection names on the rocket covers and are both on mine have mexican names ,either there is alot of mexicans working at the us factory or they were assembled in mexico

Jeep Man · Mar 9, 2012

Re: Are Mercury Bigfoot motors made in China?

2011 and newer 40-60 hp motors are made in China, supposedly under strict controls by Mercury USA. Time will tell if these supposed controls are effective. Bigfoot powerheads are the same as regular Mercs. I have a 2002 60 hp Bigfoot with a factory new 2010 powerhead made in the USA. Fuel economy and low engine noise are great. If all you want is 10 mph it will be fine. You will be running at 60% throttle which is better than a 25 hp running WOT.

BillP · Mar 10, 2012

Re: Are Mercury Bigfoot motors made in China?

Faztbullet said:
Someone taught you wrong as there were only a couple of years(2002-2004 i think) Yamaha supplied a powerhead and that was for the 4stroke EFIs..

Wiki is only 1/2 correct, the only china made motors are the 4 stroke EFI motors, all the 2 strokes are USA built.

One sure way to be inaccurate is to use wiki for references.

Yamaha made small merc motors for way more that two yrs...maybe 10 or more and they were both 2 & 4 stroke. I don't know exactly but before tohatsu came in the small ones under 10hp were yahama. Later, yamaha built the 45 & 50 4 strokes....which were in the mid to late 1990s. I bought a 50 4s mariner off the showroom floor in 1996 which was yamana built, and identical to the Merc 50 4s. Before that was the 45hp 4s.

bp

Are Mercury Bigfoot motors made in China?

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