Lou C
Supreme Mariner
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2002
- Messages
- 12,524
Agreed and you don't have the following concerns:
sudden freeze destroys your engine because you couldn't get to it, happened to thousands across the South a few years ago, we Northerners are used to that inconvenience
fuel vapors in the bilge hazard
gimble/ujoints issues if you wait too long to change your bellows
no risk of a catastrophic transom failure if you let noises from the gimble or ujoints go too long...you can trim the OB up in shallows without worrying about the ujoints complaining...
Leaky Mercruiser steering arms corroding, etc....
Regular and expensive exhaust manifold & elbow replacement in salt water (5-7 years like clock work), I have 5 years on the current set, and if these need replacing, that's exhaust #4 (2004, 2011, 2017/18). Keep in mind if you're doing the whole works, even at aftermarket prices $900 parts (now) with OEM (1.5x that aftermarket price) and labor forget about it. So far just for parts, I am in for close to 2 grand for my exhaust maintenance over the years (those were all pre-Covid, government spending spree prices)
Ever price an I/O exhaust with cat converters, well, you used to be able to buy a fully dressed engine for that price! ($6500 parts, labor extra).
The older you get, the more OBs make sense even if you got to take out a loan to buy one lol.
sudden freeze destroys your engine because you couldn't get to it, happened to thousands across the South a few years ago, we Northerners are used to that inconvenience
fuel vapors in the bilge hazard
gimble/ujoints issues if you wait too long to change your bellows
no risk of a catastrophic transom failure if you let noises from the gimble or ujoints go too long...you can trim the OB up in shallows without worrying about the ujoints complaining...
Leaky Mercruiser steering arms corroding, etc....
Regular and expensive exhaust manifold & elbow replacement in salt water (5-7 years like clock work), I have 5 years on the current set, and if these need replacing, that's exhaust #4 (2004, 2011, 2017/18). Keep in mind if you're doing the whole works, even at aftermarket prices $900 parts (now) with OEM (1.5x that aftermarket price) and labor forget about it. So far just for parts, I am in for close to 2 grand for my exhaust maintenance over the years (those were all pre-Covid, government spending spree prices)
Ever price an I/O exhaust with cat converters, well, you used to be able to buy a fully dressed engine for that price! ($6500 parts, labor extra).
The older you get, the more OBs make sense even if you got to take out a loan to buy one lol.