Mercruiser or Volvo? Which is best?

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Slip Away

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Re: Mercruiser or Volvo? Which is best?

Thalasso said:
They don't have much choice in the matter. In the article it tells you GM is not going to supply the blocks.
Volvo is already on top of it with two new engines
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4 new engines..... And the blocks Volvo uses are supplied by GM.
 
bruceb58

bruceb58

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Re: Mercruiser or Volvo? Which is best?

Slip Away said:
Unless you have friends' in the OEM wholesale parts distribution business ;)
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For my year, both pumps were around $200. The Volvo pump was actually slightly cheaper. Mine is carbed so maybe that makes the difference.

I agree that in later fuel injection models there is more of a difference since Volvo uses 2 pumps.
 
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Thalasso

Thalasso

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Re: Mercruiser or Volvo? Which is best?

Slip Away said:
He swallowed it hook, line and sinker haulanazz15 :lol:
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:confused:
Just what was your point there?
Pretty good. The guy asked for info and like some others you have to try and be a clown.
 
H

haulnazz15

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Re: Mercruiser or Volvo? Which is best?

Thalasso said:
:confused:
Just what was your point there?
Pretty good. The guy asked for info and like some others you have to try and be a clown.
Click to expand...

Lighten' up, Francis. There were other tongue-in-cheek comments made in the thread, not just mine. It's a public forum, not a dissertation paper.
 
JustJason

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Re: Mercruiser or Volvo? Which is best?

agallant80 said:
Are they going to tool up and start making their own blocks and everything or are they just going to change and start using Isuzu blocks and heads (no joke they make decent stuff that powers allot of things).
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That's not uncommon in the marine industry. A lot of Yanmar blocks are Toyotas. Westerbeke uses Mitsubishi, Beta Marine uses Kubota, John Deere Marine uses John Deere. And Mercruiser has already used Isuzu blocks in the past.

I'm going to pick apart that article a little bit

?We?re coming out with a new sterndrive with lots of features no consumer?s ever seen before on a sterndrive,?

Unless it's bellow-less not many people are going to care.

?We think that?s important, as we move away from GM blocks and we own this whole franchise, that we bring something new to the market that the public?s never seen, and we?re confident that we?ll begin to stop the erosion in the sterndrive market.?

I'm not quite sure what they mean by that. But the erosion in the sterndrive market is happening for 2 reasons;
1. outboards are getting bigger and more powerful every year.

2. There are more people that only buy a sterndrive once, and not twice. Once you get bit by the costs of replacing bellows, a gimbal ring, or a rotted gimbal housing. It's a "mistake" that more people than not only make once. In short, if sterndrives were not so damm expensive to maintain, then more people would buy them. They do offer a mechanical advantage over an inboard in terms of efficiency, but it's tough to justify the costs of all the maintainence, and all the parts that can and do go bad.



"McCoy also indicated that the Bayliner brand also will continue to expand its value offerings similar to the Element. ?The Element is an outboard product versus sterndrive and yes, we think there is room in the market for well-priced product, and we think the Bayliner brand is a good place to bring that in.?

Sounds more like the next "Force" of boats. But here it is; Element Review

A 16 foot boat powered by a 60 horsepower engine. Just what the world needs, another underpowered boat. Scroll half way down and there is a picture with 6 adults in the boat. Yeah right! Looks more like an oversized mouse boat. I really hope this isn't the way the industry is leaning.
 
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Thalasso

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Re: Mercruiser or Volvo? Which is best?

Even Brunswick seems to be moving in the outboard powered cruiser. The new Sea Ray has outboards on it.
 
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Slip Away

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Re: Mercruiser or Volvo? Which is best?

Thalasso said:
Even Brunswick seems to be moving in the outboard powered cruiser. The new Sea Ray has outboards on it.
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The Sea Ray 370 Venture is a novel idea, but since it's release over a year ago, sales are poor. At over $400K, it's a niche market for the uber wealthy.
The S2 yachts outboard powered cruiser, is seeing similar lackluster sales.

And though not a cruiser, OMC had a "Quiet Runner" boat made by Sunbird introduced in 1991 that was a runabout powered by outboard with a "cowl" over the
engine. Another flash in the pan idea that did not really catch on.
 
Thalasso

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Re: Mercruiser or Volvo? Which is best?

Slip Away said:
The Sea Ray 370 Venture is a novel idea, but since it's release over a year ago, sales are poor. At over $400K, it's a niche market for the uber wealthy.
The S2 yachts outboard powered cruiser, is seeing similar lackluster sales.

And though not a cruiser, OMC had a "Quiet Runner" boat made by Sunbird introduced in 1991 that was a runabout powered by outboard with a "cowl" over the
engine. Another flash in the pan idea that did not really catch on.
Click to expand...

I think it's Tiara or Persuit that has done the same thing. Except the whole back end comes up for access to the motors
 
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Slip Away

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Re: Mercruiser or Volvo? Which is best?

Yes, S2 yachts is the parent company of Tiara and Pursuit.
 
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frantically relaxing

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Re: Mercruiser or Volvo? Which is best?

JustJason said:
Volvo - Easy to get to impeller, fuel pumps, fuel filters, coolers, and zincs. Nothing really to complain about. All of the stuff you would normally maintain is easy to get to, and well thought out.

Mercruiser - Hard to get to impeller (if you have an alpha you have to dismantle the drive), but the engine mounted pumps are no better,, Lower left, tucked under everything, and hard to get to.
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I really wish both these companies would just mount belt-driven water pumps on the engines like Volvo did in the old days...
 
Thalasso

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Re: Mercruiser or Volvo? Which is best?

Frantically Relaxing said:
I really wish both these companies would just mount belt-driven water pumps on the engines like Volvo did in the old days...
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I think the new setup ( Volvo)is better.Now Merc is another thing. No pulley to deal with. You still have the impeller
 
Lou C

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Re: Mercruiser or Volvo? Which is best?

It comes down to not what we like so much but what is easiest to get parts and service where you are. Call around and see if you can get service as easily for either one. Then go out when it warms up and drive boats with both and see which one you like better. Here you can get service equally easily for either VP or Merc and there are even shops that still work on OMC. I have a shop that does all three so whatever I get I can go to them if I can't do it myself. If no one does VP where you are, then go Merc, why make your life more difficult just because someone said its somehow better. Don't forget VP good as the SX and SX/DP was made that abomination OSI drive (plastic clad aluminum) and it had problems, and people lost money and resale value on them, and then VP quit making them. Next they made some offer to sell a complete SXA or whatever the new one is called at a bit of a discount for the poor sucker who bought their latest and greatest invention. Now we have the new salt water drive from VP have not heard anything bad yet. But to me that is a big black mark for VP. DO NOT get any used boat with an Ocean Series VP no matter how cheap it is.
 
bruceb58

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Re: Mercruiser or Volvo? Which is best?

Thalasso said:
I think the new setup ( Volvo)is better.Now Merc is another thing. No pulley to deal with. You still have the impeller
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There were only a couple years that Volvo did the belt and those were the joint venture years with OMC. Before that, the pump was on the crank as it is now. Mine is belt driven. I would much prefer to have the one mounted on the crank
 
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frantically relaxing

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Re: Mercruiser or Volvo? Which is best?

bruceb58 said:
There were only a couple years that Volvo did the belt and those were the joint venture years with OMC. Before that, the pump was on the crank as it is now. Mine is belt driven. I would much prefer to have the one mounted on the crank
Click to expand...
You wouldn't if your crank pulley is 2" from the bulkhead, like many are... ;)
 
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