Re: SEI SternDrive... What's your take???
I want to add something to the OEM vs. Aftermarket comments, concerns dept . . .
I have an OEM background. Caterpillar dealer for 23 years, and they INDOCTRINATE all into the genuine parts mantra, and I believe it and preach it. I now work for a small engineering firm that struggles to compete and partner with OEMs on a daily basis. We also supply directly to OEMs. I also believe in protecting those same OEMs from us, or dealers of ours, "poaching" business that they create i.e. the OEM sells a truck with some of our stuff on it and then their customers try to get parts from us for cheaper. With that background I would buy an SEI drive in a heartbeat, and I have installed one for a friend.
Patents, experience, branding etc. account for a lot of revenue for an OEM. Development costs are substantial, but so are the rewards for a successful product. OEMs have the legal length of their patents, and they also have the opportunity to offset all of the costs of even failed products against the successful ones. They command huge (and sustaining) margin from replacement parts and each unit delivered carries with it a nice little parts annuity for the remainder of it's useful life . . .
If a small company can legally pull together a business that meets a market opportunity created by that well deserved revenue stream, then I say more power to them. And for me this is not about it simply being legal, of course it is also about ethics. IMHO our system of capitalism demands that the market be corrected, affected etc. by competitive challenges. It is good for both sides of the equation, particularly the consumers . . . but it drives innovation etc. when an OEM gets lazy. I am not saying that Mercruiser is lazy, but if any OEM opens the door, then it probably needs to be walked through.