Funny. Mercs are still huge for racing out in Florida.

Check out all their motors.
https://www.instagram.com/keys_island_runners/

Mercury makes a good motor. I've had mine for 7 years and all is well. My Yamaha had to be towed in twice. I'm not bashing Yamaha because any motor can break. I just don't think Yamaha is a superior motor. Ford versus Chevy type thing.

Coast Guard always has Hondas on the back when I see them running an outboard. That's a pretty solid endorsement in my book

.......and another solid endorsement is Honda doesn't have any factory boat deals and that's because the boat builders don't want....................................

Didn't know Evinrude had such a bad reputation. We've have one on our shallow sport and on our Kenner before that. I was always impressed with their reliability. Maybe we've just been lucky

That's because they put them out on bid. I have worked on those contracts myself and they have to either do bid or GSA listings. Cheapest bidder gets the business.
DPS did the same on their large multi engine patrol boats so Mercury got the bid. DPS had so many problems with the Verados they switched to Yamaha on most by spec'ing out so just certain engines would meet the bid specs so only certain engines would qualify. They have Yamaha SHO's now.
I have always been a Merc fan until they started building and assembling them in Mexico.

Mercury Racing Division has always dominated in racing comp. The 2.4 High Perf Engine was a icon in the late 90's. Nobody could beat them.

sunchaser said:

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Johnson(4)
Evinrude(2)
Yamaha 150 TRP.....the Best!
Other Yamaha's(7)
Chevy...507(1)

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The Yamaha 150 TRP that we had on our Shallow Sport was nails. I don't think they make it anymore do they? If so, I would love to find another one.

I was once told coast guard switched from Yamaha to Honda because of a longer engine warranty.

They do not but seem to threaten to reintroduce it from time to time. There is a source for that lower unit to convert to a dual prop. I talked to the owner of Island Boat Works before he sold prior to Harvey and from memory it was around $6,000.

When considered as commercial use (Coast Guard, LE, Commercial Fishing etc.) non of the manufacturers have a warranty over a year.

You can still order the TRP lower unit as a part. Many dealers do that then install on various Yamaha uppers.

sunchaser said:

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They do not but seem to threaten to reintroduce it from time to time. There is a source for that lower unit to convert to a dual prop. I talked to the owner of Island Boat Works before he sold prior to Harvey and from memory it was around $6,000.

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Well, we run a Suzuki 250 four stroke now, but if we ever went back to a Shallow Sport we would be in the market for a TRP. We have been big fans of the Suzuki, it is darn smooth and quiet.

That may be the source he was talking about. I probably assumed it was not Yamaha but he was a Yamaha dealer. The TRP in my opinion would make a bad flats boat good and a good one great. Hole shot was improved, it would track in a straight line and stay on plane at a slower speed. If you stopped in or drifted it into a place where you had to spin it to get up you never had to think about which way to spin it.

sunchaser said:

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That may be the source he was talking about. I probably assumed it was not Yamaha but he was a Yamaha dealer. The TRP in my opinion would make a bad flats boat good and a good one great. Hole shot was improved, it would track in a straight line and stay on plane at a slower speed. If you stopped in or drifted it into a place where you had to spin it to get up you never had to think about which way to spin it.

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I think it was the design of the Shallow Sport hull and the TRP that allowed us to not have to fly into shallow water to stay on plane and out of the mud. The hole shot was simple. I don't know why Yamaha went away from that motor. It coupled with a Shallow Sport was great for fishing. It was damn slow though.

Involve the women folk and a slight chop it became damn uncomfortable though.

sunchaser said:

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Airboat engine came from a place called Conrad Racing. They sent me a dyno test.

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Delayed response, but this sounds loud...and awesome!

I ran one for a year on one of our bass boats for a test for Yamaha and it was really awesome. Bow lift and hole shot was incredible and it would hold the boat up on plane at much slower speeds and it would hold in a turn like you were on rails. The only thing was....in a bass application you damn sure did not want to roll both blades on a stump at Toledo Bend....

I saw an application of a TRP lower mated to a Yamaha SHO 200 on a Majek Illusion. Pretty awesome.

Gunny456 said:

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I ran one for a year on one of our bass boats for a test for Yamaha and it was really awesome. Bow lift and hole shot was incredible and it would hold the boat up on plane at much slower speeds and it would hold in a turn like you were on rails. The only thing was....in a bass application you damn sure did not want to roll both blades on a stump at Toledo Bend....

I saw an application of a TRP lower mated to a Yamaha SHO 200 on a Majek Illusion. Pretty awesome.

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I think that was the coolest thing about the TRP. It held a plane at very low speeds. Like I said, could be the hull also, but I think that lower on that Yamaha 150 was awesome. Wish it would have been a 4 stroke though. It is nice not to need hearing protection while running!

2012 Yamaha four stroke 150 with a TRP on my majek rfl. Like four wheel drive!

Michael Shumard said:

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2012 Yamaha four stroke 150 with a TRP on my majek rfl. Like four wheel drive!

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4 - wheel drive is exactly how we felt about it. Great analogy

They're all good motors.

The best one for you is the one with the easiest/closest service option. I went way out of my way to get a Suzuki on my new rig just because there's a certified service location about a mile away from the boat storage yard. If I had gotten a Yama or Merc my round trip for service would have been 90 minutes.

I have had trouble with two engines in my boating life. The first was the 140hp Evinrude. It layed down and died of natural causes after 14 years in my favorite fishing hole, Gladis. I replaced it with a Yamaha 150 and my fuel consumption was about half.

The second was one of the Yamaha 150 twins. They were factory installs. In about the 5th year the port engine would load up after a long day of trolling and take about five minutes to start running normal. That occurred for about five years and then it got worse one day. I took it in to a Yamaha dealer and he asked, "Why didn't you bring it in for the recall?" "I never got a recall."

Turns out the engines were built about 45 days apart, They caught the recall issue on the starboard engine before it left the factory but not the port. After ten years Yamaha fixed it at no charge.

Jack plates were a new thing around '84. The best one at that time was a CMC. Every thing was exposed to salt water on the transom. They were a pain to keep working for a season until they altered the location of the pump. Bob's was a great improvement and much faster.