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Which mercruiser to buy

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milkie62

New member
Hello all .Brand new guy here and been out of boating since 1989.I have worked on late 80's mercruiser and am factory trained back in 87 on the OMC cobra.My kids want to try out boating without spending a ton of money.How far back into the 90's can I go and get a good merc drive ? Are parts still available for mid 90's stuff ? Also should I find a nice boat with a bad motor/outdrive do the later model stuff still use the same transom cutout ? Thanks foe any replies Ed
 
Merc continued with the Dog Clutch drives up until I believe 1988 or so when they aquired the rights to use Volvo Penta's cone clutch gear engagement design for their B drives.
With exception to the TR and TRS drives, anything before this will be dog clutch, as well as all current A drives.


Would you consider a mid 90's non-gimbal system AQ series Volvo Penta stern drive?


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Mercury is like Cheverolet, Parts are everywhere and easy to get.
9 out of ten marina's work on mercury, 2-3 out of ten work on Volvo penta.......Most Volvo parts come from overseas and not as easy to get as fast or for a reasonable price.

Any boat that has NOT been in the salt water from mid '80's to present would be good.

The "B" drive refered to is the BRAVO

The bravo replaced the TRS drive. The Bravo has the cone clutch shift system.. Bravo I (used on many 22 ft and larger and good to 500 hp), Bravo II (very large and uses a large prop and used on underpowered larger boats and other applications) and Bravo III which is a dual prop (one spins c'wise and the other spins c'c'wise at the same time). Many larger boats above 22 foot have this drive.

Most 16 -21 ft pleasure boats have the mercruiser Alpha, Alpha I Gen I was used up to 1990-1991, Alpha I gen II 1991- present.
 
Fair enough, Kghost! You are correct. Mercruiser parts and service will be easier to find.
However, my suggestion was the AQ series Volvo Penta, not the Gimbal Suspension Volvo Penta (i.e., the SX or DP-S type drives.... the drives that look similar to the old OMC Cobra drives).

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Milkie62, no need to worry....... parts for the AQ series drives will be around for years to come.
In all honesty, these do not require the service that the Mercs do.
Merc, over the years, has undergone more yearly and mid yearly parts mods and changes than most, meaning that there are more Merc parts behind the parts counters than you could imagine.

Yes... Volvo Penta is more expensive.

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I have a good friend who is in the boat salvage business. He buys/sells boats and marine parts.
His bread-n-butter stern drive sales are OMC parts.
His next bread-n-butter stern drive sales are Mercruiser parts.
His least bread-n-butter sales are Volvo Penta parts.

We can all understand the need for used OMC parts. There is an OMC following that isn't quite ready to give up yet!
With the Mercs, a great deal of this is due to the greater market share.
On average, the V/P drives just don't require parts replacements quite as often.


With the V/P AQ series drives:
Cone Clutch gear engagement on all drives
No shift assist/shift interrupt system required
Fixed geometry engine/drive connection w/ PDS
No annual rubber hub drive coupler/engine alignment required
All steel Borg Warner drive coupler
Main suspension fork and pivot tube geometry
Easy, quick and user friendly drive shaft bellows replacement
Easy Duo Prop addition for all drives

No gimbal suspension
No gimbal ring
No gimbal bell
No gimbal bearing
No thru propeller hub exhaust
No drive located seawater pump


Perhaps Food for Thought! :D


Edit:

Merc's BIII drive is also a twin counter rotation propeller drive... and a very beefy one!
Tests have shown that the BIII outperforms the Duo Prop drive at speeds near and above 40 ish + MPH.
The Duo Prop outperforms at speeds below and up to the 40 ish MPH range.

Volvo Penta continues to hold the pattent on their Duo Prop design. When Merc is able to copy this, these stats may change.


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Please understand that I'm not bashing Mercruiser. I'm simply offering a comparison as per my take on the differences.
Merc has a good system with their B series drives.
I cannot say the same for the A drives. IMO, all Dog Clutch drives should have been gone by now! :mad:





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""""I have a good friend who is in the boat salvage business. He buys/sells boats and marine parts.
His bread-n-butter stern drive sales are OMC parts.
His next bread-n-butter stern drive sales are Mercruiser parts.
His least bread-n-butter sales are Volvo Penta parts. """"""


Haha....That is most likely because

1. not many around to need to replace. Most have been scrapped...........!
2. Not that many were ever sold so low demand............!!


OMC is acient history and was junk from day one!! the old stringer drive was a real piece of SH!T and the cobra and king cobra although were a major update and upgrade were plauged with problems...........Now parts are NLA

Mercruiser on the other hand will be the power plant in 8 out of 10 I/O pleasure boats..........Most issues are due to lack of maintanence or damage.
Rarely is due to engineering defects or simple failure............

JMHO.............:)
 
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kghost said:
Haha....That is most likely because

1. not many around to need to replace. Most have been scrapped...........!
Agreed..... many of these boats have fallen apart around the engine/drive, so yes.... they do end up being scrapped out, leaving a good stern drive system behind.

2. Not that many were ever sold so low demand............!!
That greatly depends on the area that you may be sampling!
Here in Oregon and up into Washington State, Volvo Penta for years has had a great presence in the market.


OMC is acient history and was junk from day one!! the old stringer drive was a real piece of SH!T and the cobra and king cobra although were a major update and upgrade were plauged with problems........... Now parts are NLA
Fully agree!

Mercruiser on the other hand will be the power plant in 8 out of 10 I/O pleasure boats..........
Easily explained by the Brunswick Corporation owning Mercury Marine for years now.
The Brunswick family of boats and yachts can be seen here.
It's no wonder that we see so many Mercruiser stern drives these days.

Most issues are due to lack of maintanence or damage.
Rarely is due to engineering defects or simple failure............
I must somewhat disagree.

JMHO.............:)
And JMHO also.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the info.I was a little concerned with the number of merc outdrives but found a site that explained it very well.So I guess it will be either an Alpha II or Bravo I that I will be getting.So I assume to stay away from the sx cobra V/P drives ?
 
milkie62 said:
So I assume to stay away from the sx cobra V/P drives ?
Click to expand...
NO... I did not say that in those exact words.
What I did say.... is that between the Volvo Penta SX and DP-S style Gimbal System drives, and the last of the Volvo Penta AQ series Non-Gimbal system drives, the AQ series is by far superior.

In my opinion only..... Volvo Penta is a superior product, but you will pay for it initially.
This does not mean that you'll be paying for excessive maintenance costs.


If you could speak with a good certified and non-bios Merc -slash- Volvo Penta tech..... (key word "IF")..... and if you were to ask which drive he prefered, you'd likely hear Volvo Penta.





For the record:
I don't prefer V/P because I own and work on them...... NO... not at all!
In fact, I used to think that the Volvo Pentas looked funny and odd. I thought that the Mercs looked better and were of a better design.

I now prefer V/P because of having owned and worked on the Mercs in the past, and from having seen the issues that my Merc buddies have had over the years.



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Owned, operated and personally maintained I/O powered boats since 1964.
Volvo parts cost more, but you need to replace them less often.

re: "9 out of ten marina's work on mercury, 2-3 out of ten work on Volvo penta.."
Yes, but only one of them actually knows what they are doing :)

Comparing the ALPHA Ones ( the only ones I have hands on experience with) to the Volvo...
Volvo simpler, more direct. MERC had to do a real tap dance to come out with a drive that did not violate Volvo patents. As a result, some stuff is more complex than needful . Volvo metallurgy is superior. Gear design and seals are better on the Volvo ( Mercs need cooling water in the leg, and later models have a drive lube reservoir...) Volvo's are fill and forget, at least for a season. Only time ANY of my Volvo drives needed a drop of drive oil was when the shift seal and input shaft seals failed on my 280 ( several years apart). BTW, my 280 drive was purchased on ebay from a salvaged houseboat, as is. It needed the pivot tube bearing at the time and then ran perfectly for 4 seasons before I had to replace the shift shaft seal (slight oil sheen on water), and 3 seasons later, I had Rick replace the bearing crosses and input shaft oil seal (intact bellows had a pint of drive oil in it). So far as I know, these parts were the original 1980 era parts.

No drive is immune to chemistry or to Newton's law. Fail to maintain the zincs, especially in salt water, the drive universal bellows, maintain drive lube levels, or hit something hard, and you will have a repair bill, regardless of who made the drive.
 
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