hogie roll

I could see that due to heat. The 860 should last though I’d think.

DRAG

They can easily be turned up to a lot more.

precisiondetails

Heard from a top notch marine shop highly reputable source- that Mercury is currently not accepting turbo motor repairs until October. So I guess that means not only highly expensive, but no one can work on them and the only ones that can are 7 months out. Sounds like the only positive with them is they are bad ass but that’s where it stops.

talk about a situation. I’m just amazed.

Wildman_grafix

Its at least that long of a lead time.

Markus

They sold way more engines than they had expected.

Then the people who bought the engines racked up way more hours on them than expected.

Then some of the service technicians quit for better-paying jobs.

That’s what an overheated economy is like.

Falcon

Plus the race class that will require at least some support in hardware too.

Michael1

I guess the aftermarket isn't going out of business then.

offshorexcursion

With Mercury's refresh back log you may want to consider a pair of spare engines! I also heard they were so far out they are not even accepting engines sent to them. Many waiting that have been pulled out and sitting on the shop floor of authorized dealer since last fall.

Since this thread went sideways but like someone mentioned at least there's some real offshore discussion so might as well join in....

Mercury turbo engines are Absolutely badass! I'll never forget my first ride I was blown away. I highly respect them but would prefer a custom build, just cause isn't that what offshore is supposed to be.

But as I've said for years......If the majority of offshore boaters treated "Custom builds" like they do mercury engines, the difference would be very slim. In general if a custom build was overbuilt and underpowered similar to mercury, maintained and refreshed similar, and rigged properly, it would be pretty close to as reliable. Problem is too many custom builds cut corners in one or more of those areas which gives them a bad rep. How often do you see a custom 700hp engine get built to the specs of Merc 700s? NEVER! Most of the time someone rebuilds a used engine with less quality parts, reusing some old parts, makes 900-1000hp, nickles and dimes the maintenence, breaks down, and everyone crys that mercury is so much more reliable! Not a fair comparison. I bet you can order a brand new Teague 700hp engine (TCM 825 is what they offer) with comparable specs and it will cost less less and outperform merc 700s. Now when it comes to turbo engines there's not enough modern custom builds out there to really compare cause obviously people have a bad taste for custom builds. I do feel the technology is there to compete with Mercury's 1100/1350. If someone spent similar money I believe they could get similar or better results in every category from a custom twin turbo build. Factory billet is doing some really cool stuff. There's also a few others that have and could if just given the chance. How many custom twin turbo engines have been built as expensive and high quality as a Merc 1100 and only made 1100hp? None! Let alone when it's time to refresh does the custom build get the same level of refresh as Merc requires you to get on a 1100/1350. You can't call Merc and say let's reuse this or that part to save a buck. When a guy orders a custom engine he wants max power for the least amount of money! And when he refreshes custom he wants cheapest and quickest turn around. Merc still has and does some amazing stuff but the difference between them and custom is not that drastic when all things closer to equal. Now the other factor unfortunately is its just hard to find a good shop to build and maintain your custom build. Unfortunately there are just too many horror stories but that topic is for another day. I'm hoping and looking forward to seeing offshore go back to some more custom builds. People are going to get bored with outboards eventually and plenty of them can afford more than one boat. Let's hope some guys build some custom twin turbo badazz engines to show off at the next poker run!

Wildman_grafix

Good points but one place I think the smaller custom builder can not be competitive on is R & D. How many different design iterations and load testing do you think Mercury goes through on each program? That is just not possible when you are building one off stuff, it only comes when you have scale of numbers.

Using Teaque and others are a good example where they come up with a package and sell the complete unit, but I doubt they were able to do the same amount of testing.
If you have ever seen how OEM's test motors on Dyno's 24/7 you understand what it takes for a design program.

Cubic dollars.

Falcon

Merc is held to a tough standard, not only by warranty, but by epa requirements which requires repeatability and a certain level of endurance while maintaining those requirements.