BRP Discontinues Evinrude

[craigdritchie]

Big news this afternoon, as BRP announced they have discontinued production of all Evinrude outboards and will concentrate on building boats.

They've also entered into a supply arrangement with Mercury to provide outboards for their boat brands worldwide, including Alumacraft and Manitou. More details are sure to follow.

https://www.ibinews.com/brp-to-discontinue-evinrude-outboard-production/36404.article

 

 

 

[AKRISONER]

After what happened last year on the absolute biggest stage to the Johnston brothers live in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers for the entire world to see, I’m not surprised to be honest.

 

end of an era 

[misfish]

42 minutes ago, AKRISONER said:

After what happened last year on the absolute biggest stage to the Johnston brothers live in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers for the entire world to see, I’m not surprised to be honest.

 

end of an era 

I am lost here.

Can you elaborate ?

[grimsbylander]

2 hours ago, AKRISONER said:

After what happened last year on the absolute biggest stage to the Johnston brothers live in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers for the entire world to see, I’m not surprised to be honest.

 

end of an era 

There is ZERO chance the decision to discontinue the Evinrude outboard line has anything to do with two Canadian bass fisherman. 

[AKRISONER]

1 hour ago, grimsbylander said:

There is ZERO chance the decision to discontinue the Evinrude outboard line has anything to do with two Canadian bass fisherman. 

The tour was riddled with guys motors blowing last year. Just most noticeable that it cost the guy that would have won angler Of the year his title. 

[grimsbylander]

29 minutes ago, AKRISONER said:

The tour was riddled with guys motors blowing last year. Just most noticeable that it cost the guy that would have won angler Of the year his title. 

Still, has nothing to do with dissolving a 100+ year brand. 

[AKRISONER]

the stigma of unreliability associated with Evinrude is very very real. It without a doubt has affected their sales.

Go through the thread on Bass Boat central and every 4th post is someone cracking a joke about them.

Edited May 28, 2020 by AKRISONER

[dave524]

60 years ago , all the fisherman were bad mouthing Mercs,  no serious one would have one of those black, sometimes white POS hanging on their transon. They would not start in cold weather and wouldn't troll, only good for water skiers and speedboat. Johnnyrudes were the motor of choice.

[Rizzo]

ya I thought Merc (black anchor) was the one people joked about, not Evinrude. Guess I am out of the loop on who sucks

[Cosmos]

Wow - sad news, i was very happy with my 2014 30 HP Etec. 

[grimsbylander]

4 hours ago, AKRISONER said:

the stigma of unreliability associated with Evinrude is very very real. It without a doubt has affected their sales.

Go through the thread on Bass Boat central and every 4th post is someone cracking a joke about them.

Do the same for the other brands too!! People always bash the competition and praise what they own. You're doing that very thing with Yamaha.

ALL brands of outboards have serious issues with one size class or another. The big outboards are the most prone to failure fr obvious reasons. Go buy a 2009 -2011 Yamaha 250 SHO.... absolute junk and the entire industry knew all about it. I found links in 2 seconds of googling....

http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=817235

http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=653309&page=2

https://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/5740381/all/Yamaha_250_HPDI_Power_Head_Pro

Either way, I'm not bashing Yamaha or any other brand. I'm simply pointing out that every brand has had their share of lemons hit the market. Maybe some more than others yes, but the data is sketchy at best. You CANNOT judge reliability by reading forum posts alone. If there are more Mercs or Evinrudes or Yamahas by volume they are going to have more issues. Some clubs are 8 out 10 Yamaha....some 8 out of 10 Mercs etc.

BTW, I don't own an Evinrude and never have. I don't feel the need to "defend" what I bought either. Yup, Yamaha make great motors and I'd own one without hesitation...AFTER I researched the year class. Same thing I'd do for any other brand. I do know that large corporations make decisions based on the direction they want to take their business and competitors coming together as allies(horizontal mergers) are nothing new. Mercury's market share is about to increase nicely and BRP will have a lot of freed up funds to invest elsewhere. Still sad to see a brand that old get dissolved. Seems to be the way the retail world is going.

 

Edited May 28, 2020 by grimsbylander

[Hack_Fisherman]

WHAT????

 I want an Etec not a mercury!!!

[David Chong]

Big news in the boating industry! I do believe that what most people don't understand when it comes to these big block engines how you break it in and maintain them is everything. I was never a believer in not having to break in an engine, I put in the full painful 10 hours of break-in every year with my Yamaha's and my engines ave been super reliable. 

The thing that I don't understand about this is, "they're going to focus on their boat brands?" which they only got into recently?

[AKRISONER]

9 hours ago, grimsbylander said:

Do the same for the other brands too!! People always bash the competition and praise what they own. You're doing that very thing with Yamaha.

 

 

You do realize I bought my first Yamaha 3 years ago after driving merc Suzuki and Johnson right? Guess which motor is still running no problem of these three? Yes I’m 100% aware of the absolute gong show with Yamahas from basically 2002 all the way to 2014ish. Those second gen v Max’s needed their entire heads rebuilt under warranty. 
 

my point being, has Johnson/evinrude made a reliable motor since the early 90’s? In my personal experience with our 94 Johnson no it’s dead...and what I witness with my friend being stranded with his due to regular electrical problems with a 2010...no

and what I witness with the Johnston brothers and the G2’s...no

and the complaints I hear all over the bass boat industry...no

Funny I also own two BRP snowmobiles as well...and they also have had a pile of stupid problems including a totally blown motor at 2000clicks amongst a myriad of other stupid problems.

Point being fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me.

 

and I’m hyper aware that everyone is loyal to one brand or another...luckily my old man has never been one to be loyal  to a brand so I’ve benefited from his experiences with almost every manufacturer of stuff. From vehicles to snowmobiles to boats. We’re all over the  bloody place. Maybe my experience with japanese vehicles and motors is just a fluke...but there’s a lot of evidence to say that maybe my experience is actually reality.

Edited May 29, 2020 by AKRISONER

[grimsbylander]

2 minutes ago, AKRISONER said:

You do realize I bought my first Yamaha 3 years ago after driving merc Suzuki and Johnson right? Yes I’m 100% aware of the absolute gong show with Yamahas from basically 2002 all the way to 2014ish. Those second gen v Max’s needed their entire heads rebuilt under warranty. 
 

my point being, has Johnson/evinrude made a reliable motor since the early 90’s? In my personal experience with our 94 Johnson no it’s dead...and what I witness with my friend being stranded with his due to electrical problems with a 2010...no

and what I witness with the Johnston brothers and the G2’s...no

Funny I also own two BRP snowmobiles...and they also have had a pile of stupid problems including a totally blown motor at 2000clicks amongst a myriad of other stupid problems.

Point being fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me.

My only point was....there is no how, no way, BRP is dropping the Evinrude line because of the Johnson brothers. They’re not bigger than BRP or Evinrude. 
 

[John Bacon]

6 hours ago, David Chong said:

Big news in the boating industry! I do believe that what most people don't understand when it comes to these big block engines how you break it in and maintain them is everything. I was never a believer in not having to break in an engine, I put in the full painful 10 hours of break-in every year with my Yamaha's and my engines ave been super reliable. 

The thing that I don't understand about this is, "they're going to focus on their boat brands?" which they only got into recently?

It seems strange to me too.  I thought that one of reasons for acquiring the boat brands was to boost outboard sales by packaging their boats with Evinrudes.  I think that Mercury has had a big advantage over Evinrude in the last couple of decades because they owned several boat brands and could package their boats and motors. 

[fish_fishburn]

Sold their plane division a few moths ago. Their rail division is done, now their outboards. They should be looking for a crapload of taxpayer cash soon. I guess we wont be seeing any of the money we lent a few years ago. I hope they dissolve completely.

[LeXXington]

Less competition is not good for anyone.

[John Bacon]

4 hours ago, fish_fishburn said:

Sold their plane division a few moths ago. Their rail division is done, now their outboards. They should be looking for a crapload of taxpayer cash soon. I guess we wont be seeing any of the money we lent a few years ago. I hope they dissolve completely.

You're mixing two different companies up.  BRP is separate from Bombardier.  

[grimsbylander]

18 hours ago, David Chong said:

Big news in the boating industry! I do believe that what most people don't understand when it comes to these big block engines how you break it in and maintain them is everything. I was never a believer in not having to break in an engine, I put in the full painful 10 hours of break-in every year with my Yamaha's and my engines ave been super reliable. 

The thing that I don't understand about this is, "they're going to focus on their boat brands?" which they only got into recently?

Break in is super important. In fact, for years we’ve wondered why outboard companies don’t do assembly line break in’s. No fuel, just a mechanical run with lubricant. It’s not identical to real running conditions but it would sure help against the knobs that go out and see how fast their new boat will go first weekend! Lol Or maybe rpm limits paired with the hours meter? The costs would be high but so are warranty costs and damage to brand image. 

[KraTToR]

28 minutes ago, grimsbylander said:

Break in is super important. In fact, for years we’ve wondered why outboard companies don’t do assembly line break in’s. No fuel, just a mechanical run with lubricant. It’s not identical to real running conditions but it would sure help against the knobs that go out and see how fast their new boat will go first weekend! Lol Or maybe rpm limits paired with the hours meter? The costs would be high but so are warranty costs and damage to brand image. 

Agreed, this would be an easy thing to do with the modern motor's ECU.  Most new 2 strokes (powersports) add extra oil during a 2 phase break-in period.

[KraTToR]

I've had my 250 G2 HO for 5 seasons now, going on its 6th.  Tons of torque and decent on fuel with no issues.  Mind you I don't  run everywhere at WOT. Most of my running is at 60% throttle which pushes my boat 45mph.  Plenty good enough for me and it came with a 5 yr warranty.

Lets face it, tournament guys are the hardest on their gear.  WOT to a dead stop then off.  No time to stabilize temp or lubrication.  Then over and over again. 

IMHO, BRP isn't dropping OBs because of failed tournament (ever watch F1??) , its all about profitability.  Maybe they can't make any money in that market.  Its a picture of poor management, not product reliability.

Case and point, I know of a dealer in ontario that puts etecs on Lunds.  I talked to the owner and as someone who sees this stuff every day, he likes the etecs better than the others.  Has a G2 on his Tyee...hmmm.

[gordy28]

As someone who has not bought a boat in the last 10 + years am I right to say with this news you basically have:

Suzuki, Yamaha and Mercury now as your only "big brand" options for outboards?    Is Honda still a big player?

Cheers

Andrew