Goodbye ETEC

[Grady_Crazy]

ETEC is no more.

BRP Advances Marine Strategy by Focusing on Boats and New Technologies
Company discontinues the manufacturing of outboard engines and agrees with market leader Mercury Marine to support boat packages.

 

[Capt Tom]

Wow, Evinrude has died it's second death. RIP

 

[Summertop511]

Wow four strokes have officially won lol

 

[TonyD]

wow, interesting and very surprising, to me at least. I am glad I went with the 4 stroke Yam over the E-Tec when I repowered 5 years ago.

 

[Joez]

It's a sad day, but to be honest I see this as just the beginning. Many companies in this industry will go through massive changes, if they manage to survive at all through this.

 

[Toothpick 10]

Nothing remains of the OMC legacy

 

[Parthery]

Somebody check on KYGrady. He was contemplating a repower with a G2.

 

[Ky Grady]

Somebody check on KYGrady. He was contemplating a repower with a G2.

I'm good. Never could get the warm and fuzzy about Evinrude on the back of my boat, even with me working around them.

Very happy I didn't go through with that. I guess my Evinrude Certification doesn't amount to a hill of beans now. I did read BRP would continue to provide parts to their dealers to service the motors. I'm seeing that last until the surplus of parts is exhausted Can't see them continuing to manufacture parts for an engine they no long build.

 

[HTHM]

Makes me wonder how far the value of an Evinrude powered boat has dropped.

 

[Grady_Crazy]

I have a friend with a 300 ETEC on his Edgewater that he takes from Fl to Bimini and he has a 15' skiff that had a Yamaha F70 and he sold the engine and bought an ETEC 75 because he didn't have enough get up and go. He swears by those engines and I know he will be heart broken. I repowered a Montauk 17 and I was debating between an ETEC 75 or a Yammy F70. I went with the Yammy, glad I did.

 

[georgemjr]

The etecs were incredibly engineered 2 strokes. Definitely an engine I was interested in. Sadly, not anymore. There will be ever decreasing support for them. It is a shame.

 

[Grady_Crazy]

Reckon there might be some deals on repowers right now?

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

I recall the heady days of the 70s,lol, when it was OMC versus Mercury and then you had that odd ball Chrysler. BRP just convinced themselves that if they built a better 2 stroke that people would buy it in the 4 stroke revolution. The etec by all accounts of those who own them have more torque, fewer moving parts and so forth. Even a 10 year warranty couldn't push it over. They also lost independent builders like Grady.

My brothers Grady was Evinrude. My 1998 Grady was Johnson Ocean Pro. I don't think Grady alone would have saved them but what if my 08 Boat came rigged with an Etec instead of Yamaha? Would I have upgraded to G2 ? Maybe . I am a Gen Xer and I wanted a 4 stroke engine and not a chainsaw motor.

Call me stupid or call it marketing , but I believe had Evirnrude had more new boat transoms from Grady and the like or had they earnestly put a 4 banger in the mix that they would be a viable brand . Mercury and Brunswick took the route of buying transoms forcing their power onto the general public . You buy Whaler you get Mercury. Sea Ray, Mercury.Bayliner Mercury.

I wish Evirnrude was still alive and kicking. I wish they made a solid 4 stroke. RIP.

 

[wrxhoon]

That's what happens when you try to sell ( force) something that your customers don't want to buy. The very same thing happened to GM here in Australia. They went from number one brand to shutting shop in a matter of 17 short years.

 

[Parthery]

Everything we had growing up was OMC...at one point this geek could look at a Johnson or Evinrude and tell the year by the color scheme and decals.

Sad day....

 

[Keeldad]

Like Smokey, I remember the 70’s and the OMC v. Merc. Schools (my father did end up with one of those oddball Chryslers). The rap in my area was Mercs. were fast but unreliable while OMC was not as fast but held up better. I always had OMC. When I bought my 99 226 two years ago it still had the original 225 FICHT and it ran great. I replaced it with a Yamaha F200 that I bought new in 2014 to repower a Mako 22 that the Grady replaced (Loved the Mako But got tired of freezing my *** off in the N Atlantic in Nov.).

 

[SoFLGrady306]

I have brand new twin 300 G2’s. They are absolute BEASTS. Spectacular motors, pushing my 306 well above 47mph fully loaded, at 1.2mpg. The power and torque is stunning.
I have had the motors for about 4 months. I am deeply saddened by this short-sighted move by BRP.
Supposedly the have enough parts for the distant future. And of course, 2-strokes have less moving parts.

who knows.... great motors. Sad outcome.

 

[georgemjr]

In my opinion it is a misguided shift to 4 strokes. I have Yamaha 250 4 strokes on my 33 and 2 stroke HPDIs on my center console. I love the two stokes, simpler design, less parts, less maintainence, less things to break. Torquey and solid. They are out of fashion and not much can be done about that. even if they are still solid, proven designs. Look at Yamahas exhaust rot problems, flywheel problems (f350s), etc. the old OX66 is still a proven workhorse without these issues, yet we flock to the problematic four stroke. Evinrude designed a superior two stroke and can't stay afloat.