JustAnotherSpearo wrote: Everyone is missing the biggest question of all smudge. What motor will attract the winning carrot for the annual comp??

For what it's worth Smudge, I owned 8 Yamaha's of various sizes before buying the Mercury 115. I spent weeks on the research as I really wanted to buy another Yamaha , but in the end I just couldn't argue with the stats and data when comparing the two motors . I've had the Mercury for 7 years now and has been faultless .

Game changer?

MB wrote: Game changer? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EIQXKjbCFE&ab_channel=YamahaMarineAustralia

Kevin.S wrote: smudge wrote: One of the easiest motors to maintain but it had a design fault in that it didn't have a voltage regulator. When I bought it it had the wrong battery fitted. The first long run I did it cooked everything. As a sparky i worked out what the problem was. For a $50 part that outboard would have been bullet proof To be fait that's not a Merc problem, more of an age problem.  Lots of outboards didn't have a voltage regulator back in the day, they relied on the battery to do the job.  But modern batteries have different characteristics and don't work very well in that role these days (or those days if the wrong battery was fitted).  I had the same issue with a Johnson 60 that I had once, fitted a voltage regulator and all good.

Phantom Menace wrote: Helm Master is pretty cool really.  We have it on Hibiscus Rescue 1 (I think there are only a couple of Coastguard boats that have it fitted). HIB1 has twin 300hp Yamahas - so quite different to a single engine recreational boat. The whole setup (helm master, autopilot and electronics) means that we can quickly setup different types of search patterns and the boat will run itself on autopilot. This reduces the task loading on the helmsman and navigator so they can more actively participate in the actual searching. It's easy to override things if we spot something of interest, go off and check it out, then resume the search pattern where we left off. I haven't tried to use it for "holding station" so I cannot comment on that. We did try it out in the Tiri channel one day - deliberately testing it's limits in 20 knot winds and the typical short chop there.  The idea was to use the joystick control to maneuver round one of the yellow buoys that mark the old navy degaussing area i.e. keep very close to the buoy - close enough to continually keep the end of a boat hook touching the buoy. No-one managed to do it successfully using Helm Master but to be fair it was next too impossible manually also.  Although Helm master also failed to successfully bring the bow round into the wind (even with it cranked up to level 5) when it was easy to do that manually. We also train "close quarter maneuvering" by doing figure 8s round the poles in the marina at Gulf Harbour (next to the ferry terminal - where they used to park ferries overnight sometimes). Tried it backwards and then forwards manually and also with Helm Master.  The motors and gear boxes definitely got a workout when using Helm Master and a power setting of 3 (not 5) seemed best.

Hey Smudge, if you haven't already got something sorted I can put you in touch with my old man at Mark Helms Marine - they are also able to supply and install new engines from all of the major brands as well as all of the servicing, and they have a workshop in Karaka now where it can all be done, plus mobile servicing after that.

Thanks everyone. Counties Marine came back with a price I just could not turn down. I bought a shiny new 115 CT Mercury today. I have to say that Counties Marine, Buckland Marine and Golflands Marine really did their best to look after me. No BS at all from any of them but I had to choose one. There is an awesome deal on Yamaha 90's & 130's at the moment. Sadly the 90 won't give me anything over the E-Tec power wise and I think the 130 would be a little too hot for my boat. They are great deals though! Honda  were surprisingly affordable but I went with the lighter motor and what I consider to be the best choice for me.

Thanks for all the input guys. I really appreciate it. My brother in law was in the workshop at Golf Lands Marine for many years, and I used to drop him off fish when I fished out that way. He's an admittedly biased Mercury fan. He also sorted out a great price for me even though he has retired. Huge thanks to them.

Oops, I forgot the important part (you talk too much Smudge), my boat wasn't set up right with the E-Tec. About the only thing me and the all knowing Steps ever agreed upon .