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I had convinced myself to repower my 1961 Nauset with the new 90hp Mercury. I was really impressed with the larger displacement and the torque band inherit from the additional size. But when I contacted the local Whaler dealer, MarineMax, they didn't seem very interested in putting much effort into finding a motor for me. They didn't have one in stock at any of their chain of stores and they said that the Mercury warehouse didn't have one either. So sorry, move along.

So I contacted a large dealer north of Houston who mainly sold ski boats. They had a 90hp but were outrageous (no pun intended) in what they wanted for installation and accessories, pushing the final price w/o TTL to nearly $12K!

I contacted another independent dealer and he said he could order one, he recommended going with the command thrust, could get it in three or four days and three or four days for installation, but a much better price than the ski boat store.

My Whaler was going to be in the local Keels and Wheels concours show in two weeks. I thought that if anything went wrong with the ordering process or installation problems, my Whaler wouldn't be ready for Keels and Wheels.

So long story short, I called a local Evinrude dealer who has been in business for 60 years. He had a 90hp E-TEC in stock and had it on my Whaler in three days. We're still fine tuning the appropriate prop, but I am hitting about 40 mph WOT, but turning 6100 RPM. I need to be at 5400 for the E-TEC so still trying different props.

All that to say, Mercury lost one potential customer on a flashy old Nauset, that people really take notice of. It could have been really good exposure for them, but it didn't seem to matter.

But the Evinrude guys sure were proud of hanging their motor on a classic, cut me a special deal and everything.
Today I love the look of that white engine and the sound of a two stroke.

Screw Mercury.