OMC/Merc vs Yamaha/Suzuki/Honda

[john keyes]

is anyone loyal to one brand of outboard?
 
I live in the south and Yamaha is really all over the place down here.  But I heard that up north like in Michigan and Wisconsin there are still legions of diehard Johnrude boaters and fisherman that is heavily engrained in the culture and tradition.    So maybe up there Yamaha and Honda etc may not be taking over like down south?
 
I have had a Yamaha C70 (3 cyl 2 stroke premix) and it has been an awesome bullet proof motor, in salt water to boot.  It will go all day long on very little gas!!!  In twelve years, aside from impellers, the only thing I had to replace was the fuel connector on the lower cowling that fell apart one day, the spring and the ball popped out.  the part was like $25. 
 
I just bought a pontoon with a V4 90 hp Johnson and I had to put a fuel pump in it.  Seems like its a little more tempermental about cooperating than the Yamaha sometimes.  And its a pig on the gas. Although my Johnson is pushing a big pontoon and the Yamaha pushes a CC Carolina Skiff.  But the power is good, it sat up a while before I bought it so Im sure the carbs need to be pulled and cleaned but I'm on vacation at Rayburn and just running it which it really needs. 
 
I would be tempted to have a nice new shiny 4 stroke but at the moment I still like an old beater premix 2 stroke for my money. 
 
If you put the hammer down on my 25 ft pontoon with that 90 horse Johnson and head across the lake for some spot on the far horizon you can empty a 6 gal fuel can pretty quick.  When I see ads on craigslist or somewhere for a big boat with two big outboards on the transom I really can't even comprehend how fast they must be sucking down the fuel...how does anyone afford to go offshore these days?  I'm guessing it takes >thousand bucks on fuel. 
 
 

[hillbill]

i sure wanted a shiny new honda 4 stroker in 02 when i purchased my new merc but they were 2k more for a 50 hp.my merc is a carb moter and ive had pretty good luck with it but this new gas is giving it fits last couple years.ive cleaned the carbs several times even tho i run stabilizer.fuel consumption is ok but ill still use 6 gal jus messin around checking jugs and catfishing for a day.the price of gas has severely curtailed my fishing for sure.putting 100 buks in gas in my boat and 1/2 ton v6 chev to go to the lake aint gonna happen much this year.

[Savage]

I've owned Mercurys, Evinrudes, and Johnsons. All were great dependable motors. I'm currently running a 150 Johnson on my bass boat, and a 15 Evinrude on my Jon boat. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a Yamaha if I needed a motor and the price was right. From what I've seen and experienced, one is about as good as the other. Fuel consumption? At full throttle, my 150 burns about 15 gal per hour. I'm sure some four strokes do a lot better than that, but the difference isn't worth my trading. I usually run about 4k rpms when going long distances. It cuts fuel consumption in half. I bet you'll find that you can reduce your rpms to about 4000-4500 and do the same on the barge and only lose <5 mph. That's assuming your barge is propped correctly.
Savage
Savage

[Swampman]

The Honda will save you money in a few years.