Reply To: low cost carb kits ….

[Mumbles]

Something which hasn’t been mentioned here is the availability of the much preferred OMC/BRP parts. In my case, here in Victoria BC, which is a medium size city, we used to have two long time OMC dealers where I could purchase or order parts from for my motors. About seven years ago, a BRP rep was in town visiting the dealers and since they both also sold other lines of outboards, such as Yamaha, Suzuki, and Honda etc. along with BRP outboards, he promptly cut of their access to the BRP warehouses in both Vancouver and Seattle. They were not devoted BRP dealers and lost their connection to the company, which seemed like BRP shooting themselves in the foot to me.

Since I have well over 100 OMC built motors here at any given time with more wanting to move in all the time, obtaining OEM parts for them has become a major challenge. The old stock at the two dealers has pretty much dried up as both dealers sold their remaining stock to Seaway in Seattle. Buying parts out of the USA is questionable to as I have to take into account the exchange rate of the Canadian dollar, which adds on 25-30% of any prices shown in US dollars. To add insult to injury, shipping costs on top start at a bare minimum of $20-$25 plus Global Shipping fees if purchased from Ebay. And this is if the seller will even ship to Canada, which a lot of them don’t. And please don’t recommend Marine Engine with their over inflated prices! They used to ship to Canada, but not anymore. When they did, I used them once for some urgently needed parts and when they did arrive, it was a brown UPS delivery truck which pulled in my driveway. The driver would not hand over the package until I had payed him some extra fees such as import fees or excise taxes which weren’t mentioned by M.E. This came as a shock but since I needed the parts, I had to pay.

What started out years ago as a very affordable hobby has slowly turned into a bit of a nightmare now. Pension cheques don’t quite cover the costs as well as pay cheques used to so I have to keep my eyes open for any good deals I can find now. Fortunately, if a part is unobtainable and can be made, I do have tooling in the shop to make it or repair it with. I used to roll my eyes when I heard of people reusing old points instead of replacing them, but I do that now to after polishing them since I can’t find new ones anywhere for a decent price. Same with OEM condensers, I use Vishay caps now. The list goes on. Offshore coils, offshore water pump kits, offshore carb kits etc. Not because of choice but because of necessity. The writing is on the wall and it’s the way of the future. The good old days of using OEM parts are over for me.

OK, my rant is over to and I’m off my soap box but I just want you all to understand why I buy these cheap parts now. It’s a case of eat or be eaten.

On another thought, I have lots of NOS OMC parts which I’ve been thinking of letting go along with thinning out the heard of motors around here a bit. In the end, keeping a few motors for my personal use. We’ll see. Something which has sparked my interest lately is lawn mower racing or mud mowers. I have six riders now with one currently being lowered 4″ and possibly being shortened a bit. Mowers are a dime a dozen around here just like old outboards used to be and parts are readily available. See how these crazy hobbies start?