Forced hand on motor choice? What would you do?

I thought I would throw this out there to see what people think about this. As we all know, Crestliner, Lund, and Lowe were purchased by Brunswick. We all know Brunswick owns Mercury Marine. There has been a lot of speculation by a lot of arm chair spin casters that Brunswick may force buyers to buy Merc on Lund, C-liner, and Lowe boats. IF THAT WAS THE CASE, how would you feel about your boat manufacturer forcing you into one motor type? Honestly, I have no inside information as to the outcome, I do know it is being talked about.
What are your thoughts/suggestions?
Tuck

What would I do if someone told me that I could not choose the motor I wanted on a boat I was looking to buy new? Walk. Plain and simple. plenty of good boats out there that will allow a buyer to choose their motor of preference.

Good question, Chris. You and I spoke about this awhile back. I would think that this would not be the best business move. Perhaps offer good incentives for rigging with Merc, but don’t exclude other motors. Doesn’t Merc have some lawsuit against Yamaha right now?

Wouldn’t bother me….

I love my Merc

Incentives would be fine but if they force a merc pre-rig on all boats I think they’re making a monster mistake. Anyone wanting a lund wit ha yammie or evinrude would need to pay for the merc rigging, remove it and then pay to have the appropriate rigging installed.

No thanks.

Cars and trucks are that way. You can’t go by a Ford truck with a Chebby engine in it. You wanna Ford your gunna get a Ford engine.

You can be certain that the only way the Lunds will be prerigged next year is with Merc’s. This is what is known in the industry as buying transoms. If Lund builds say 7,000 boats next year then Brunswick has just gauranteed that they will sell 7,000 motors for those transoms.

A dealer will likeley have to buy the full package and derig the Merc before he mounts anything else. This will add a lot of expense with the derig rerig of the engine as well as doweling and redrilling the transom.

Believe me Brunswick did not buy those companies to have someone elses engines hanging on the back. It will still be able to be done but it will be expensive. If you like OMC go with the Merc., if you like the Merc. go with the Merc. For everyone else it will take until the boat show next year to see how it will work out. Your best bet will be to find a dealer who sells Lunds and Skeeters in an area where everyone wants Mercs on their Skeeter.

Trucks aren’t boats… merc doesn’t make lunds and crestliner doesn’t make yammies. I do understand that a parent company now owns both a boat and motor manufacturer and they will try to force consumers to buy their packaged boats n’ motors. But I think it will fail miserably.

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Cars and trucks are that way. You can’t go by a Ford truck with a Chebby engine in it. You wanna Ford your gunna get a Ford engine.

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Trucks aren’t boats… merc doesn’t make lunds and crestliner doesn’t make yammies. I do understand that a parent company now owns both a boat and motor manufacturer and they will try to force consumers to buy their packaged boats n’ motors. But I think it will fail miserably.

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Cars and trucks are that way. You can’t go by a Ford truck with a Chebby engine in it. You wanna Ford your gunna get a Ford engine.

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Couldn’t agree more, I can’t get a Towncar with a Jag motor, both owned by Ford motor company.

I remember talking about this a while ago, and for us who aren’t merc fans, it will be unfortunate we can’t get the boat we want with the motor we want, at least at a reasonable price. I’d rather not give any of my money to someone who is trying to monopolize the industry. Time to look at the Skeeters, Tuffy’s etc…

I really do not like the idea at all, mostly as I’ve never been a Merc fan. I would want my choice of boat and motor and rigging. I would stay away from a boat package totally if it was not what I wanted. I also can’t help but think it is BIG BUSINESS trying to force what THEY think on the USER public. and I really can’t stand that. Jack..

You gotta give a guy choices plain and simple. If buyers are forced into the total package then most people will find another brand of boat and motor to run.
My two cents.

Gator Hunter

I agree 100%!!!

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What would I do if someone told me that I could not choose the motor I wanted on a boat I was looking to buy new? Walk. Plain and simple. plenty of good boats out there that will allow a buyer to choose their motor of preference.

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I love my Lund, right now I run a 40 Evinrude and plan on upgrading to a 90 Yamaha & T-8 kicker in a year or two. I am 100% sold on Yamaha and I have never owned anything but Lund Boats. When the day comes that I am ready for a new boat as much as I love Lund Boats if Brunswick says I can only put a Merc on it I will be looking for a different boat.

Companies do this all the time. They’ll just offer a much better deal on the motor of choice. You pay through the nose for the other one.

You will still be able to buy whatever motor you want to fit your Lund. 99% of the boats that leave the factory are NOT pre-rigged. Most of the pre-rigging is done for the pro’s or for demo’s or for photo boats (the ones you see in the brochure). Pre-rigging would not be feasable for delivery. They could only get half as many boats on the load at a time. It is very time consuming to rig a motor, controls etc. They simply can’t rig every boat that leaves the factory. They know everyone has their own loyalties to a brand of motor–they are’nt going to risk losing customers by restricting motors to Merc only.

I think there was a deal signed with Evinrude for one year for some rigging on boats til Mercury can get their production up in high gear to be able to provide enough mid range motors. After that one year, look out is my guess. My boat dealer, Smittys Marine in Lake City and a Lund dealer, saw this coming and has added Alumacraft boats to the line of boats he now offers so if this happens he can offer his customers a good boat line also that will offer Evinrude and Johnson motors if they prefer them. Hes a big Lund dealer but is also big on giving his customers what they want so they are a happy satisfied customer. Personally, I think, and sure hope, you will be able to buy Lund with a choice of motor but I’m afraid it will cost more as they might come prerigged for a Merc which means you are paying to have the controls removed and have new controls installed to fit another motor which would probably add a grand to the price. I’m guessing that since Mercury is hurting money wise that they are looking at Boat with a Merc packages to increase sales as Lund and Crestliner are two mega sales boat lines. I love my Lund and my Johnson motors but if I could only buy a Lund with a Merc then I might take a real good look at the Alumacraft boat line to get what I want for a motor. Thanks, Bill

Just got off the phone with Lund (I was looking for a part number). When I asked the question about Merc’s and prerigging, the fella said that “for the ’05 model year, we have contracts with all motor manufacturers (Johnson/Evenrude, Honda and Suzuki) except Yamaha”. He lead me to believe that Yamaha didn’t sign on because of the law suit. Although later he did say that he wasn’t sure if Lund wouldn’t renew or Yamaha backed out. After ’05 all contracts are renewed…and of course the above would change.

Isn’t most, if not all PRE rigging done at the factory? Then the motor is attached at the dealer level?

Every boat I’ve ever purchased or seen on a dealers floor was pre-rigged at the factory.

To answer the question asked….Although I have a Merc, I don’t like the idea of being force into anything, just because I want a Lund…or Crestliner.

It will be interesting to see if they make the mistake of prerigging for Merc only.

I agree with James, I have sold boats, every boat I have seen come through a dealer has been preriggeg. Reason being, it is much easier to install controls and wiring at the factory before all the fit and finish goodies are installed.
How about if you were a dealer, and you had Yamaha and Bombardier techs on staff that you have stuck a ton of money into? Also your stocked parts, repair and service business is wrapped around your current motor line? I really think this will be a self fufilling prophecy. Sure, they could guarantee a ton of Mercs to sell, but they could even sell more with other motor options. It should be interesting!
Tuck

Brunswick purchased Princecraft from OMC after OMC went belly up in 2001. Try and find a 2003 or 2004 Princecraft with any motor but a Mercury. Prior to that, you didn’t see them with anything but an Evinrude or Johnson. You will be able to put any motor you want on them, it’s just going to cost you more for a motor other than the one owned by the parent company (in this case, Brunswick).
STG113

I thought this was interesting…

I stopped today at “a Lund dealer” to get some Ring Free. The owner told me that as far as he knows, he’ll have to get a Merc for every Lund he sells. He doesn’t know when it’s going to happen, but he said he’s been told it is going to happen. He told me that he’ll stop selling Lund and start selling Alumacraft, when that day arrives. He exclusively sells Yamaha motors and believes that the majority of his customers don’t want Mercs. He referred to Lund and Alumacraft as premium boats and Yamahas as premium motors. When I was looking at new boats, I had settled on an Alumacraft/Honda or a Lund/Yamaha. I was a bit amazed that a Lund dealer openly spoke about switching to Alumacraft.