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Mercury Black Scorpion


mlange

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After I sell my Sunsetter this weekend (fingers are crossed) I'm hoping to pick up an RLXi right away.

I currently have a line on three different ones and, as usual, none of them completely fit the bill, but beggars can't be choosers, right?

Anyway, here's my dilema... the local dealer, who has been very good despite the fact that I bought my Sunsetter left over from an out-of-state dealer, has a 2004 RLXi that would be my color choice, same options, etc... except for that it has the Black Scorpion engine instead of the Monsoon.

My two concerns are resale value and warranty (1yr vs. 3yrs). I don't think I'm too concerned with the warranty issue simply from the fact that if there is a problem, it is most likely to come up within the first year anyway and this boat is used (175 hrs) so it's been "wrung out" already. It was a ski show boat, so I would be getting the full factory warranty and it was sent back to the factory to be "reconditioned". I am concerned, though, with the resale value.

Before everyone jumps on me about it being a ski show boat, I talked a bit with one of the local promo guys and he said that the guys that had this boat take very good care of it, so aside from the 175 hrs, the crap was not beat out of it.

I don't want to get into a "the Monsoon is a better engine than the Scorpion" or anything like that. I just want to know whether or not you guys would shy away from a boat if it had the Scorpion instead of the Monsoon in it.

Thanks!

Mike

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Is it a Bartlett's boat? I know they use Merc engines exclusively. I wouldn't shy away from it. The quietest Malibu I ever heard was a Sportster with a muffled Black Scorp in it. It was quieter than a Nautique. Very cool!

Make sure you test it out good. I drove a RLX with that motor in it last year for a little bit. It had a pronounced miss at WOT that would occur every 5-10 seconds.

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My first Malibu had an extremely trouble free Merc.

I have lots of friends with other comp boats that use Merc and they all reliable

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The black scorpion boats are fast. Those motors do kick some @$$ in the water. A buddy of mine had a 96 closed bow response and it beat my 96 Echelon and I have the Monsoon motor. I was sad!!!! Cry.gif Mercury makes a great motor that will last a long time for you. Enjoy it.

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i like indmar simply because it's different. there's a ton of merc in so cal.

merc makes incredible equipment(outboards and sterndrives are unmatched-especially the racing ones Shocking.gif ) and they firmly stand behind their products.

Edited by madchild
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It sounds like there's plenty of support for the mercs! I don't know this to be true, but I have hearc it as a concern, is that the merc require different diagnostic software than the indmars which the dealer likely has (but possibly not mercs). Look into that. But, I don't know whether merc outdrive dealers would be able to work on it either.

If you get it, just be sure to get the huge scorpion sticker and put it on the side...sweet!

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We've had 2 Mercury IO's with nary a problem. Good equipment. The 225 HP 2 stroke Outboard was great until it blew the top end off. $6k later...

We just bought a 4 stroke outboard last night and the reports on the motor were solid.

I prefer the Indmar manufacturing capability to Merc for inboard use, but that was not your question. I don't think your resale would be impacted by a Mercury inboard. Both start with Chevy truck engines which are solid. Chevy_anim.gif

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Our boat has a merc 350 mag mpi and it's been awsome.I would not hesitate to have another one.Like RodgerQ said they all start off the same.

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