Ordering an outboard drop shipped to house

John Oliver

John Oliver

New member
Does anyone have a recommendation of an online outboard motor purveyor who would drop ship one to my house in the NW. I am looking for a new Japanese brand 50-60 and can hang and mount it myself. Seems to be a wide margin of pricing on the interweb and who knows if some are legit????
 
I have heard good things about Online Outboards. I was lined up to buy an 8 HP Suzuki from them, but my local dealer came close enough to matching their price that I was willing to pay a little more to avoid the hassle of shipping--which would have been free, but required me to be at home when it was delivered. Several other posters here said they'd had good experiences with Online Outboards. FWIW, pricing was similar from West Marine, but I don't know if they sell larger motors.
 
Online Outboards is good, but I think the biggest motors they sell are 30 hp. My understanding is that most manufacturers insist that a dealer rig and do the initial startup on the larger engines.
 
I asked this question a couple of years back and got only positive feedback from the US based dealers.
There are some overseas companies that will ship to the US, and prices were very competitive (or at least used to be pre-tarriffs),
But do you really want to give a company in Singapore or Tiaiwan your CC number??
 
Jeff Reardon said:
True, but do I really want to give someone in Jersey or Florida my credit card? No offense to the Jersey or Florida members, of course. You all seem like perfectly nice people. ;)
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Well, I'd be happy to accept your credit card if you are choosing just those two outstanding states!
 
I think I will keep trying to find a late model used one. I just didnt want some goober drilling holes in my boat and wiring it after a long night out on the town.
 
I was considering buying my Suzuki mail-order last year. I had a discussion with a friend of mine that works at a local boat shop. Unfortunately they don't sell loose motors but told me I should reconsider since there are only two shops in a 60 mile radius that are authorized Suzuki dealers. His reasoning was maintenance needs. He said in our area dealer loyalty is a big deal and I should consider that even with warranty work being paid by the manufacturer I would most likely find any work I needed done not a priority if I didn't buy from a dealership. That sounds harsh coming from a friend in the business but I appreciated his cander and definitely something to consider.
 
Ed L. said:
I was considering buying my Suzuki mail-order last year. I had a discussion with a friend of mine that works at a local boat shop. Unfortunately they don't sell loose motors but told me I should reconsider since there are only two shops in a 60 mile radius that are authorized Suzuki dealers. His reasoning was maintenance needs. He said in our area dealer loyalty is a big deal and I should consider that even with warranty work being paid by the manufacturer I would most likely find any work I needed done not a priority if I didn't buy from a dealership. That sounds harsh coming from a friend in the business but I appreciated his cander and definitely something to consider.
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I've heard similar around here. The problem is there are so many more boats on the water these days and not near as many more (good) mechanics. So the good ones get backed up, and I can't blame them for prioritizing customers who bought from them, in fact think they absolutely should.

I recently had a hydraulic tilt issue after I did an oil change - called my friend, who said they were easily 3-4 weeks out before they could look at it in the shop (it's been a couple years since I had it really serviced, so thought if they could take it I'd get a full lookover before putting it in the water). I wasn't going to wait that long, and, after inspection, it was just low on fluid so a simple fix.
 
I know, I have got the same message from dealers when buying a car. If you don't buy it from me, you will go last in line for warranty work. I have never had this come to fruition since most dealerships love warranty work payments.

All good boat shops are swamped during the boating season but slow down during the winter. Buying a motor that will be primarily used in winter months for hunting seems to be a logical approach. I cant believe a warranty shop will say no in December just to spite you?
 
I've been watching this thread with interest and am glad you found an option on it John. I wouldn't be worried about warranty either, most of outboards out there are pretty good, and there should be plenty of info out there on the specific one you want. Go for it.

I used to have an older (early 80's) Robalo 20' CC, and I re-powered it with a Suzuki DF140 in 2007. Great engine. About two months later I drive down the ocean, get in the boat, put the motor down, turn the key and nothing. It isn't making sense, I have power. I check the harness going into the engine, everything looks good. There's a mesh tube covering a the wiring and the control cables where they come out from the hull, and while I can't think of any reason there would be a problem, but I slide it up anyway because I can't think of anything else, already checked everything forward at the switch and all. Lo and behold, I see an automotive blue butt connector with the wire hanging out one end of it. I stick it in enough to hold, go to the key, starts right up. I realize that whatever hack job they had installing the motor cut a wire by mistake and repaired with a cheap connector that rotted out in a marine environment in about two months. Probably didn't know any better. I was lucky that day, I kept a little electrical kit in the boat with marine shrink wrap connectors and was good to go and went and caught some fish.

So when you said the reason you wanted to do it yourself was you didn't want a hack job either I could certainly relate......
 
John Oliver said:
I know, I have got the same message from dealers when buying a car. If you don't buy it from me, you will go last in line for warranty work. I have never had this come to fruition since most dealerships love warranty work payments.

All good boat shops are swamped during the boating season but slow down during the winter. Buying a motor that will be primarily used in winter months for hunting seems to be a logical approach. I cant believe a warranty shop will say no in December just to spite you
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On the surface that's logical and in southern states most likely the case. In my area watercraft work goes on the back burner in winter as our local shops also deal with snow machines. Two years ago I was having an electrical issue and a shifter issue with my Mercury outboard and since they knew I was a duck hunter they worked it in. In the shop for almost 8 weeks. Got my boat back 2 weeks before the end of the season and was froze out for the season 2 days after I picked it up.
 
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