Had an interesting talk today

[MOP]

I was skulking around trying to find an OMC trim sender for a member, had the great fortune to run into an old OMC rep. Could not believe my eyes!!!! Anyway we spoke about the demise of OMC, he placed the blame squarely on the owner. He said the machines were tired worn out of tolerance and he gave up on trying to get the bugs out of OB's, he has some contacts at Bombardier he said they were appalled at the shabbiness of the engine parts they inherited in the sale. They are use to aircraft spec they were below lawn mower spec, he said you buy a new Etech and you now have what OMC should have been. He was sorry they did not team up with Volvo a few years sooner they would have killed Mercury Marine with the ensuing quality, I brought up the Hump Backs and how they are holding up. He said that was all Volvo's doing and thought the drives would last most people as long as the older Volvo's did. He said Volvo was all about quality just on the scene a little to late!

[f_inscreenname]

Isn't Volvo owned by Ford now?

[MOP]

He said Bombardier had laser measuring equipment for their aircraft division which they used to check the inventory, they were a machinists nightmare.

[zelatore]

Nope - no Ford connection. Volvo boat stuff is part of Penta - the heavy truck and commercial stuff. Once upon a time yes, the car and commercial shops were under the same roof, but that was before Ford bought the automotive side.

Then there's Saab. An aircraft company pre-war, the story goes they first started out after the war trying to build boats. First one sank, so they moved to cars. Don't know if there's any truth to it, but it makes a good story.

[MOP]

Porsche built a beautiful boat that never made it either, I saw one in person and must have stood there for 1/2 hour drooling. My Merc dealer buddy had a BMW out drive package with an inline six, sat in his show room for a few years then ended up in some guys fishing boat talk about sacrilegious.

[zelatore]

Porsche built a beautiful boat that never made it either, I saw one in person and must have stood there for 1/2 hour drooling. My Merc dealer buddy had a BMW out drive package with an inline six, sat in his show room for a few years then ended up in some guys fishing boat talk about sacrilegious.

I think the boat you are talking about is Fearless Yachts -
http://www.rudderblog.com/article/fearless-yachts-launches-a-collection-of-custom-luxury-boats-with-porsche-design-studio

Not actually built by Porsche, but they had a hand in the design.

In the same manner, some of the newest Carvers were done in collaboration with BMW design. You can see they really took the look in a different direction from the rest of the products.
http://carveryachts.com/2008_carver_47_motor_yacht.aspx

[motorcity]

Their was one of the Porsche boats for sale on Ebay rcently. The guy has listed several times, in the past year. he was asking a rediculous price. The owner is in Michigan, but the boat is somehwere in Florida.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche-Boat_W0QQitemZ170373168686QQcmdZViewItemQQptZOther _Boats?hash=item27ab083e2e&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245

[MOP]

That was the one I was drooling over not the other one!

Thanks motorcity:)