Parsuns 15hp

[dredge3]

I am looking at outboard options and came across these Parsun engines 15hp. 3 years warranty, where you can service them yourself.
Its £1329 for a manual start and £1549 for electric. (Dont think i want to mess carrying a battery.)
A 6hp Suzuki is £1000. The figures look good.
Any advice welcome

[A1an]

You wont here anything good from me about a Parsuns.


In my opinion they are sh1t. Ive had 3 through the workshop and they are on a par with cheap Chinese generators.

[Pikey Dave]

Personally, I'd sooner chuck a grand at a 6hp Suzuki than £1300 at a 15hp Parsun.

[breezeblock]

a lot of folks will slate them as they are Chinese I had 2 a 10hp which was faultless and this was replaced by a 20hp both were faultless and very economical

[A1an]

Originally Posted by breezeblock

a lot of folks will slate them as they are Chinese

You would be surprised at just how many things are made in China, the problem is the huge gap in quality.

[breezeblock]

I am under no illusion how much stuff comes from china with wildly varying quality

[beamishken]

I'd rather have a 10 year old yam merc suzuki honda than a brand new parsun

[Xk59D]

Mariner/merc are doing 15% cashback just now, can get a 15hp for about 1600 quid ish if you get the dosh back and shop about. I don't know what hoops you need to jump through to get the money back but worth a looksy surely.

Quick example...https://shop.chastheboat.co.uk/produ...urce=googlepla

[dredge3]

Mixed views then

[ShinyShoe]

Originally Posted by dredge3

Mixed views then

1 guy said - they are OK...

What the others haven't done is said what was actually wrong with them. My Dad was an HGV mechanic. His boss kept buying Renault Trucks (I assume they were cheap). My Dad is not a fan of French Trucks. But I can't actually tell you what was wrong with them - I never got the impression they all broke down every day. I assume they were hard to work on - you know the sorts of thing - to change a bulb you have to dismantle half the engine... Probably lots of plastic "clip in" trim that looks nice when new and the first time it needs removed breaks.

Is a Parsun engine any more likely to fail on the water? I doubt we have any way to give meaningful data.

Will it be cheaper to maintain? You should be able to get data on service costs, service intervals and parts to compare. You may be able to self service it in warranty but do you know how and if it takes 6 hours to do do you really want to, to save a few quid.

Can you get parts - this I suspect is the crucial question! For a service - you can plan and get everything you need delivered to your door. If you take it out this weekend and develop a fault - can you get the part, get it fitted and be back on the water for next weekend? The most common advice when people ask is a Yam better than a Suzie or a Honda better than an Etec - is pick the one with a good service centre near you. You don't want to have to drive 200 miles to get a part or drop the engine off for repair.

I suspect you will be told it is a Yamaha clone - Yamaha parts will [usually] fit (I may have mixed up my clones!) - but if you go to a Yamaha dealer and say can I have a new fuel pump diaphragm for my Parsun - does he really want to spend 20 minutes checking which one might fit your Parsun, for a £20 part that he probably makes £2 "profit" on...? Its not a 100% direct clone like the Merc / Mariners were/are with just a different label on it.

3 year warranty vs 5 year or maybe even 6 on some other models. Are you only planning to keep it 3 years?

Consider also re-sale value. Always hard to put numbers on these things. There are no used ones on ebay which makes it hard to gauge! At a guess - 3 year old £1500 Parsun will be selling for <£500 so a £1000 loss over 3 years. 3 year old £2000 Honda same use etc will probably make a similar loss or less...

I can see the attraction. But Im not convinced. If I somehow needed a 'fleet' of them I can almost see an attraction. The saving might add up. I could buy a spare with the saving to swap out if waiting on parts. I can stock my more common parts etc. But not many people need 10 15HP outboards, and if they do I'd expect them to be negotiating a deal with Yam/Merc/Suzie etc!

[Poly]

Originally Posted by ShinyShoe

Is a Parsun engine any more likely to fail on the water? I doubt we have any way to give meaningful data.

failing on the water is only the most dramatic failure mode. I’d guess more o/b are consigned to death when they fail to start or die in the garage. Like cheap generators, scooters, quads, mowers - when they are running they are probably fine.

You may be able to self service it in warranty.

my guess would be that most o/b engineers are busy enough to refuse work on parsuns (or at least during peak season) and that it’s why they are pushing diy servicing.

... re-sale value. Always hard to put numbers on these things. There are no used ones on ebay which makes it hard to gauge!

eBay would only tell you the value of those that are still working/being sold for S&R not those which have been destined to life at the back of a shed.

From where I have seen parsuns used it is mostly small fishing lakes/lochs. O/bs there are a convenience rather than vital and you can row back ashore. They also don’t get salt water corrosion so may cope better. My guess is they possibly don’t get serviced at all and are just run until they die.

[puppymum]

Haha clear as mud

[jeffstevens763@g]

Outboard Engine Brands | www.penninemarine.com

bit of a write up from these guys might help you decide, personally i wouldn't buy parsun i think they need another 15-20 years before i would look at them not against chinese build quality but you get what you pay for, if on a budget i would look secondhand lots of engines have hardly any hours on them in the leisure market so your buying virtually new with a few scratches OMO

[Fenlander]

What a great link Jeff. There may be a little commercial bias but overall it gives a newbie a pretty fair overview of OBs... I'd not have any substantial gripe with any of their brand summary comments.

[jeffstevens763@g]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

What a great link Jeff. There may be a little commercial bias but overall it gives a newbie a pretty fair overview of OBs... I'd not have any substantial gripe with any of their brand summary comments.

yes David looked at all of the reviews and thought fair comment on all, one thing that does stick out is tohatsu being a more basic engine possibly pre the new efi versions for all the comments about them, although i have never owned one that appeals to me especially in the environment they work in and for the less mechanical of us ease of maintenance. if i were to buy again i would definitely consider one not that i am not happy with the suzukis.
but the parsun is a no as is the hidea [think thats how its spelt]which i believe isn't available anymore possibly the route the parsun will go who knows

[Fenlander]

Agree re Tohatsu. I'm in the market for a new 9.9 at the moment and the Tohatsu appealed as a no nonsense motor. For one reason and another though the dealers near me didn't work out.

By chance I was talking to the Fowey lifeboat mechanic on holiday and he held them in high regard as a durable "anyone can work on them" engine.

For me the Parson is a total no for the lack of UK dealerships/spare availability and very poor resale prospects. I have no experience to comment on the quality issue.

[jeffstevens763@g]

when you google tohatsu they are reputed to make engines in the lower hp bracket for mercury and of course mariner so can't be half bad we've run mercs at work for years bulletproof need to be of course for commercial works