Mercury Sea Pro

reptocarl · Joined: 16 Oct 2016 Posts: 4

Hi, I was wondering if any have experience or thoughts about the Mercury Sea Pro engines?

MikeR · Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 11:47 am Post subject:

Are you asking about the current generation of Sea Pro four strokes? Sea Pro is their commercial line, available from 40 hp to 150 hp.

I have the "regular" Command Thrust 90, and it's interesting when looking at the Sea Pro selling points for the same engine at the link below, the only difference I see besides the decals are the stiffer upper mounts, for the "rigors of commercial applications"
https://www.mercurymarine.com/en/us/engines/outboard/seapro-fourstroke/seapro-fourstroke-75-115-hp/

One other available feature of the Sea Pro is the "Big Tiller" which is not going to be applicable to most C-Dory owners.

The touted "corrosion resistance" appears to be the same...when you go to the corrosion page linked from the Sea Pro page, you see that ALL mercury outboards are backed by the same corrosion warranty, and there is nothing specific to the Sea Pro line.
https://www.mercurymarine.com/en/us/corrosion-protection.

The other benefits touted on the Sea Pro page are also present/available with the regular 90CT:
Digital tach appears to be standard, but when you buy any model the dealer asks you what kind of tach you want, and I have upgraded to the same digital multi-function tach.

The Command Thrust lower unit appears to be the main selling point of the Sea Pro. And while I don't have the Sea Pro model, the regular Command Thrust 90 has been a great outboard for me so far, very smooth running and quiet. Swinging a 15x17" prop my top end is 29 knots (33 mph) and slow planing at 3000 rpm and around 10-11 knots, no trim tabs and no Permatrim (yet), with full fuel and load for several days of camping. In calm water my typical cruise is around 20 knots at 4200 rpm. Here's a pic at 3000 rpm from the last trip out 2 weekends ago.

-Mike

reptocarl · Joined: 16 Oct 2016 Posts: 4

Thanks for your reponse. Mercury also claims these engines will last 3 times longer than recreational models. Do you think the larger gear case on the CT models is an asset and what are the benefits?

reptocarl · Joined: 16 Oct 2016 Posts: 4

Ok, I called Mercury and I was told the Sea Pro's are detuned and have a different ECU. According to Mercury they operate at lower RPM's than equivalent Command Thrust models and that places less stress on the engine which is why they claim they last longer. The only other change is the stiffer mounts. Now we know.

MikeR · Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 3:49 pm Post subject:

It depends on the boat you're putting it on. They are definitely beneficial for pushing heavier loads, like a C-dory 22. A couple of other members here recently repowered with Command Thrust models (a 90 on a 22 and a 115 on a 23) and both reported positive improvements over what they had previously. This is the only C-dory 22' I've run, so have no basis of comparison. You can search for "Command Thrust" on this forum and will find this thread from earlier this year, which was a major influence when picking out the motor for my new 22':
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=24017&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Sunbeam · Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 4:27 pm Post subject:

MikeR,

While we're on the topic - and you mentioned the gauges - would you mind talking a bit more about which one(s) you chose? Last spring I started looking into re-powering with a CT90, and I kind of got stuck on the gauges. The shop I was talking to typically does more "fast boat" type stuff and wasn't totally up on all the variations. I usually do my own research anyway, but got a bit bogged down.

This was some months ago, but I think I remember that one most fancy/computerized gauge didn't appeal to me for some reason (like maybe it was more flashy than useful?); but then there are other "fancy" gauges too. Plus a buncha other choices. My head was spinning. And yet I'm not going to do a major $$$ re-power and then just pick the first gauges that come along, or the ones they usually use on completely different boats.

Somehow the Yamaha gauge selections made more sense to me, but I'm very intrigued by the CT90 -- moreso than the Yamaha.

Of course anyone else is welcome to chime in too (but I don't think too many folks here have Mercs).

MikeR · Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 4:44 pm Post subject:

Hi Sunbeam,
Initially I ordered the boat with the standard analog tach, the "Flagship" model I think? After the first trip out I decided it had to go. It was very "notchy" for lack of a better term. RPMs jumped up or down in increments of 100 or 200 rpm at a time, not smooth and fluid like what I'm used to. It just felt cheap, probably my bad for not doing more research when I got the call from the dealer, "they are installing your motor, what kind of tach do you want?".

So, next trip to the dealer I had them order the SC-100. It has Tachometer on the main dial, and about 40 different functions on the inset LCD display that you easily scroll through using the buttons on the bottom of the gauge, such as fuel flow, etc. In fact many of the functions don't even work because my motor doesn't have an associated sending unit (for example there are no fuel level senders in the fuel tanks, and I didn't order a trim/tilt gauge with the motor originally). I'm just happier to have the improved quality tach that works as it should (it was about $350 part).
https://embed.widencdn.net/pdf/plus/mercurymarine/nzifnfnqok/8M0082905-0413_SC1000_Glass_Gauges_LR.pdf?u=orhjei

Hope that helps?

Oh, and while I was upgrading the tach I also had them install the NMEA gateway so I now have virtual gauges on the Garmin echomap 94sv. That was a much more expensive upgrade, and they had problems getting the Merc and Garmin to talk to each other but after some calls to both companies they finally figured it out. Glad I didn't attempt that one myself as I had originally planned to do!

-Mike

Jazzmanic · Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 6:44 pm Post subject:

Sunbeam · Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 7:29 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the input from both of you. It reminded me of another thing I didn't mention above, which is that I started to wonder if it wouldn't be better to have simple, analog gauge(s) from the motor mfgr, and then have the fancier stuff output (via NMEA or whatever?) to a separate, non-motor-mfgr's screen. Vs. using the proprietary gauges. IIRC I didn't "love" any of the Merc ones I saw.

And that's where the boat dealer didn't have a lot of expertise. Because their typical boats don't have "big" chartplotters and that sort of thing (large inland lake).

Geez, I couldn't even remember what I was confused about