sail outboards

[blur]

Does any body know anything about chinese "sail" outbards

http://www.sailoutboardsusa.com/

They say they are exact copy of yamaha.

What I'm wondering is are they legal or ilegal copy, i mean do they license some older outboard techonogy from yamaha or they just imitate them without any legal rights.

Did any body tried or see these outboards.
Are they any good, what are your experience?

[foilcats]

I have seen and used some sail outboards 15hp and 40hp and have giving them a good trial, they seem to go well and also know the maunfacture and have visited them and continuosly follow the progress of the sail outboards and can get them for people if they want,
From our experience with using them and exploring them the quality is good and would compare it to a Tohatsu in earlier days,
The main let down I could see they had cheapened the Pull start sytem which needs improvement, also some of the plastics in fuel sytem are not so great,
As far as the tank and hoses goes its the same fittings, theres no electric start or tilts which is a hassle, and no electric starts at all yet that we are aware of,
Mercury make alot of there motors in China so these may becoming availble shortly,
With the right to the yamaha design it is old yamaha motors that they have replicated but not 100% they may have started with old molds for casting or they have replicated them and the factorie has no problems from yamaha we are aware of and the factorie also says they have every right to sell this technology.

There also has not been any contact from yamaha to any of the resellers that we are aware of,

I would welcome any news about this subject, especially for the parsun outboards and sail outboard, if you want more information on the sail outboards or Parsun outboards or the Star diesel outboards, see www.sailoutbaords.co.nz or www.outboards.cn which has all the petrol and diesel outboards currently available from China.

As far as we know from a Chinese Associate the parsun outboards are better quality and I have seen them to touch but havnt tested them yet,
The Parsun outboards Manufacture is a off shoot of the Sail outboards as the management had a split early in the piece,

The Parsun 4 strokes outbaords which are available in sizes from 2.5hp up to 15hp, There is a 25hp 4 stroke also becoming availble in June,

the Outboards are tank tested for 500hrs before they are released for sale,

I have some 40hp and 15hp sail outboard samples to test and view in Auckland. call 64 (0)21 2022193 ask for Stephen