As my Mercury 80 was in pieces again and with Se7en's words of impending doom ringing in my ears* I thought I should replace the original stainless steel reeds with some composite ones.
On dissasembly I noticed that a couple of the petals were a bit high off the plate, with a sort of splash pattern on the inner face. The cause of the lift was misalignment with the clamping screws causing one of the holes in the reed to deform. I took the opportunity to also lap the reed blocks flat and smooth while everything was apart.
I spent a bit of time searching around for a UK supplier but drew a blank so went direct to Boyesen in the US. http://www.boyesen.com/power-reeds-outboard I placed my order on Monday and the parts arrived on Tuesday of the following week from the US. I also saved $35 by quoting discount coupon code BRDR30 during checkout.
Time will tell if its money well spent but I was very impressed with the customer service and speed of delivery.
*Se7en warns that the originals can wreck the motor if a petal detaches whereas a composite one will break up and exit harmlessly. My motor is quite old with unknown history so these sorts of warnings frighten me.
Boyesen Reeds
Re: Boyesen Reeds
I very much doubt if you will notice any performance difference, but I always advise fitting them as 'insurance' , the original reeds are very good, however, after 20,30 or 40 years of vibrating they can crack and break, if that happens it could wreck a cylinder block, I have had 5 or 6 customers that this has happened to, not very many I know, but not nice if you were one of those 5 or 6 .
If your doing a proper rebuild on an old outboard have a good look at the reed valves, its one very important part that most people over look.
If your doing a proper rebuild on an old outboard have a good look at the reed valves, its one very important part that most people over look.