Moeller Marine Product Review

Over the years we have often used Moeller Marine products, also sold under Tempo, and found them to be of fairly decent quality. But our most recent purchases have changed our opinion considerably. Here on the Beach House site we often post the specific product we are working with and links to where it can be found. When we use a product we like, it gets a good mention and we will often recommend it to others. But when we find a product we consider of poor quality we feel just as obligated to let others know of our experience. Three recent products made by Moeller have made our "Never Again" list. 

Each of these was purchased only a few months ago and only used a couple of times. The first is a pad that goes over the transom of our dinghy to cushion it when the outboard is mounted. This has only been used one other time with the outboard on and when we mounted the outboard again this weekend, here is the condition we found the pad to be in. It has split completely in half. The dinghy is mounted horizontally on our swim platform and it is impossible for anything to come in contact that might cause this problem.

The next is the premade fuel line that connects the outboard to the fuel tank. The squeeze bulb that lets you prime the line and the outboard is made of such a hard rubber material that you can't squeeze it to prime anything. You must virtually step on it to get the bulb to compress.

The hose itself is starting to collapse from the inside. We are always very careful not to crimp the hose but this one has already developed a crimp on its own, right at the end fitting. Also note the cheap crimped clamp on the end fitting since this too is a problem.

Both ends leak where the hose attaches to the end fitting connectors because the crimped clamp does not clamp down tight enough on the hose. You can easily spin the end connectors and if you can get enough pressure on the priming bulb the ends leak and will continue to leak when the engine is running and pulling fuel from the tank.

The biggest disappointment has been the brand new 3 gallon fuel tank that we purchased about a month ago. We use three gallon tanks for the dinghy so that the gas in the tanks get turned over quickly and we don't have to throw away bad gas, especially as expensive as it is now. The first time we filled up the tank and carried it down the dock we found it was leaking all over the place. Upon further inspection it was determined that the threads for the plastic cap that holds the pick up tube was split in half where the threads meet the mounting.

After disassembling the fitting, I used the handle for the pliers to hold open the split to show how bad it was. Note the other tank sitting next to the broken one. This older tank is a couple of years old and is also a Moeller tank. It has shown no signs of problems and continues to be leak free. I can only make the assumption that the manufacturing process has changed and quality control has gone down the tubes. The colors of the tanks are not the same further indicating to me that things have changed. Perhaps if it had been a single product we might have just taken it back for exchange. But three different products from the same manufacturer all failing in such a short period leads me to only one conclusion. We don't want this product on our boat. This time we will take the hit and reorder all three of these from another manufacturer. I invite Moeller to come on the site and comment on this if they care to.