• Mercury Racing Blog: Virtual Tour – Part 5: Sterndrives, Transoms and Accessories

    Continuing from Virtual Tour – Part 4: Horsepower Highway…we will follow the assembly of Mercury Racing sterndrives, transoms and accessories.

    Sterndrives
    Mercury Racing offers a variety of sterndrives fit for virtually any application. Bravo One XRs are enhancements of existing designs while NXT1, NXT6 and M8 drives were designed and developed in-house for Mercury Racing sterndrive packages. The Bravo One XR is a beefed up version of MerCruiser’s Bravo One drive. It was developed to withstand the rigors of offshore racing and performance boating. Our Bravo One XR Sport Master drive targets surface piercing applications. Bravo One XR and Bravo One XR Sport Masters are popular options for boats fitted with 525 EFI, 565 and 600 SCi engine packages. Mike Riedi, who has over 30 years experience building high performance outboard gearcases, also builds Bravo Sport Masters.

    Outboard cowling assembly includes the application of colorful graphics.

    Transoms
    Joe Backhaus builds Integrated Transom Systems (ITS) for Bravo One XR and Bravo Three XR drives. He also assembles M-Series transoms used with Mercury Racing NXT1, NXT6 and M8 drives.

    Next door to Joe, Dave Vehrs (when not man-handling our 18-wheel Marketing big rig in the Arizona Desert or Florida Keys) builds the drives to go with Joe’s transoms.

    When I first started working here, I attended outboard and sterndrive service schools. Drive building was the sterndrive school’s main focus. A beginner quickly learns the challenge of building a drive – over and over – to get the shimming right for correct gear tolerances. It was with this experience that I gained an appreciation for what Mike and Dave do every day. I’m still a rookie; these fellas are top-shelf pros.

    Accessories

    The Accessories department is the lifeblood of Mercury Racing manufacturing. Produced here are a variety of sub-assembly components – including outboard cowlings, hydraulic trim and steering cylinders, and engine electrical wiring harnesses. Also built here are finished products – including OptiMax Sport Jet pumps, Mercury Racing Zero Effort Controls and K-Plane trim tabs. Zero Effort Controls and K-Plane trim tabs were first developed at this Mercury Racing facility when it was the home of Kiekhaefer Aeromarine. Both were designed to withstand the rigors of offshore powerboat racing.

    Read the full blog post here >>
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