Article: Mercury Verado Lost During Sea Trial - and Recovered!

[RSWORDS]

Based on my conversation with Alfred, I believe that is exactly what happened. I should have clarified my point on that a little more; I meant to make the point that from what I understand, the transom of the boat was so thick that the standard Mercury mounting bolts were not long enough. It had been assumed by the rigger that using bolts from a similar sized Honda outboard would suffice. That’s how I understand it, meaning I don’t think it was a deliberate attempt by the riggers to cut any corners. I think that assuming the bolts of a similar size engine would be strong enough is really not out of the realm of plausibility. I should have made that more clear.

Alfred also wanted to make the point to me that he hopes the video will show, in very graphic form, what happens when a simple mistake was made. I’ll say that I might also have assumed the Honda bolts would have been strong enough myself. I know it’s easy to see the problem now, in retrospect, but I think an important lesson was learned there.

Ignorance isn't an excuse. Mercury makes bolts plenty long enough. And my un calibrated eye says that transom is thin enough for the bolts that come with the motor. But I could be wrong not actually knowing the thickness. Just how it lools

[RSWORDS]

They have a spacer plate to keep the bracket off the cap.... not sure what the plates are made of, but if they are starboard, they can compress and loosen the engines.....

You are correct. So also lost some of its support because that top inch or so isn't touching the bracket

[RSWORDS]

other way around, Honda bolt, Merc nut I thought he said?

Not a merc nut

[powerabout]

Omv v8 bolts would do the job, they are 17-4 Stainless

[Scream And Fly]

Not rigging the motor properly for it's intended use and/or not using the proper fasteners is 100% the rigger fault.

I agree 100%. It was definitely a mistake to use different bolts. I think that assuming the mounting bolts of two similarly-sized engines would each be of similar strength is not the kind of rigging error that would be obvious to everybody.

[Scream And Fly]

Ignorance isn't an excuse. Mercury makes bolts plenty long enough. And my un calibrated eye says that transom is thin enough for the bolts that come with the motor. But I could be wrong not actually knowing the thickness. Just how it lools

And yes, I agree again. I’m definitely not making excuses for anybody. It’s very clear that a big mistake was made that resulted in the motor loss. My side of it is that it Is an important lesson to be learned. If this is looking like I’m making excuses for the people that rigged the boat, then I think I need to re-word my first post, because that’s not what I was meaning to communicate. It was a rigging error with a drastic consequence.

But the recovery was pretty impressive.

[RSWORDS]

And yes, I agree again. I’m definitely not making excuses for anybody. It’s very clear that a big mistake was made that resulted in the motor loss. My side of it is that it Is an important lesson to be learned. If this is looking like I’m making excuses for the people that rigged the boat, then I think I need to re-word my first post, because that’s not what I was meaning to communicate. It was a rigging error with a drastic consequence.

But the recovery was pretty impressive.

I don't think you are making excuses for anyone at all. And yes it's a big lesson. I do think you where given semi-bad info though.

But that's just my opinion (and we know how that saying goes) from sitting on the pooper, playing on my phone, getting ready for work, hundreds of miles away from the boat. lol

[XstreamVking]

20 thousand dollar seats, 30 thousand each motors, 3 dollar bolts.

[home made tunnel]

Wanna read a tantalizing story about using the wrong nuts and bolts? How about on the USS IWO JIMA had a main steam pipe blow off, killing everyone in the boiler room instantly. All because a shipyard mechanic who barely spoke English, was pointed to a "random parts bin" to find nuts and bolts to put a main steam pipe back together. 850* temps, and 600psi... the wrong material hardware heated up differently than the pipe, loosened, and leaked / exploded.
This story is told in many professional ship yards and used as a training device.

Read about it here:
https://www.nationalboard.org/index....eID=164&ID=226

[H2OPERF]

When i was at the miami show this year i was looking at some of the big boats with the standard crap stainless 'THE' bolts holding on motors that cost as much as a car and thinking WTF, for a few bucks more u can buy 12 piont ARP struff that looks good and is stronger than gr8 steel..

[powerabout]

I agree 100%. It was definitely a mistake to use different bolts. I think that assuming the mounting bolts of two similarly-sized engines would each be of similar strength is not the kind of rigging error that would be obvious to everybody.

There is more to it than that.
You cant say one huge lump of a 4 stroke will fall off because the mounting hardware comes from another vendors huge lump.

[flabum1017]

There is more to it than that.
You cant say one huge lump of a 4 stroke will fall off because the mounting hardware comes from another vendors huge lump.

Right.... there are millions of outboards bolted on with low grade bolts that stay on... they were hamering this boat to try and show how tough it is, but obviously the weak point was the bolts they chose to mount the engines.......

[powerabout]

Right.... there are millions of outboards bolted on with low grade bolts that stay on... they were hamering this boat to try and show how tough it is, but obviously the weak point was the bolts they chose to mount the engines.......

Yes makes me wonder how many of the engine builders have different standards for their 1/2 bolts?
OMC had to up it for the V8's bolts so I guess that allowed a punter to install one with V6 and lower style by mistake?
How about Merc are there different standards or do all engines get same bolts?
How about the Japs?

[Scream And Fly]

20 thousand dollar seats, 30 thousand each motors, 3 dollar bolts.

That really puts it into incredible perspective for sure.

[Whaaaaat]

Was it the 70s that the mounts were standardized? With the weight and power increasing seems a redesign would be in the near future? Larger saddle, more/larger bolts mandatory?