An alternative to mercury

[JPEROG]

just a random thought ,,, to get the performance we"re talking about there are fewer and fewer places to do it safely pushing us further and further into open water that is seldom calm enough for an STV or Ally to run for a prolonged period , soon big wakes or weather events force you to slow to a safe operating aspect and the bigger hulls walk right through it and never let up, kinda of a bummer thus the need for the larger higher HP motors to push those hulls those speeds giving engine manufacturers incentive to produce units that fill that requirement, gotta step up or stay in the back , just fact. It's that old saying " get up and run with the big dogs or stay on the porch " just sayin

Very true. Wake/ski boats are way bigger and very popular on inland lakes and chains that used to have 17' correct crafts running around. 25'+ Tri-toons are also covering the inland lakes and chains "they also create large wakes". In addition to that, there are just plain more boats on the water then in days of the past The older I get, the more I realize how lucky I have been running single O.B. hulls at high speed. Twin engine boats are so much more forgiving and safer in my opinion. As Larry said, "we are in the heyday of this hobby"--but its expensive and always has been.

Joe

[JPEROG]

Maybe mercury will come to their senses and hopefully they did not destroy the molds for the 2.5 stuff and start selling blocks, cranks, and crate motor type power heads. Look at how massively successful that program was for GM selling pre built brand new crate motors for stock car racing and hot rods and so on. I would say that program was so successful it pretty much dominated the hotrod scene and was the death knell for guys building Dodges and Fords due to the huge cost advantage of going Chevy. The only thing that dented this was the ls swap crowd eating into the crate motor market but that stuff is all old now and I’m sure the crate motor division is about to boom again for GM.

Merc ought to do the same and if they have an ounce of business savvy the price point needs to be attractive. Sell thousands at less profit is a lot wiser than selling ten at outrageous pricing.


Hmm maybe BRP could do this instead lol wouldn’t that be hilarious seeing the former owner of OMC cast and sell merc repops

We are going to be lucky if Mercury can maintain their current level of focus for high performance product. The chances of them going backwards for production of old product that never sold well is not happening. GM hit a home run with the LS and its forced air intake potentials to be used in so many applications "they are an incredible lightweight piece."

Joe

[NZ Sidewinder]

Like them or hate them, the small hp Parsun is a indestructible motor.
I'm currently working on a 4 stroke outboard platform capable of 300 plus hp.
This motor is intended to challenge the 300R in NZ circuit racing.
Not for general sale thoughu

[David]

I do agree with above that we are in the true heydays of this sport. All the combos have been tested and what’s proven to work is information fairly easy to obtain now. The parts are running out though that’s for sure.

I don't know that I would call now the heyday. There were a lot more people building and buying 18-20 foot boats in the 1980's. Then offshore sales boomed and my size of boat almost died off. No doubt there is some great product out there now, but when I go to the Toronto boat show next month there will be only one fast boat. 30 years ago there would have been lots.

[JPEROG]

I don't know that I would call now the heyday. There were a lot more people building and buying 18-20 foot boats in the 1980's. Then offshore sales boomed and my size of boat almost died off. No doubt there is some great product out there now, but when I go to the Toronto boat show next month there will be only one fast boat. 30 years ago there would have been lots.

Insurance killed the deal. 30 years ago I was running a 28 skater with 280s insured with State Farm for 700.00 a year and financed with my local credit union. Those days are gone...

Joe

[NZ Sidewinder]

The one electric boat I see as racable would be a drag match race heat of 1/2 mile.
1/4 mile up to and around a buoy and back again.
1 battery, one heat.
There would be boat/ motor/ battery combos that sould hit 70mph in this format.
In the mean time, 5 mile roundy roundy at 80-90 is good.

[LakeFever]

I don't know that I would call now the heyday. There were a lot more people building and buying 18-20 foot boats in the 1980's. Then offshore sales boomed and my size of boat almost died off. No doubt there is some great product out there now, but when I go to the Toronto boat show next month there will be only one fast boat. 30 years ago there would have been lots.

what I meant was not the volume of the boating but the ease of achieving truly high performance. In the 80’s where I did most of my boating if you had a boat that ran 70mph you were legend. Now? That’s a cake walk. I would absolutely agree that overall speed boat numbers are way way down. Everyone had one in the 80’s it seemed, just not many were fast. Even 50+ was brag worthy lol

[sick_nick]

Is there any possibility that any other engine builder might build a lightweight sport motor in that 250-300 H.P. class. I just keep thinking that the end of our humble sport may be coming to an end.

Best wishes always, Carter

1. as far as newer high performance motors go, yamaha seems to be the way to go for a single, with a nizpro tune you're at 330hp. and way cheaper than a 300r, not to mention easier to find. i havent heard about how durable the cases are and i dont see anyone really offshore-ing them. there are fat shaft upgrades for the yamaha and the top speed numbers seem very close to a 300r. you can find a used 250 yamaha and have it tuned to 330hp. id imagine stock replacement parts are easy to get as well. yamaha upgrade parts: https://www.mcr-performance.com/#/
2. if you're into modifying motors and mechanically inclined, most people can figure out what to do with a L6 mercury 400r. after some work they're approaching 500hp and 8k rpm+ with some mild work. the center console at loto than ran into the 120s last year was not running stock motors.
3. if your pockets are deep enough, motec makes an ecu for the 450r that reportedly puts you at 570 hp.

the older 4 stroke models like the L6 are becoming cheaper and easier to find, so hopefully more people will start tinkering with them.

side note, nizpro just released their outlaw supercharger for the yamaha which puts you at 525 hp from the yamah 4.2L v6. the price is an astonishing $18k but when you consider who their competing with in the market, its cheap. the 500r is going for $80K+ https://nizpromarine.com/shop/f300-4...ercharger-kit/
i've also been hearing that its getting increasingly harder to order a swept skeg sporty from mother merc...

boosted 4 strokes are the future for performance outboards right now. speedmaster in canada makes a computer to swap onto a 300r which. will also bump the power up. motec makes a computer that could be adapted to alot of different platforms, people just need to start tinkering and seeing whats possible! (start throwing money at them!)