jafo

Larger outboards, maybe. Smaller ones? My father bought two new Evinrudes in 1957; a 7 1/2 and an 18. Fifty years later, and we're still running them and they look like new. The only maintenance was lower unit oil changes and a few spark plugs. Like many other things, they don't build 'em like that anymore.

dreamboater

Depends on what kind of OB you are talking about. Fishing OB's are normally very reliable motors. I just dont understand what the verado's purpose was, its just so damn heavy.

DeepV

No it defiitely compares 'older' Verados to 'newer' Verados, they alos confirm this by mentioning 'last years older model'

jafo

I was at the Miami Boat Show the year the Verado was unveiled, and nearly all of the engineering team that designed it was at the Merc booth. They were all VERY eager to answer questions about this motor, and all of them had the same answer.
The engine was designed to fix the inherent problems associated with large four-stroke outboards; poor out-of-the-hole performance, and top-end performance that fell behind the two-strokes that they and Bombardier were manufacturing at the time. Suzuki and Honda had already made some advancements in the acceleration area with new cam and valve timing technology, so they needed to squash that, and Bomb had only released E-Tecs to 90hp, so they beat them to the punch as well. There was little they could do about the weight and complexity issue with a four-stroke, so they concentrated on power and efficiency.

OSO

Verado is a supercharged 4 stroke. The four strokes are known for their lack of pollution, lack of noise, and the ability to run straight gas as opposed to a gas/oil mixture. 4 strokes are also known for there increased number of parts, weight, lack of fuel economy (compared to 2 strokes), and little to no low end power or torque. Mercury overcame this by super charging the motor therefore giving it 2 stroke like power.

2 strokes are more fuel efficient, have less parts, and weigh less.

Since the industry is moving towards 4 strokes and the epa standards are changing, the entire industry and consumers are starting to lean that way also.

Boats with 2 strokes on the re-sale market today are more difficult to sell and are losing value quicker.

The Verados have electronic controls therefore allowing the wiring harness and plug in gauges to deliver the information to the dashboard. This eliminates the need for throttle and shift cables running to the dashboard from the transom as well as many other wires that used to run the individual gauges.

Mercury's Verado has electronic controls at the helm allowing the motors to run in synch without constant adjustment of the throttles. Triple and quad engine applications are run by Shadow Controls which allow the engines to shift forward together, reverse together, etc. still in rpm synch.

Fuel economy, gallons burned, range, tank %, etc are now delivered to the dash for the captain to see with few instruments and gauges needed.

Older twin engine 2 stroke applications might have problems converting to the new 4 stroke technology as most four strokes are wider than 2 strokes and transom hole location, tie bars, etc might need to be retrofitted. Not to mention new wiring harness's needing to be run to the dash and shift and throttle cables eliminated.

There are many manufacturers of outboard motors and each has their own shift and electronic controls that need to be matched.

Personally from what I have seen Mercury has done a great job with the Verado and its accessory options.

2 Stroke Mercury 300 XS models need 93 octane or they will detinate because they do not have knock sensors. Verado's computer will adjust with lower octane fuel and knock back the horsepower without destroying the motors. 250 XS models can run on 89 octane.

Verados also have their own built in steering system while 2 strokes still use wing plates and external steering from other manufacturers. Mercurys steering is under the same motor warranty while the third party steering is not.

External steering is not needed in all applications, it depends on speed and horsepower.

For more information on Mercury Outboard products and Verado Shadow controls watch the American Powerboat TV Episode 3 in the OSO Video Section of the site:

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...d.php?t=136467

Note: I am not a Mercury tech, dealer, distributor, or expert by any means but I have visited the factory and talked to the people that designed, engineered, and built the products. My information is solely based on memory and experience, not fact. If you have more or better information feel free to share it with us.

DeepV

OSO,

You certainly sum that up

OSO

OK now did you ask about Ocean Hawks? I know more about those than Verados.

OSO

I sold Ron Dollers, it had a pair of 250 EFI's and ran 71mph gps. I thought the GPS was broken but the speedo read a mph less. The key to those is the motor height, shaft length, and the distance the bracket is off the back of the boat.

Narrow beam but good rough water boat, Phil can tell you everything you need to know.

Most of the ones Cigarette did ran 55-60 max.

Not sure what Ron had under the hood of those 250's but knowing him, they were probably tinkered with.

Mercury_Challenger

I am still old school.........as long as there is 2 stroke parts out there for outboards, thats what I will own. If you want a 4 stroker, get a BBC. I do NOT like all this hyped up super charged stuff in the 4 stroke market now, the mfgs are doing everything they can to reach that old 2 stroke power, but it is just a bit much abuse they can't handle, causing failure all the time.

offshoresteve

Mercury web site says the minumun octaine on the 300xs is 91. I plan on using 93, hope these are good motors because I just had a pair installed on my 28 Skater!