ziemer

iTrader: (1)

Mercury Racing has focused solely on the high end marketplace. The big twin turbo I/O's and the large 400 Verado's. I'm sure as said, the 300XS will be dead soon too.

I'd be curious to know the sales numbers of the 400R's compared to all 260/280's sold ever. Bet the 400's are either really close or already outsold the 2.5 race motors.

Unfortunately, the direction Mercury has gone, will virtually eliminate the high performance sub 20' outboard market. The bass boat guys, and the smaller outboards have shifted focus to slightly larger boats that will handle the heavier 4-strokes. The small builders will have to either adapt, or hope the new owners have a stock pile of old 2.5 stuff floating around to make a complete package. And the 2.5 stuff is getting harder and harder to come by, and when you do find it, the price has gotten crazy. The days of the 2.5 Race stuff from Mercury is over, and the used market has shown that. Guys are getting stupid money for parts. 3-4 years ago, a nice sportmaster was $1500...today, the same case will bring $2500...same thing for 15" mids.

Some have adapted with the 300XS/15" mid, but it's not the same.

I said years ago, the 200 4-cyl could be a great platform for the next lightweight race motor, but who knows...

Double Rigged

iTrader: (1)

TIm,
If the EPA goes away and Mercury can build a real HP two stroke like the 300x of old. That motor would put to shame the 400r as far as performance. My old 300x motors blow away the 400r in acceleration and will more than hold their own on top end as well. The 300x was to be their platform for a 375hp version but EPA killed it. I think that CC boats will want the 400r without a doubt. However if Mercury had a bigger version of the 300x for the HP cats up to 36' I think with the performance gains over the 4 strokes most would want the 2 stroke. I also agree what about all the single engine small HP boats out there. You guys need to start buying 300xs motors and stop fixing old ones!

turbos230

Not fallen

Aqua Banshee

Is the popularity of the 400hp outboard more about the Hp, or finally a surfacing gear case?

Toffen

Hi,

I have been running my Phantom 25 for 20 years now. Its a 1985 model, so its been through several engine applications. The boat is a narrow 25 footer, only 5,5 foot wide. So its a offshore performance boat, typically made for a single 300XS or twin 2,5 engines. The package used for offshore racing was twin Merc XR2 in the 80 ties in UK.

I have owned Johnson 3.6 GT Offshore Race 300 hp engine, Mercury Promax 300 SVS, twin Mercury 2,5 EFI SS with PCU, Verado 350 Sci and now a Verado 400R. The best engine (and fastest too) is by good margin the 400R. No question about it. Although the sound and acceleration was mindblowing with the twin package, the downside was malfunctions and 3 litre oil and 100 litre fuel per hour on cruise. Making the total cost of running them to approx USD 15,000 per season in Norway for 20 hours use... The 400R you can run hard all day, they start and they stop when you decide to and the total costs me for 80 hours use this season is USD 4,000 incl winterizing and storage...

I considered to buy twin 200 ROS, but no warranty stopped me for doing it. Mercury should change that since this engine is runnng very strong and suits the 18-22 footers very well. So I understand your point.

Cheeers, Toffen

VtSteve

Much rather have a Yamaha outboard and not deal with the BS.

ROB FREEMAN

iTrader: (2)

merciury will never fall at 200,000 enginevpakages lol. What a joke as far as I'm concearned. But they stay together . 50 hr rebuild not ..

WavetoWave

Thanks Tim, I think that would be a really good headline if we stopped writing about V-hulls for sure. Because that would be a good opportunity, anytime someone vacates a market or there is a way to serve it better. I received many emails from manufacturers who have been in close contact with Mercury Racing and very much supported the article.

Full disclosure, I own Mercury products and my dad was a Mercury dealer in the 70's. I am pretty loyal to the brand.

WavetoWave

Thanks Toffen. I agree with your note. I would love to see a light 4-stroke in the 200-300 segment from Merc. I believe we will see ProXS versions of the 4-stroke 3.0L engine that is 450 Lbs, that would be great.

WavetoWave

Thanks for the reply, but it doesn't seem like you read the article. The opportunity is in new technology, not two-stroke, although it could be. I think it's a light four-stroke in the 225 range. Yamaha is really close with the 4.2 V6 SHO, if it was a little lighter. The G2 is close, just needs to shed about 50 or 60 Lbs.

The outboard market is at record highs by sales, as I cited in the article. It's the strongest segment in the marine industry right now, again, as stated in the article. Not sure where you get the impression I said it was in trouble.