I've never heard people say to avoid full throttle starts with an outboard (more durable?), but I have heard them say not to do it with an sterndrive (presumably because the drive can't handle it). Funny thing is, I've never heard of either one actually blowing up from dropping the throttles from a dead stop with a stock engine and drives. It seems like that would be something Mercury Marine and others would test.

Just curious, anyone had this misfortune with a stock setup?

Michael

i snapped the vert shaft on a pre-alpha with throttle only. of course it was a 79 searay sundancer, not a real light boat. and a MR-type 1-pre-alpha is a weak drive. the o-ring groove combined with the spring pin thru the middle just leaves too little metal left...the drive that became the merc alpha started it's life as a 60 hp outboard lower unit. then they tried it with the little 4-banger iron duke, i don't even think it was 120 hp at first. then they said WTF? and kept putting more power in front of it...yes they did a lot of upgrading from the early 60's to the late 80's but it is basically the same lower unit...