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Random Quote: Work hard, play hard, catch fish.....or tell lies
Hey Harry, just a quick question, what was your bad experience with Merc?
You must have had a bad one the way you bash a product that hasn't hit the market to customers yet. I would also be interested how you figure that the engines won't last? Do you know how the engine was designed? Do you know the amount or type of testing that has been done? I mean if you have information that will shed some light on your assumptions/theories, please enlighten us all! Otherwise, let time take it's course to prove (or disprove) your points. I for one, hope it disproves your theories and the continued bashing that has been going on lately. Lets chat about all of these issues once they are in our hands and we, the users, get a chance to relate some real world experience.
(Of course I have been a Mercury fan for about 30 years and my opinion may be slightly biased )
I think the big point here that if you buy a first year product as complicated as these new engines -you will probably have problems.
Every introductory direct injection engine had problems-why should this one be any different. I don't care if they put 15,000 hours of testing into the Verado-that really only equates to 375 hours for forty engines and I would hope that they tested more than forty engines and many for more hours than that before introduction.
I was impressed with them, but I am pessimistic that they will be problem free over the next two years.
I sure as hell hope Merc pulls this off... The last American outboard manufacturer... Will it work? My crystal ball batteries are shot. I had a lot of Mercs in the 70's on various little hot dog boats, also had a bunch of Johnrudes... They were all pretty good, some incredibly good like my old 150 inline six..... Then they went to shit in the 80's.. The Japs did for us what they did for us in the 70's with cars when we couldn't build one, gave us one that works!! I run two Yams, a 225 & a F115..... I would LOVE to stick a big black screamin mimi on the back and kick a** with it... And "that's all I gotta say about that" Oh, and there's two r's in Forrest
Never owned a Merc OB, and never had a problem with my Merc I/O, Bravo 3 (no corrosion, no problems at all other than a bad coupler due to an incorrectly installed motor mount). My dad has a 5 HP Merc 2 stroke that runs great. I'm just pointing out that a 2.6L 250 HP supercharged engine WILL NOT HAVE the longevity of say a 3.3 or 3.6L 250 normally aspirated engine. The Veranchor thing is just to get Seacat FL going...and it works.
when Ford made their V-8s people said the walls would wear on the opposite side from thrust of the pistons -- Wrong The maxium speed for a dragster would be around 280mph in the quarter-- Wrong When Carl K when to OMC with a new design inline with needle bearing and no seperate head "would not work"- That when he quit and started Mercury-- When Chevy from Duntov (sp) said one horse/cubic inch people laughed -- Chevy said we can turn over 7,000 rpms and people laughed---Nascar engine builders like Yates and Randy Darton (sp) are using old tech ie small four barrel 390 cmf carb on a 355 cubes and getting 850 @ 9,000 rpms and these engines live -- engine failure is usually caused by a bad part not the design or workmanship--- 2.6 with a Huffer with 6-7lbs is nothing as long as the components are designed properly and I believe Merc has done their homework---THE WHISTLING SILO IS BACK and it is BLOWN---If Merc goes to 3.0 /3.3 and they will when necessary the engine will put out LOTS of HP--- right now I would bet if the rev limiter was off-- the power would be well over 300 HP-- boost the Huffer and wow but some Nay Sayer would say it will not work --I submit they will be WRONG!!
In many of those examples, the engines are used for one race, torn down, rebuilt, etc...do you plan to do that with your Veranchor every time you run it? And those NASCAR failures you mention...bad example...just proves the point that a lot of power from a small block means poor longevity. Thanks for provng my point. I don't doubt Merc put a lot of thought into the engine, I just question how long it will last.
Obviously, the Verado is inherantly crappy due to the black paint on the cowling. Any motor with that black paint can't be any good, so why even bother to see if it holds up?
I think all you MS. Cleos out there will be surprised at the performance, and if this particular black motor turned out to bee reliable will you be man enough to say that this is as good as an almighty japanese motor?
My Suzukis are black (completely since I removed the stickers...I hate advertising). I like black paint. I used to have a black car (also no stickers). I wear a black t-shirt to work every day. I even dated a black girl once ;-)
Will I be "man enough" to take it back if the Veranchor is reliable...ask me in a few years if one of them goes over 3000 hours. BTW, when I need new engines, if there is a good American motor out there, I'll buy one. I'm just not willing to be the guinnea pig.
All we have to go by is the reputation for marketing garbage that is and always will be Merury as long as Brunswick owns it. That history and that reputation says Veranchor will be just that, anchors. Worthless hunks of metal trash hanging on the backs of boats that works long enough to break in sometimes. Other times it self destructs right from the beginning. This and other boards have been polluted by Mercury salesmen and factory reps in an effort to market this product and counter any negative posts coming from a market backlash Mercury created with their own arrogance and incompetence. My old Granpapy used to say, you made your bed now sleep in it. Mercury has made it's reputation now they can live with it. Get me once shame on you, get me twice shame on me. Now I will just sit back and wait for the name callers to attack me, pathetic creatures that they are.
"With a redline that can be as high as 9500 rpm, Top Fuel engines turn
approximately 540 revolutions from light to light. Including the burnout,
the engine needs to survive only 900 revolutions under load."
Supercharging must reduce engine life, note the word SURVIVE! Of course in the case above a stock Dodge Hemi does not provide enough HP to drive the Supercharger.
You really are a conspiracy nut aren't you? I personally question the longevity of the Veranchor making so much power from so few cubes, but even I don't go as far as to Mercs are junk or that the boards are being infiltrated by salesmen and merketing reps.
And I'll refer you to my reply to your F1 post...you simply cannot compare a race engine, with hand picked/made parts and post race rebuilds to an off the shelf OB. That dog don't hunt.
"With a redline that can be as high as 9500 rpm, Top Fuel engines turn
approximately 540 revolutions from light to light. Including the burnout,
the engine needs to survive only 900 revolutions under load."
Supercharging must reduce engine life, note the word SURVIVE! Of course in the case above a stock Dodge Hemi does not provide enough HP to drive the Supercharger.
Maybe it's the 8000+ hp that's being produced.
If it was just supercharging that was the issue the old and venerable GM 671, would be neither.
Harry, how are the guys buying Merc Verado's guineau pigs and you are not with Suzuki? The Suzuki 250's have the long track record of what, 5 or 6 months behind them? Bottom line; both are new motors and both will have to prove themselves over time.
First off, I didn't get to choose which engines were rigged on my boat...I bought a 2003 leftover that was already rigged. Second, the 250 is new, but Suzuki has been building 4 strokes for a while. Third, they are not really introducing any "groundbreaking" technology, especially not anything that trieds to make huge power from really small displacement. Finally, the 250s have been out for over a year now (they won the NMEA Innovation award last Miami show (2003), so there's quite a few folks out there with some hours on them now. Bottom line...I'd have gone with a 2 stroke, probably Bombardier, if I had made the rigging choices, but I feel pretty secure with the Suzuki, since it's new, but not "groundbreaking".
Harry, Not really defending the Merc, it would make me a little nervous. I remember when the Ficht's first came out and they were quieter from their predecessor and more fuel efficient. They appeared to have it all. I was really interested. Glad I waited. What a fiasco those motors turned out to be! Back to the Merc....it is one big hulking outboard. Small in cubic inches, seems pretty complex.....combine all that with salt water.....Ahhh, better somewhat else than me. I hope the Merc proves to be a viable option. We need competion to make all the outboard companies work harder for our dollar.
I don't really disagree with you in theory about the Suzuki's, "BUT", you never know with new technology. They are cramming a lot of power into a "somewhat" small package (I realize that it is still a large outboard though). I think the Suzuki's will prove to be a good package, but time will tell for sure. There could be some overheating issue or anything really.
Maybe I'm just a sissy and scared of trying new things. I like to be careful with my dollars. For me, I'll keep my old Yam EFI's 'till they croak. No they are not perfect, but they are predictable now with some history behind them. By the time I need to repower, hopefully technology will have some excellent new options to consider that will have a little history behind them.
RE: Mercury Verado.......run Forest, run........ 
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