Now, on the test basin of Lake X, we were
looking at more than a dozen boats powered
with motors that were designed to eliminate
many of the old liabilities four-strokes
needed to overcome. These were pontoons,
center consoles, bay boats, deck boats and
walkarounds. We would soon learn these
motors proved ideal for all of them.
Through nearly 20 years of research
and development in four-stroke outboard
technology, motors that were originally fat and
slow have been slimmed down, while boats were
redesigned with more beam and freeboard at
the transom to support beefi er motors and dual,
triple and quad installments.
Yet Merc’s new motors are even lighter,weighing in at just
475 pounds, lighter
than all competitive
four-strokes, and
even 21 pounds less
than the two-stroke
Evinrude E-Tec G2
V-6 and a dozen
or so pounds less
than Yamaha’s four-
cylinder 175.
In addition to
dropping weight,
this new engine
platform disposed
of many other
maintenance liabilities inherent with four-
strokes. In many existing platforms, oil changes
are messy, usually drooling oil all over the block.
And valve trains needed periodic and expensive
adjustments or shimming. Just checking the
oil level was an ordeal usually ignored due to
the di culty of removing the cowling before
hunting for the dipstick.
With the new FourStroke series, gone are
multiple awkward cowl latches. There’s a single
latch and handle nested beneath a small cowl-
top hatch that functions like the gas tank cover
on your vehicle. Push to open it. Push to latch it.
Gone also is the treasure hunt for the dipstick
and oil-fi ll cap buried deep in the motor’s guts
beneath a nearly impossible-to-remove cowl.
Check your oil under that same hatch in the top.
Add oil there too.
Gone are expensive valve-train adjustments.
The valves on these new motors self-adjust forRemove the cowl by
lit ing the lever (above)
and using it as a handle
to lit it. Check and add
oil in the same spot.
GONE ALSO
WAS THE
TREASURE
HUNT
FOR THE
DIPSTICK
AND OIL-FILL
CAP BURIED
DEEP IN THE
MOTOR’S
GUTS
BENEATH
A NEARLY
IMPOSSIBLE-
TO-REMOVE
COWL.PHOTOS: (FROM TOP) GARRETT CORTESE, COURTESY MERCURY MARINE (2)76 | BOATINGMAG.COM | APRIL 2018