Wakeboarding - April 01, 2018

LAKE X

economical setup. The throttle lever

controlled the digital  actuators under the

cowl, and all the digital functions of the engine,

including Adaptive Speed Control, operate

nearly as smoothly as when controlled with

DTS. Further, these new FourStrokes output

signals to analog gauges. The ambidextrous

ability to use digital or mechanical and analog

systems make repowering any boat as easy as

unbolting the old one and bolting on this new

Mercury plant.

Lake X was the perfect place to reveal

Mercury’s newest outboards. The performance

of the 175, 200 and 225 hp FourStroke outboards

is as important to boating today as that of those

developed in the early days of Mercury’s history

at this secret facility.

Let the horsepower race begin anew!

In 1984, Carl Kiekhaefer sold the 1,440-acre Lake X

and the more than 10,000 wetland acres surrounding

it to the Kirchman Foundation, and Mercury leased the

test facility back from it. The preserve is protected by

a high fence to this day, and we needed a sheriff escort

to gain entrance from the pistol-packing caretaker (cue

the snakes, gators and bears).

As motors and boats got big-

ger through the ’70s and ’80s,

the race-course laps got small-

er until Mercury let the lease ex-

pire to find new testing grounds

in southwest Florida, then later

in the Florida Panhandle region

where high-powered boats

couldn’t streak through a test

course in 32 seconds.

Lake X’s storied past began

in 1957, and everybody who

worked for Mercury in those

years remembers the secret

research facility warmly as the

center of outboard history.

The secrecy then was more

than just a feint to mystique.

Industrial espionage was in-

deed rampant in the outboard

industry. Mercury kept under-

cover “spies” with big bar tabs

at Mathon’s Pub near Evinrude’s

engineering facility in Wauke-

gan, Illinois.

Evinrude undoubtedly posted

listeners in Fond Du Lac’s fa-

vored watering holes for the

same reason.

Carl Kiekhaefer was para-

noid about spies, and could be

seen scouring public test wa-

ters with binoculars, looking

for binoculars that might be

trained in his direction. Lake

X was essential to the brand’s

uninterrupted work.

In its day, Lake X had hous-

ing for the engineers and a chef,

and access was by only one nar-

row dirt road with the brick rem-

nants of the old Dixie Trail once

laid by chain gangs. The road

to it today is buttery-smooth,

and a handful of rustic but de-

ceptively comfortable cabins

dot its shore. The test facility

itself is tidy, but clearly seldom

used until recently and in need

of paint. A rusting three-story

observation deck with domed

acrylic windows stands sentry

at the boat basin’s entrance, an

art deco reminder of the days

when outboards and space-

ships were being designed and

built at breakneck speed.

Lake X is open to the public

on a limited basis and usually

only used for humanitarian mis-

sions, like providing outdoor

adventure and conservation

education for needy and deserv-

ing pupils. An equestrian center

is also used for special events.

For more information about

the Kirchman Foundation, visit

kirchmanfoundation.org.

PHOTOS: (FROM TOP) GARRETT CORTESE, COURTESY MERCURY MARINE (2)

82 | BOATINGMAG.COM | APRIL 2018