Boating — December 2018

BOAT BUYERS GUIDE 2018 | 45 | BOATINGMAG.COM

make plastic bumpers, door

all-too-common hazard in

Keeping metals shining

too. Especially when some

Polish is free of two chemicals that are
destructive to your boat’s fi nish: acid
and, especially, ammonia.

How We Roll
Greg Hewgill is Lucas’ chemist and
Technical Director. His job is to manage
the chemistry of lubricants to ensure
that they do their job. Tom Bogner is
the Director of Motorsports and the
company’s race-team recruiter, who
makes sure Lucas’ racing partners put
its products through hell to provide
some quick and useful research and
development data.
“The fi rst way we prove our products
is to put them to work in real engines
in our dynos,” says Bogner. “When we
are developing a new oil or want to
prove the effi cacy of an established
one against a new competitor, we’ll
run them in engines and then tear
down the engines to inspect for wear.”
If they don’t see the results they want,
they’ll go back to chemistry and start
over again. Hewgill and Bogner agree,
racing compresses the learning curve.
“Racing gives us tremendous data
to constantly improve these products
too,” says Bogner. “Nothing puts
pressure on gears like racing.”
It’s hard to ignore that infl uence
when it’s time to top off your tank or
change your gear lube or crankcase oil.

buy it from blenders.

make sure each molecule of
oil and additive does its job,”
says Hewgill.
Marine engines can be
just as high-maintenance as
racing engines. An outboard
or inboard is always running
at the highest revolutions

per minute for sustained periods. Even

racing engines aren’t so stressed. And

two-stroke engines run even harder,

and need oil that both lubricates

the engine and disperses gum and

soot, then practically vanishes in the

combustion process.

Hewgill hand picks every base oil

and additive after conferring with

Lucas racing partners and other

engineers. They use the best, most

durable base oils and fortify them with

premium additives, each with its own

mission: Some disperse soot; in two-

strokes, some enhance combustion.

And others improve lubricity and

ensure the oil does its job all the way

to the manufacturer’s recommended

duty cycle.

It’s slick business, but Lucas has

science and racing to prove its mettle.

World War Ethanol

Say what you want about the green

is to suck water into your fuel

to cause corrosion and even

catastrophic engine failure

if that water makes it to the

combustion chamber. It’s

happened.

Lucas Marine Fuel

Treatment joins the battle

with you. Components in this

treatment fi ght water absorption

and fuel stratifi cation, the destroyers

of engines. They also utilize polyether

amines to clean fuel injectors. Dirty

injectors not only rob performance

but damage the upper cylinders by

robbing them of cooling lubricity of

fuel. Lucas goes a step further,

adding important lubricating

compounds that protect the upper

cylinders and rings.

In this war, Lucas fi ghts on land,

sea and air, because a dirty engine is a

polluter too.

Working Under Pressure

“Engines are lubricated

hydrodynamically,” Hewgill says. “That

means a fi lm of oil fl oats between

the moving parts. But in gear cases,

there is tremendous pressure between

the high points of the gear teeth, and

when they meet, lubricant is forced

out so there is metal-to-

metal contact.”

To resolve that, Lucas

designed gear lubes that

use the pressure to bond

lubricating compounds

to the metals, so when

the lube is squeezed out,

lubricity remains in

the metal.

No wonder Ranger Boats

uses their stuff.

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