Aussie-made boat to hit Sanctuary Cove with 1800hp Mercury V12 power

Mercury Marine Australia told boatsales.com.au yesterday that an unnamed northern NSW boatbuilder was working on a new build that would incorporate three of the $120,000-plus, 600hp power units that have opened up the option of using outboard engines for 10-metre-plus boats.

Boatsales.com.au has since spoken with one large boatbuilder in the region, which confirmed it was not the one behind the build. Another is yet to respond to inquiries.

Mercury Marine Australia recently took delivery of Australia’s first 7.6-litre V12 Verado, which is fitted to a 10.6-metre Gemini 1060 Waverider RIB.

Mercury Marine Australia engines product manager Justin d’Offay said local interest in the groundbreaking engine – it features a world-first lower steering unit and a two-speed transmission – was growing, although the market here was likely to focus on single- rather than multiple-engine boats.

“This engine was developed because boats are growing larger and larger, and there is more interest in outboards for this type of boat rather than inboard sterndrive,” d’Offay said.

“We’re finding that boatbuilders are saying they can go bigger because of this engine.”

However, while US boatbuilders are stacking up to four Mercury V12 Verados across a transom – part of the design brief was to reduce the number of smaller outboard engines, sometimes as many as seven, needed to power a large boat – d’Offay said much of the interest in Australia was likely to come from people buying large rigid inflatable boats.

“We’re noticing that RIBs are becoming more popular, particularly in places like Sydney, where people are looking at them as an alternative to a traditional day boat,” he said.

“These types of boats can carry lots of people and water toys, so they’re a good option.”

The lighter RIBs also have the advantage of dry-stack storage compared with leaving a larger, heavier fibreglass boat in the water.

d’Offay said RIBs were well-suited to single-engine applications of the Mercury V12 Verado because they carried lots of beam, which helped stabilise the higher centre of gravity of the 2.0-metre-plus tall engine.

"You need a beamy boat because the engine has a highish centre of gravity. A beamy boat doesn't throw its weight around as much as a normal boat, which is what you need, so we're not going to see these engines fitted to a traditional Haines Hunter or something – we won't see any sales going that way."

RIBs were also light enough for the engine to pop the boat up onto a plane – fibreglass boats tend to need at least two engines just to have enough prop bite on the water to prevent cavitating.

Another way the new V12 engines will arrive in Australia will be via pre-packaged boats imported from the US, where the units have spawned a whole new market segment – large, wide and fast luxury dayboats. 

d’Offay said Mercury Australia was aware of at least a couple of imported boats that would be heading to Australia that would include multiple factory-fitted V12s.

Mercury Marine Australia will service the engines in Australia, with regular 200-hour servicing – assuming the boat isn’t laid up for prolonged periods – able to be done entirely on the water via a lift-up bonnet on the top of the engine. 

The boat will need to come out of the water for servicing every 1000 hours, as the engine cowling will need to come off.

Mercury has hinted it is working on applying some of the V12 engine's innovations to its lower-powered outboard engine range, teasing a three-speed automatic transmission and more applications of its Duoprop twin-propeller technology.