Mercury powers up for summer

Mercury has unveiled its new Australian engine range for the coming summer, and local boaters are sure to be impressed by what's on offer.

Headlining the range are two monster-size four-stroke motors suited to the large trailer/sports boat market – the Verado 350hp and 400hp.

Mercury has also pragmatically moved to flesh out an already impressive four-stroke outboard range with a brand new 135hp four-stroke specifically made for the Australian and New Zealand markets. The 135hp is in direct response to local buyer demand and highlights the difference between us and the USA. While the American demand is largely in bigger motors, here in Oz the demand is largely in smaller size motors and 135hp is considered fairly big.

Another 'gap-filler' is the new SeaPro four-stroke range. Covering the 75-150hp band, the new SeaPro is specifically aimed at commercial use, yet no doubt also with the hard-core recreational fisho in mind. On show was the 75hp SeaPro mounted on a Brig RIB Navigator 570 that was not short on performance.

The SeaPros are built at Mercury’s hi-tech manufacturing plant in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and offers robust high displacement and low-weight design. Keen fisho types will love the new gear-case that lets you drain the oil without needing to remove the boat from the water. This alone makes the SeaPro a great repower choice for the DIY boat owner.

It's worth noting that the larger Command Thrust gear-case on SeaPro also creates a bigger footprint in the water that ultimately allows heavier boats to get on the plane more easily – and with greater control.

At the St George Motorboat Club launch (Botany Bay) Mercury provided a fleet of 12 different craft to highlight the breadth and depth of this new motor range. A BarCrusher 670HT was matched to a Mercury Verado 175, while an Evolution 600 ran an interesting combination of twin 115hp Mercury four-strokes to good effect.

The star attraction though for media journalists was a Sydney-built Force 26X cross-over sports dayboat running a Verado 400R 'race' motor. The massive black beast blasted us to an eye-watering 100km/h top speed with ease. It's obviously a marriage made-in-heaven when mated to this beautiful hi-tech, hand-laid speedboat.

With a low console helm position and plenty of comfortable lounge seating the Force/Verado combo is sure to be a winner with tow-sport enthusiasts or rich boaties who just wanna go fast!

Meanwhile the all-new European Arvor 855 fibreglass cabin cruiser was putting on a pretty good show as well with her single Verado 350hp. Despite a 2.7 tonne dry weight, the Arvor 855 cruiser was up and running like a wild leopard and proving there's a huge untapped market to power cruisers like these with the Verado duo.

Another strong feature of the new maxi Verado is the SmartCraft digital throttle and shift (DTS) which provides a much more precise, smooth throttle response. You can also have them in twin (or triple) rigs with Mercury's Joystick Piloting system so docking becomes incredibly easy and less stressful. Certainly a good feature for married boat captains to keep the first mates happy.

And perhaps best of all, these maxi Verado machines can run on regular unleaded fuel when the 'good premium stuff' is not available.

Concurrently released were the all-new Mercury 6.2-litre V8 inboard engines. Showing their incredible versatility was a 370hp on a centre-mount, shaft drive Aussie Skicraft XAir while an imported US Cobalt family bowrider ran the 350hp model. In both cases, the performance was smile-on-your-dial impressive plus smooth and pleasantly quiet.

A great feature of these new MerCruisers is Adaptive Speed Control (ASC), which automatically holds a set speed regardless of load or changing water conditions. This means you can maintain a steady speed through a turn for your water skiing and wake-board pals and everyone is happy.

A Bayliner 185 Flight also showed off the smaller MerCruiser 4.5L 200hp power package with superb hole-shot speed and great top end speed. Mercury also has an expanding range of propellers to help fine-tune your boat's performance.

For more information go to: www.mercurymarine.com.au