New Mercury 150 FourStroke

The most-tested outboard engine ever?

The new 150 FourStroke is easily the most tested engine ever built by Mercury Marine.

The world’s largest manufacturer of recreational marine engines says the 150 FourStroke was from the very beginning designed and built to be the most reliable and durable outboard in its class.

Mercury Marine claims it built an engine that will start easily, run consistently and last longer on any body of water anywhere in the world.

“The only way to see if we had succeeded was to run the engine through the most severe testing schedule we’d ever devised… or even heard of,” said Steve Miller, Mercury’s Senior Category Manager.

“It was pretty torturous. We wanted to make sure it could handle really harsh commercial roles so the boat would wear out before the engine -- even under commercial conditions.”

After the Mercury 150 FourStroke survived extensive indoor testing -- including the equivalent of hitting a 20-foot log at 40mph (35 knots) -- six un-branded test engines were sent around the world to tackle some of the toughest jobs around. These included:

- A single 150 FourStroke pushed a 24-foot Carolina crab fishing skiff out of Saint John’s River, Florida, for 1,300 hours in hot and humid conditions and brackish water, with lots of shift cycles and a tonne of crab traps that created severe load variance.

- A 25-foot water taxi based in British Columbia, Canada, ran a twin rig in bitterly cold saltwater for 1,950 hours, going out every day regardless of 15-20-foot swells.

- From Spanish Wells in the Bahamas, a single 150 FourStroke powered a 29-foot Angler Panga on lobster runs, with the engine running for 1,375 hours in tropical weather as traps were constantly set and retrieved.

- Another twin rig was installed on a 27-foot Open Fisherman running a charter and lobster business in Guadeloupe, French West Indies, spending 1,150 hours beating through rough and tall open water.

The engines were tested across a calendar year and in total notched up more than 8,500 hours operating in hardcore commercial situations.

Satellite technology allowed Mercury to track the engines on GPS and continually monitor a full range of performance parameters, including rpm, oil temperature, fuel flow, fluid pressures and voltage.

“All the testing took place under normal operating conditions,” Miller said. “And it completely validated the years which went into creating this engine. The engine passed with flying colours, it’s the toughest thing out there.”

In fact, the water taxi operator was so impressed, as soon as the test engines were removed for inspection he bought two new 150 FourStrokes to replace them.

But Mercury Marine says the peerless durability of the new 150 FourStroke is only one of its many outstanding features. Other claims include:

- The engine’s 3.0-litre, four-cylinder in-line configuration has more displacement than any other 150hp four-stroke engine, yet it delivers fuel efficiency at cruising speed that no other engine can beat.

- At just 206kgs, Mercury’s new outboard is by far the most compact FourStroke 150hp outboard in the world. In fact, it’s just 11kg heavier than Mercury’s popular OptiMax 150 direct-injected outboard.

- It has almost 18 per cent fewer parts than a Yamaha F150, proving that better technology can deliver durability and performance while simultaneously reducing package size and weight.

Add all this together and it’s far and away the best value for money 150 four-stroke on the market, claims Mercury Marine.

“As you’d expect, the new Mercury 150 FourStroke has been embraced by boat owners worldwide,” said Nicholas Webb, Mercury’s Director of Outboard Product (Australia, New Zealand, Pacific).

“When we launched it in this region the demand was outstanding because people could see it’s an amazing engine.

“It’s an awesome performer and, because of its unbelievable durability, it’s going to easily handle anything thrown at it for many years to come,” boasts Webb.

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New Mercury 150 FourStroke

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