The snow is melting and the weather is warming up. Mercury is running a warranty promotion through the middle of April that grants extra warranty on new outboard purchases. You dream of taking the family water skiing and tubing or hitting up the local lake for some prime fishing. You take advantage of the warranty promotion and pick out a new boat with a Mercury engine and are excited to take delivery so you can get out on the water ASAP.

You toss your owner’s manual into the boat and head to the lake. You back the boat into the water, crank the engine, and get ready to….run the engine up to ¾ throttle for an hour?! How can that be fun? What’s the point? You wouldn’t buy a new red sports car to cruise the suburbs at 25 mph, right? Well, you might be surprised to learn that the first four to ten hours of run time on your engine may very well be the most important hours you put on it.

Engine break-in is performed to manipulate certain surfaces within the engine. Even with current machining processes, there may still be some irregularities on machined and honed surfaces. The break-in process allows the engine to wear down the high spots of these irregularities, providing a smoother surface before the engine experiences the rigors of normal use. The main areas of break-in focus are the cylinder walls, cam lobes, clutch engagement surfaces, and gear engagement surfaces. Engine break-in also helps seat the piston rings and helps to maintain tighter tolerances and better lubrication of moving parts, prolonging engine life.

Break-in procedures vary from engine to engine. For instance, the break-in on a FourStroke is different than that of an OptiMax. It is very important to read the owner’s manual and follow the break-in procedure as directed. It’s understandable that cruising across the lake for four or five hours when you’d rather be fishing or tearing up the water on skis is an inconvenience, but it’s an inconvenience that will reap rewards in the way of years of enjoyable boating!

With much of the Midwestern United States experiencing winter weather conditions from October or November through February or March, the Mercury Customer Service department takes advantage of the “off season” to attend product knowledge training at the Mercury Service School in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

Through a partnership with a technical college in Beaver Dam (which is about 30 miles south of Mercury Marine headquarters in Fond du Lac, WI), the Mercury Service School offers training courses for Mercury technicians and dealers nationwide. There are a handful of Mercury Service Schools in the U.S., but the Beaver Dam location primarily hosts students from throughout the upper Midwest.

I recently enrolled in and completed a FourStroke course. The course curriculum consisted of Mercury’s carbureted models, EFI models, and the new naturally-aspirated FourStroke modeled after the Verado. Twelve people attended the class, including me and a colleague from our Customer Service department. The rest of the attendees were dealer technicians from Nebraska, Michigan, Illinois and northern Wisconsin.

At the start of the course, we were given Tech Guides prepared by Mercury University that combined information from the engine service manuals with worksheets specific to each engine model. While the classroom setting was interesting, I much preferred to learn with “hands–on” activities. These courses do not disappoint when it comes to that. Not only did we take apart a carburetor and a cylinder head, we also ran the engines in test tanks with computers attached to track engine conditions.

I think Mercury’s training courses are unique in that agents in our department get to participate in the same classes as our dealers and technicians. Sometimes training geared specifically toward office personnel can be a little too light on the technical aspect and too heavy on the classroom stuff. Getting customer service agents in a marine shop alongside dealers who are familiar with engines and get to work on them daily really gives us an opportunity to learn how our engines work. We get certified Mercury training in subjects like Two-Stroke, OptiMax, FourStroke, Outboard Systems, Gearcase, and Verado. Some of our agents even go so far as to take a test to become certified technicians!

All of this training, of course, helps us better serve you and answer your questions about our engines and how they operate. We take pride in having confidence when answering the wide array of questions we face on a daily basis. What better way to help engine owners than by using and working on the engines ourselves?

I recently had the opportunity to spend an evening at the Milwaukee Boat Show working in the Mercury booth. Mercury set up a booth at the show to display various OptiMax, Pro XS, Verado, and FourStroke engines, along with some MotorGuide trolling motors and Mercury props.

Unfortunately the day I chose to work the show was a day in which the State of Wisconsin was set to receive about 8 inches of snow, turning a normally one hour drive from headquarters to Milwaukee into a two and a half hour crawl! Once I arrived at the show I was amazed at the various displays of pricey yachts and sparkling new fishing boats set up around the expo center. Mercury doesn’t sell engines directly to the public so our booth was set up mainly to distribute information about our engines and answer any questions show-goers may have (those that braved the elements, at least).

One of the biggest curiosities was Mercury’s new Power Tiller. The Power Tiller is an accessory that will give boaters the option of adding a power steering tiller handle to large outboards. It uses the same pump as the Verado engines and has power trim on the tip of the tiller handle. At the show the Power Tiller was set up on a 150 hp Optimax engine and it drew a lot of gazes from passersby. We had a pump set up on it so people could give it a try and many were amazed at the ease in which the handle moved back and forth. Many people were amazed just seeing a tiller handle on such a large engine (including me). There has been demand for this item from fishermen and guides that don’t want to use up room in their boats with consoles. To be honest it’s still hard for me to picture, but to each his own!

Although I’ve been with Mercury for two years now this was my first boat show experience. The boats and engines were beautiful, the displays were put together very well, and the people that made it to the show in spite of the snow were enthusiastic. Unfortunately it seems the only engines we Wisconsinites will be firing up anytime soon will be snowblowers!

Did you know that the only outboards that come propped directly from Mercury are 2.5 hp to 15 hp engines? Surprising, isn’t it? If you purchase a boat that has an outboard anywhere from 25 hp all the way up to 300 hp, the prop was chosen by either the boat manufacturer or the boat dealer that rigged the boat. Why? Well, it’s simple really, and it relates to a previous post about finding top speed.

Remember when I told you about the fact that the same exact engine on two different types of boats will have drastically different performance specs? This can also be said for the propellers. A 150 hp Optimax engine mounted on a bass boat may have optimal performance with a 23 pitch (23P) prop, whereas the same engine mounted on a big pontoon boat may need something with a much, much lower pitch to get the RPM in the recommended range. Since Mercury doesn’t know what boat the engine is going to be mounted on, we can’t send the engines out with props already on them. Makes sense, right?

So you’re looking at a nice used boat with a big Mercury outboard on the back and you think to yourself, “I wonder what prop came with that originally…” The best place to find this information is the manufacturer of the boat. Or, if you know which dealer originally sold the rig, you may also be able to check there. But wait a minute, does that mean a Mercury customer service representative can’t help you when you’re looking for a new prop? Of course not! We just need some information from you to best help you find what you’re looking for. Here’s a short list of information you should gather before contacting us:

1) Engine serial number
2) Boat type (manufacturer, length, material)
3) Gross weight (boat, engine, gear, gas, people, etc.)
4) Current prop material and pitch
5) WOT RPM with current prop

With this information we should be able to give you a very solid recommendation on what prop to try on your engine.

Mercury’s Customer Service center frequently receives calls from engine owners seeking information regarding the speed they can expect from a certain engine on a certain boat. It’s a common request because specifications like this are typically available for automobiles and other recreational vehicles. Most people are surprised to learn that these specs are often not available for outboards.

The reason speed specs are typically not published by engine manufacturers is simple: Let’s say you have a 2,000-pound fiberglass bass boat with a 200 hp Mercury Optimax on the transom. The guy next to you has the same engine on a 4,000-pound party barge. Obviously, these two boats will produce very different performance and speed specs.

Many other factors affect boat speed as well, such as water conditions (calm vs. choppy), weather conditions (temperature), hull design, boat material (aluminum vs. fiberglass), prop (stainless steel vs. aluminum) and gross weight (you and a fishing buddy on the boat vs. you and nine college buddies and two coolers of food and drinks).

In the marine industry we measure an engine performance not by speed but by RPM at Wide Open Throttle (WOT). Each engine has a recommended RPM range that should be reached at WOT. For example, the 200 hp Optimax engine mentioned earlier should turn between 5,000 and 5,750 RPM at WOT. Regardless of what boat the engine is mounted on, it should reach this RPM range at full throttle. The boat’s speed therefore becomes a secondary factor.

However, if you really want a tangible spec on boat speed we recommend contacting the boat manufacturer. After producing an engine, Mercury tests it on two to three boats and records the performance specifications (which you can find on this website). Unfortunately we can’t test the engine on every boat available due to time constraints (although it would be a fun job, right?). The boat manufacturers, however, test most outboards on each of their boats to determine the optimal match of boat and outboard. Therefore, many boat manufacturers have specs regarding speed generated with specific boats and engines.

One of the most common questions the Service Department at Mercury Marine receives is this: “What should I do to get my boat ready for winter storage?” Mercury Marine is located in Wisconsin, so we can relate to that question pretty well. Some lucky boat owners – such as those in those in South Florida and parts of the Gulf – don’t even know what we’re talking about.

Most people are surprised to find out what’s involved in properly maintaining an outboard. You can baby your boat and motor all summer long, but if you don’t handle the necessary upkeep prior to storage you could be in for a world of trouble later on.

Let’s use a Mercury 60 hp EFI FourStroke for today’s example. The owner’s and service manuals for this particular engine recommend that maintenance be performed once per year or every 100 hours, whichever comes first. If you’re familiar with outboards and are mechanically inclined, you can perform this maintenance yourself. We recommend you purchase a service manual so you can ensure you are covering all appropriate bases. Otherwise, make an appointment with a local authorized dealer and let them handle the work while you relax.

So what are you looking at every year on this 60 hp FourStroke? Well, you should start by checking and lubricating all the lubrication points on the engine. Next, change the engine oil and the oil filter. Inspect the thermostat, spark plugs, fuel filter, and battery. Check the timing belt for cracks or wear. Oh . . . you’ll need to drain and change the gearcase lubricant as well. Then fill the fuel tank and engine fuel system with stabilized fuel to help prevent formation of varnish and gum. Last, but not least, remove the spark plugs and inject a small amount of engine oil inside each cylinder and then rotate the flywheel several times to distribute the oil.

As you can see, there’s more to maintaining an outboard than most people realize. But hey, you wouldn’t buy a new car and ignore the manufacturer’s suggestion to have the oil changed every 3,000 miles and have the tires rotated at certain intervals, would you? Try these steps and you should find they prevent major issues down the road. So, be prepared to spend a bit of money for maintenance and save a whole bunch in the long run!