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Author Topic:   The Mercury Lowdown and Some OMC Too

pcrussell50 posted 11-19-2009 12:43 AM ET (US)
Please bear with. I've been into boating for barely more than a year, so I have glaring gaps in my knowledge despite possessing the skills to do most of my own repair and maintenance. Here goes.
In addition to my beloved Whaler 13 Sport, I am also into outboard performance boats, and participate in an appropriate forum for it. I have learned that almost everybody who is anybody over on the "fastboat" forums runs a Mercury. Yet, around the harbor here in Santa Barbara, lots of the "working class" boats use OMC power. It's almost as if Mercury's are high-strung, fragile, thoroughbreds like Ferrari and Lamborghini and OMC's are like robust, reliable truck motors.
Now here's where I think there's a gap in my knowledge. I may have heard somewhere that a Mercury is not a Mercury is not a Mercury. [Unclear] there is Mercury Marine, who makes the utilitarian motors like OMC motors that come on new Whalers, and there is Mercury Racing, which makes the motors that hobbyists put on almost all the serious outboard powered "fastboats". Do I understand this correctly? I basically guessed at the names of the two Mercury divisions. Can someone fill in the "gap" for me?
Peter
Santa Barbara, CA
R T M posted 11-19-2009 06:39 AM ET (US)
What kind of go fast boating are you interested in, hobby performance boats, or sanctioned outboard boat racing. Becuase of Mercurys domination of outboard racing many years ago hobbyists perceive they must be the fasted and bestest. Not true in all cases. Mercury Racing only builds two real racing engines, and these are only available to organized registered APBA race teams. These motors are run in OPC and Offshore events. Sanctioned APBA stock outboard racing was dominated my Mercurys back in the '50's, but no more. Today mercury has no competitive outboards. The Japanese Yamato is the main outboard, with some small classes are run using OMCs, Other classes use Tohatsu, and Pro classes use Koenigs.
This site will give you alot of information on all types of organized boat racing.
http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forums/index.php?
rich/Binkie
R T M posted 11-19-2009 06:47 AM ET (US)
The above site is mostly geared toward West Coast racing. Why not attend a race next year. Caution, you may get hooked and find you like it better than SCCA racing.
rich/Binkie
R T M posted 11-19-2009 06:56 AM ET (US)
Here is a thread discussing Mercurys "real" race motor.
http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9385
rich/Binkie
jimh posted 11-19-2009 08:42 AM ET (US)
In most power boat racing the competition is conducted in narrow classes of boats which are very similar in design, and, as a general rule, in each class there is only one particular motor used. The classes are more or less built around the motor as well as the boat. At the moment there are many classes in which the motor used is an older Mercury motor, but there are also classes in which the motor is an older OMC motor. There are also classes that are truly specific to one particular motor, such as some Honda motors.
The true racing motors are not in compliance with EPA regulations for emission, and this exemption is allowed because those motors are only used for racing. Real racing motors do not meet EPA emission guidelines.
Mercury Marine has a number of motors which they market to the general public and which are in compliance with EPA regulations, but Mercury markets them as souped-up or racing motors, or as having some added features normally used only on racing motors, or as having improved performance compared to the standard motor. Some of these motors are sold by the normal dealer distribution channels and some are sold only through the Mercury Racing distribution channel, even though they are EPA rated motors.
The other outboard manufacturers do not participate in racing or support racing or have special divisions which concentrate on racing, and as a result you do not see their products used in racing to the extent that you see Mercury products.
In general I would say that outboard motor manufacturers who participate strongly in racing are probably hoping that success in racing will translate to a boost in brand image in sales of their regular motors to regular, non-racing customers. As you can see from the inference you have already drawn, this type of linkage is often made.
Tohsgib posted 11-19-2009 10:48 AM ET (US)
Mercury has a brand of engines called the XS line which have nosecones, low water pickups, higher redlines and such over stock engines. This saves the go-fast owner time and money by not having to add these mods. E-Tec also offers these engines in their HO line and Yamaha in their V-Max line. Although many use the E-Tec & V-Max, it is still dominated by Mercury probably due to price and they sound so cool. When I was at a Whaler rendezvous there were probably 50 tunnelforks and such from Scream&Fly.com having their own gathering. 75% were Mercs and the rest mainly E-tecs. Most of the E-Tecs color(blue or white) matched the boat they were hung on so that might have been a deciding factor.
The moto when I was a kid was if you wanted to win a race, buy a Mercury. If you want to get back to port, buy an OMC.
R T M posted 11-19-2009 12:14 PM ET (US)
Trihull racing, here is a class where you can race your 17 ft. Whaler (well not hardly). They run 140 OMCs, 16ft. trihulls. short courses with one pin turns, 60mph. Kind of like NASCAR on water.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrtjSJMaLr4&NR=1&feature=fvwp
rich/Binkie
R T M posted 11-19-2009 12:22 PM ET (US)
If you have a need for real speed.
http://www.opcrace.com/realindex.html
rich/Binkie
pcrussell50 posted 11-19-2009 02:24 PM ET (US)
Wow! As usual, a flood of insightful info. And yes, my outboard-oriented "fastboat" forum is screamandfly.com. I'm gathering that in addition to ordinary owners of fast boats, there are also plenty of real racers over there.
Rich, for me, just hobby level performance boating. And pretty minimal at that. We keep our fast lake boat at the wife's grandparents house out near lake Havasu on the Colorado river. My day consists of motoring with my wife for a few minutes to a quiet cove where we lounge around and snorkel and picnic and I fish a little. Then we motor back to the dock, and while she goes and gets the trailer, I make a few speed runs by myself. This is in a light stripped down 16 foot boat that is proportioned like a performance bass boat, powered by the same OMC 135horsepower v4 crossflow that I've written about here in other posts.
Anyhoo, so from what I've read so far in this thread, there is or was a division of Mercury that builds "hopped" up motors, [with pointy nose cones and low water pickups and such], just as BMW has their ///M division or Ford has SVT or Benz has AMG? And the fact that the huge preponderance of scream and fly folks run Mercury's on their 80mph+ Allisons and Hydrostreams, are probably doing so because of Merc's past reputation in racing, or brand loyalty, or such. Does that about sum it up?
Peter
Santa Barbara, CA
Tohsgib posted 11-19-2009 02:32 PM ET (US)
yup.
Just like most racers it is more important for them to brag about 103.4mph than to have a bulletproof engine that does 98mph.
pcrussell50 posted 11-19-2009 02:39 PM ET (US)
LOL. That used to be important to me too in the car hobby... until I got a mortgage and started having to do my own automotive , [and boating], repairs. Now, I'm willing to leave all kinds of speed on the table in the name of reliability and maintainability.
Peter
Santa Barbara, CA
R T M posted 11-19-2009 02:49 PM ET (US)
Peter,
Apparently your wife doesn`t like to go fast. Bummer. Its hard to find women that do. I have a class F 14' Desilva antique racing runabout with a 70ish 105 Chrysler race motor that does 70+. I run it at the AOMCI antique outboard meets monthly. It is a 2 person boat, driver and deck rider, who climbs up on the deck and leans on the port side going around turns(left hand. The only women who took a ride was my 43(at the time) year old daughter who freaked out. Funny she is a pilot and love to fly in aerobatic airplanes.
Here is a pic.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c191/floridaboy2053/ Whaler%20with%20Mercury/AOMCImeetatTaveras.jpg
rich/Binkie
pcrussell50 posted 11-19-2009 05:00 PM ET (US)
Rich, I went to your personal info site and flipped through your photos. Very interesting and fun looking. And AOMCI too? Very cool. I have a '59 Super Seahorse 35hp, [rds21b], that I love dearly. It even looks pretty good, too. BUT as far as I can tell, it's been given no quarter in life other than new seals when it leaks, and impellers points plugs condensers. As far back as I can trace it's ownership, it's always been used in salt water. I love this thing. Although at times, I feel guilty for using it as a work-a-day mule. Maybe I should try to find it a home with a loving AOMCI member who will coddle it?
It's funny about the wife and speed. She is the daughter of a pro bass fisherman and has been way over 70mph in a pro bass boat many times growing up. She also handles a trailer like a champ. Maybe she doesn't trust me?
Peter
Santa Barbara, CA
Tohsgib posted 11-20-2009 10:30 AM ET (US)
you mentioned this is your first year boating....I would NOT trust you either. Matter of fact there are only a handfull of drivers I do trust.

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Author	Topic: The Mercury Lowdown and Some OMC Too
pcrussell50	posted 11-19-2009 12:43 AM ET (US) Please bear with. I've been into boating for barely more than a year, so I have glaring gaps in my knowledge despite possessing the skills to do most of my own repair and maintenance. Here goes. In addition to my beloved Whaler 13 Sport, I am also into outboard performance boats, and participate in an appropriate forum for it. I have learned that almost everybody who is anybody over on the "fastboat" forums runs a Mercury. Yet, around the harbor here in Santa Barbara, lots of the "working class" boats use OMC power. It's almost as if Mercury's are high-strung, fragile, thoroughbreds like Ferrari and Lamborghini and OMC's are like robust, reliable truck motors. Now here's where I think there's a gap in my knowledge. I may have heard somewhere that a Mercury is not a Mercury is not a Mercury. [Unclear] there is Mercury Marine, who makes the utilitarian motors like OMC motors that come on new Whalers, and there is Mercury Racing, which makes the motors that hobbyists put on almost all the serious outboard powered "fastboats". Do I understand this correctly? I basically guessed at the names of the two Mercury divisions. Can someone fill in the "gap" for me? Peter Santa Barbara, CA
R T M	posted 11-19-2009 06:39 AM ET (US) What kind of go fast boating are you interested in, hobby performance boats, or sanctioned outboard boat racing. Becuase of Mercurys domination of outboard racing many years ago hobbyists perceive they must be the fasted and bestest. Not true in all cases. Mercury Racing only builds two real racing engines, and these are only available to organized registered APBA race teams. These motors are run in OPC and Offshore events. Sanctioned APBA stock outboard racing was dominated my Mercurys back in the '50's, but no more. Today mercury has no competitive outboards. The Japanese Yamato is the main outboard, with some small classes are run using OMCs, Other classes use Tohatsu, and Pro classes use Koenigs. This site will give you alot of information on all types of organized boat racing. http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forums/index.php? rich/Binkie
R T M	posted 11-19-2009 06:47 AM ET (US) The above site is mostly geared toward West Coast racing. Why not attend a race next year. Caution, you may get hooked and find you like it better than SCCA racing. rich/Binkie
R T M	posted 11-19-2009 06:56 AM ET (US) Here is a thread discussing Mercurys "real" race motor. http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9385 rich/Binkie
jimh	posted 11-19-2009 08:42 AM ET (US) In most power boat racing the competition is conducted in narrow classes of boats which are very similar in design, and, as a general rule, in each class there is only one particular motor used. The classes are more or less built around the motor as well as the boat. At the moment there are many classes in which the motor used is an older Mercury motor, but there are also classes in which the motor is an older OMC motor. There are also classes that are truly specific to one particular motor, such as some Honda motors. The true racing motors are not in compliance with EPA regulations for emission, and this exemption is allowed because those motors are only used for racing. Real racing motors do not meet EPA emission guidelines. Mercury Marine has a number of motors which they market to the general public and which are in compliance with EPA regulations, but Mercury markets them as souped-up or racing motors, or as having some added features normally used only on racing motors, or as having improved performance compared to the standard motor. Some of these motors are sold by the normal dealer distribution channels and some are sold only through the Mercury Racing distribution channel, even though they are EPA rated motors. The other outboard manufacturers do not participate in racing or support racing or have special divisions which concentrate on racing, and as a result you do not see their products used in racing to the extent that you see Mercury products. In general I would say that outboard motor manufacturers who participate strongly in racing are probably hoping that success in racing will translate to a boost in brand image in sales of their regular motors to regular, non-racing customers. As you can see from the inference you have already drawn, this type of linkage is often made.
Tohsgib	posted 11-19-2009 10:48 AM ET (US) Mercury has a brand of engines called the XS line which have nosecones, low water pickups, higher redlines and such over stock engines. This saves the go-fast owner time and money by not having to add these mods. E-Tec also offers these engines in their HO line and Yamaha in their V-Max line. Although many use the E-Tec & V-Max, it is still dominated by Mercury probably due to price and they sound so cool. When I was at a Whaler rendezvous there were probably 50 tunnelforks and such from Scream&Fly.com having their own gathering. 75% were Mercs and the rest mainly E-tecs. Most of the E-Tecs color(blue or white) matched the boat they were hung on so that might have been a deciding factor. The moto when I was a kid was if you wanted to win a race, buy a Mercury. If you want to get back to port, buy an OMC.
R T M	posted 11-19-2009 12:14 PM ET (US) Trihull racing, here is a class where you can race your 17 ft. Whaler (well not hardly). They run 140 OMCs, 16ft. trihulls. short courses with one pin turns, 60mph. Kind of like NASCAR on water. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrtjSJMaLr4&NR=1&feature=fvwp rich/Binkie
R T M	posted 11-19-2009 12:22 PM ET (US) If you have a need for real speed. http://www.opcrace.com/realindex.html rich/Binkie
pcrussell50	posted 11-19-2009 02:24 PM ET (US) Wow! As usual, a flood of insightful info. And yes, my outboard-oriented "fastboat" forum is screamandfly.com. I'm gathering that in addition to ordinary owners of fast boats, there are also plenty of real racers over there. Rich, for me, just hobby level performance boating. And pretty minimal at that. We keep our fast lake boat at the wife's grandparents house out near lake Havasu on the Colorado river. My day consists of motoring with my wife for a few minutes to a quiet cove where we lounge around and snorkel and picnic and I fish a little. Then we motor back to the dock, and while she goes and gets the trailer, I make a few speed runs by myself. This is in a light stripped down 16 foot boat that is proportioned like a performance bass boat, powered by the same OMC 135horsepower v4 crossflow that I've written about here in other posts. Anyhoo, so from what I've read so far in this thread, there is or was a division of Mercury that builds "hopped" up motors, [with pointy nose cones and low water pickups and such], just as BMW has their ///M division or Ford has SVT or Benz has AMG? And the fact that the huge preponderance of scream and fly folks run Mercury's on their 80mph+ Allisons and Hydrostreams, are probably doing so because of Merc's past reputation in racing, or brand loyalty, or such. Does that about sum it up? Peter Santa Barbara, CA
Tohsgib	posted 11-19-2009 02:32 PM ET (US) yup. Just like most racers it is more important for them to brag about 103.4mph than to have a bulletproof engine that does 98mph.
pcrussell50	posted 11-19-2009 02:39 PM ET (US) LOL. That used to be important to me too in the car hobby... until I got a mortgage and started having to do my own automotive , [and boating], repairs. Now, I'm willing to leave all kinds of speed on the table in the name of reliability and maintainability. Peter Santa Barbara, CA
R T M	posted 11-19-2009 02:49 PM ET (US) Peter, Apparently your wife doesn`t like to go fast. Bummer. Its hard to find women that do. I have a class F 14' Desilva antique racing runabout with a 70ish 105 Chrysler race motor that does 70+. I run it at the AOMCI antique outboard meets monthly. It is a 2 person boat, driver and deck rider, who climbs up on the deck and leans on the port side going around turns(left hand. The only women who took a ride was my 43(at the time) year old daughter who freaked out. Funny she is a pilot and love to fly in aerobatic airplanes. Here is a pic. http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c191/floridaboy2053/ Whaler%20with%20Mercury/AOMCImeetatTaveras.jpg rich/Binkie
pcrussell50	posted 11-19-2009 05:00 PM ET (US) Rich, I went to your personal info site and flipped through your photos. Very interesting and fun looking. And AOMCI too? Very cool. I have a '59 Super Seahorse 35hp, [rds21b], that I love dearly. It even looks pretty good, too. BUT as far as I can tell, it's been given no quarter in life other than new seals when it leaks, and impellers points plugs condensers. As far back as I can trace it's ownership, it's always been used in salt water. I love this thing. Although at times, I feel guilty for using it as a work-a-day mule. Maybe I should try to find it a home with a loving AOMCI member who will coddle it? It's funny about the wife and speed. She is the daughter of a pro bass fisherman and has been way over 70mph in a pro bass boat many times growing up. She also handles a trailer like a champ. Maybe she doesn't trust me? Peter Santa Barbara, CA
Tohsgib	posted 11-20-2009 10:30 AM ET (US) you mentioned this is your first year boating....I would NOT trust you either. Matter of fact there are only a handfull of drivers I do trust.