Boating and Sailing.pdf - Moja ladja

Chapter 2: Power to the People—Marine Engines
also released a significant amount of unburned fuel and oil mixture into the water. The
resulting air and water pollution eventually led to federal regulations calling for a considerable
decrease in emissions by 2006.
Motor manufacturers took two different routes to achieve the improvement. Some,
including Bombardier, Mercury, and Yamaha, built what are known as “high-pressure
direct-injection” two-cycle engines, which squirt atomized fuel directly into the cylinders
at very high pressure via a very precise timing system. The result is that very little unburned
fuel blows out the exhaust ports, and the motors greatly decrease use of both fuel
and lubricating oil. These motors typically beat conventional two-strokes by 40 percent in
fuel efficiency in low and mid ranges and
decrease pollutants accordingly.
Look Out!
A second approach, followed mostly by Honda
and Suzuki, but also by some models of Johnson,
Mercury, and more recently Yamaha, was to
build four-stroke outboards. These are very similar
to automotive engines, with valves, cams, and
oil-bath lubrication; they do not require oil to be
injected into the cylinders, so they produce very
little pollution. They are quiet, smoke-free, very
dependable, and achieve 40 to 50 percent better
fuel efficiency than conventional two-strokes.
However, they are slightly heavier and cost considerably
more at this writing, and also present
the problem of what to do with the used oil
when it is changed.
These days, you can buy any of the mainstream
engines with confidence. These include the
Bombardier (formerly OMC) brands Johnson
and Evinrude, Mercury, Honda, Suzuki, and
Yamaha. They range in price from as little as $800
for the smallest to over $17,000 for the largest.
You can also save money by buying the economy
version of the prestige motors. Yamaha’s “C”
version does not have oil injection, and so it sells
for a lot less than the standard motor. And carbureted
engines, which will all be phased out by
2006, are selling at present for as much as 40 percent
less than four-strokes and direct-injection
Make sure when you
look at a low-priced rig that the
dealer is not trying to sell you
one of these economy motors for
the same price the dealer across
town is offering for a full-featured
motor. The economy motors are
good products, but the price
should reflect the reduction in
features.
Boat Bytes
A big plus of the two- and
four-horsepower motors is
their light weight—their
power is modest, but you
can lift them off a dock
with one hand. Sailboaters like
them because they can remove
them from the stern and stow the
weight more efficiently while
sailing—and to a sailor’s eyeball,
there’s nothing as ugly as
an outboard motor on the back
of a boat under sail. Of course,
that motor can be beautiful to
behold if the wind dies.
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