Mercury to fill gap of now defunct Seven Marine

[salty dog]

Just as nautical horsepower junkies were pining the demise of
the high-powered Seven Marine engines,
Mercury has just announced the production
of the world's largest, most powerful outboard, a 7.2 litre big block,
naturally aspirated, four stroke, quad cam, 600 HP V12 Verado. Among
many design features is a two speed transmission which
automatically shifts between power and high rpm, depending the need.
It also features a hydraulic, wet-clutch transmission (probably
comparable to a velvet drive) which, among other things, makes
the use of the "sky hook" virtual anchor feature almost unnoticeable.
A totally new feature is steering from rotating gear cases; the
engines don't ever move. I realize to many, this is not really
newsworthy, but to gearheads like myself, you might like to
hear about it and take a look...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN42mq5eSUc

[mswlogo]

Wow too bad they don't offer some of those features (like two speed wet clutch transmission) on the more sane size engines.

One of my favorite features of my Tige Ski boat (sold a year and half ago :() was the Velvet drive transmission. I hate transmissions in boats that just stall the engine and jam the gears when switching to forward & reverse. Not that those crude transmissions fail that often, I just can't stand it after owning a velvet drive.

[mowtorman]

It's interesting how VP announces 11/2/20 their manufacturing plans then announces on 11/6/2020 that they will stop production as of 1/1/2021. It seemed like a big deal when they acquired 7 marine, and there is a tremendous new market for high horsepower outboards as seen in the channel with the triple 400 boats. So many innovations on this engine it will be fun to watch the new products hit the market in the next few years. The joy stick steering and docking is very cool all by itself. Big change from cable steering and no power tilt.

[Biggd]

All that HP for 40mph. :emb::emb:

[mowtorman]

High bling and satisfaction is priceless ka ching $$ What's your pleasure tiki boats with about 10 hp were for sale for 20 or 30k a couple of summers ago. Not much get up and go there.

[salty dog]

I just realized as I was reading more about it, one of the test boats (on the GPH/performance charts) listed it at approx 7.8 GPH at an idle speed of 3 to 4 mph. That's about what I average on my tritoon with 115hp at 22mph :eek2:! I'm pretty sure at around $78,000 each, GPH isn't really a big concern for those who have quads on a 43' Midnight Express!

[fatlazyless]

www.volvogroup.com/en-en/news/2020/jun/news-3689583.html

Whadda know ...... like no fool'n ..... like no kidd'n .... like this was so obvious it was gonna happen that absolutely nobody should be surprised ...... no, not even one little bit ..... NO surprise what-so-ever-ever-ever this here change has done took place ...... you know what I mean! ... :eek:

So on September 1, 2020, Volvo Penta gets a new president ..... Helene ..... who replaces the long long serving ..... Bjorn ..... and what does she go and do .... on January 1, 2021 she discontinues their Volvo 7-Marine big block outboards and redirects to a GREEN energy type of marine engine ...... that just figures! ... :eek:

You could predict something like this would happen ...... on her very first day, she drive into the parking lot and park her silver Prius in the visitor space opposite Bjorn ...... where he always parks his 1968 Oldsmobile 442 .... people is what they drive.

If Helene wants to go GREEN she should go get herself a stand up paddle board with one of those long paddles ....... and start paddling!

Would totally not be surprised if she has a summer house over on that too calm, too tranquil, and too serene Squam Lake! ... :eek:

There's a very good reason why they call Lake Winnipesaukee ....... the BIG LAKE ...... and if people want to cruise around in boats with gaziilion-hp outboards or a total of four outboards all mounted on the stern transom ...... totaling 900-hp........ I say ....... Live Free or Die! ..... :eek:

[Cobalt 25]

I was talking with a tech who was servicing some surface drives once and said it must be expensive to provide fuel for these boats.

He said, in effect, owners of boats like these have maintenance issues much bigger than fuel, so fuel really isn't a big deal for them.