SEABUDDY
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Seabuddy boat test of the new Mercruiser Mercury Marine engine from seabuddy. First on-the-water boat test.

Mercruiser now owns the tooling to make the former Chevrolet 502 engine. They use this engine in their Mercury Racing division for Mercury Marine Mercruiser Racing engines from 525 Hp, 600 Hp, 662 Hp, and 700 Hp.

Now they (Mercury Marine Mercruiser) have discontinued their two versions of the, made by Chevrolet, 496 engine and offer this Mercruiser Mercury Marine 502 engine in family boat, sport boat power outputs of 380 Hp and 430 Hp.

Thus, Mercury Marine has invented a new family boat engine for 2010. Any 496 Mercury Marine Mercruiser powered boat has a now discontinued engine powering it. There is inventory out there at boat dealers, but that is about it. Seabuddy has not heard of a program to offer extra discounts on the discontinued Mercury Marine 496 inventory yet.

Volvo, still uses their on-hand inventory of Chevrolet made 496 engines at 375 Hp and 420 Hp for 2010 and the foreseeable future. They bought all the on-hand inventory from Chevrolet to keep Volvo in stock on engines. Volvo will have to make a change in the future once their on-hand inventory of 496 engines runs out. But that future change in a boat model year down-the-road is not yet public information.

All new family and sport versions of the 502 Mercury Marine Mercruiser engine require two Catalytic Converters, but  any 496 engine is exempt from needing Catalytic Converters for 2010 except for CA boats. The 525 Hp, 600 Hp, 662 Hp, and 700 Hp Mercury Racing engines do not need catalytic converters as they are over the Hp ceiling (500Hp) that federal law requires Catalytic Converters be used under.

How does she run?

Better, faster,  acceleration from about 2,700 rpms on up. A huge amount of torque that is the reason for continuously pushing speed numbers forward FAST on up to 4,200 rpm for the 380 Hp Mercury Marine Mercruiser and to just over 4,700 rpms on the 430 Hp version with its different, upgraded  internal parts like the camshaft. She is a Smoothy, too, some how the balance of Mercury Marine Mercruiser engine with the Mercury Marine Mercruiser Bravo III x drive and Mercury Marine Mercruiser prop set marry with the 7,500 lb big Cobalt boat and deliver a new level of smoothness to seabuddy.  Not that much else is different by seabuddy seat-of-the-pants.

Yes, she holds her grip on very solid water bite to the props in more violent turns. A big improvement really, but how often does a family boater whip a 30 foot plus boat around a slalom cross type turns? Boat testers do, as we want to see what is either a strong or weak point in a rig under test conditions. Here, it’s the Mercury Marine Mercruiser prop set and the ideal, precise  way the boat builder has dialed in this package.

And the Mercury Marine Mercruiser is quiet. That feature should be attributed to the new Exhaust system using the two catalytic converters. Get a switch able exhaust and the sound gives off that level of sound that  is music to a performance boat owner’s ear.

Top speed was 50 mph in a quick, short run this day, but there should be another mile an hour or two available if you take the time for a longer run on a higher hour Mercury Marine Mercruiser package (say about 50 hours on the engine hour meter). We were three aboard with and some fuel on this day. Add another 12 mph to the 50 – 52 mph in this boat if you buy a twin Mercury Marine Mercruiser package.

Our boat test was a 296 Cobalt bow rider boat that measures 30 feet 2 inches with a 9 foot 5 inch beam for a generous 8’ 8” interior beam in the cockpit. She was a big, roomy bow rider, quick in the water for the helmsman and a luxury soft ride for the passengers.

OK. The big decision here is which Mercury Mercruiser inboard outboard drive to select, Bravo III or Alpha? For price, go with an Alpha. For a great running bow rider boat, go with the Bravo III.  Since Bayliner only packages one engine with each drive and it is here in the drive selection will make the most day in, day out, difference in using and enjoying this bow rider boat, pick the right drive for your boating.

Hands down, pick the Bravo III from Mercury Mercruiser, and save some money on selecting your options to help keep the price inline, if its in the budget.

Two more photos on the second page.

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A Formula bow rider boat, boat trailer, and a Mercury Mercruiser V-8 for under $100,000 is available today. Some are way under. The boat options and the Merc engine and inboard outboard drive choices do much to drive your price.

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Chris Craft has a new bow rider boat with a Mercury inboard outboard drive for 2010 ½. She is built on a proved Chris Craft hull with an all new main cockpit and bow rider seating. This is the deep vee hull that takes a rough afternoon chop so well with its wave spitting forefoot and strake placement. However, this one will not go “bow high” when you take off for ski and wakeboard activities. Here, there is a tournament ski boat style special lifting pad going forward a bit from the transom. 

See the rest of the photos by clicking for the second page

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This is a 22’ 9” LOA bow rider boat that will break 50 mph with a 5.0 inboard outboard drive. A full beam of 8’ 6” makes for a stable boat with a wide, roomy cockpit. A generous 55 gallon fuel tank allows a boat owner to control how he many uses he can do with this runabout.  A cockpit sink standard with a 10 gal. fresh water tank makes for easy clean-up. Figure on a draft for the boat and the drive (all the way down) of 36”.

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This boat builder went with an inboard ourboard drive rather than an inboard and gained speed, ride control, and fuel economy with it.

2010 model of Chaparral’s 186 model bow rider. She is 19′ 6″ LOA, has a 8′ beam, and has a 25 gallon gas tank.

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The first record for this race boat, Miss America IX, was to break 100 mph barrier on the water. With its owner and builder driving, Gar Wood, she topped out at 102.256 mph in early 1931.

She then did 103.069 mph at another date in later in 1931.

In February, 1932, Gar Wood set another record pace of 112.434 statute miles an hour over the measured nautical mile in his Miss America IX.

The Miss America IX was powered with two 12-cylinder Packard motors, developing 1,200 horsepower each when first built. After about mid-April, 1931, superchargers were added to the motors that hopped them up to approximately 1,600 horsepower each.

Thus, Miss America IX set a best of 103 plus mph naturally aspirated and 112 mph plus supercharged

Pictured here is Miss America in March, 2010 afloat on Lake Dora, Fl.

Mr. Wood died in Florida  in 1971 at the age of 90.

It was a great boating experience for seabuddy to photograph such a historical race boat.

The 200 model for 2010 from Ski Nautique / Correct Craft.

An acronym of Boat Instrument Gauge, the MasterCraft BIG features a crystal clear and easily navigable 6” display.

Even the quickest of glances lets you see fuel, speed, temperature and cruise settings. But that’s just for starters. Because the BIG also lets you set up and store individual rider’s preferences for ballast and surf tabs, view footage from the tower camera or even watch a DVD from the optional Clarion CMV1 entertainment system.

See it here…

 http://www.showmanagement.com/palm_beach_international_boat_show/event/

 and here…

 http://southfloridamastercraft.com/

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