Archive for the ‘Mercury Engine Oil’ Category
While Evinrude may get a lot of publicity, Mercury Marine is actually the world’s leading manufacturer of marine propulsion engines. Unlike other companies that produce complete watercrafts, Mercury focuses exclusively on engines, providing units for recreational, commercial and government usage. The company creates both Mercury and Mariner engines.
You won’t see Mercury Marine on the NYSE, but that’s because they are a division of Brunswick Corporation, who also owns Bayliner, Sea Ray and other leading marine manufactures. In addition to their award-winning engines, Mercury also produces a wide line of accessories and Mercury oil. The Mercury Marines mission statement outlines their commitment to excellence and their customers.
Just as we take precautions to winterize our boat by changing the mercury oil, using a gasoline treatment to clean the tank, and greasing the propeller, it’s also important to winterize your boat trailer. The first step you should take is to prevent the buildup of rust, especially if your trailer and boat are stored outside. For rust protection, you’ll want to coat your trailer at least once every few years with rust prevention paint. It’s also important to re-grease the wheels on your trailer to avoid them from freezing and becoming immovable over the winter. If possible, drape your boat cover over the boat trailer as well, as preventing water runoff will help to maintain its condition.
With the proper precautions, you’ll be ready and rearing to go once the weather grows warmer; you’ll be out on the lake or the ocean before everyone else!
Now that winter is on the way and likely to stay in parts of America for the next several months, many boaters enter a planning stage. Since they cannot get out on the lake to go fishing or just to cruise around aimlessly, a number of thoughts begin to enter their heads. Foremost among these is the question of whether to buy a new boat. Every spring like clockwork, thousands of people show up at marinas and dealerships ready to make such a purchase.
From an economic standpoint, these last few years have been slightly different. The uncertainty of the job market has made some people wary about investing too much in luxury items. These concerns have led to a resurgence in the used boat market, convincing consumers to look at the bright side of an aging vessel. The key is to think about the purposes for which one plans to use the boat.
Fishing boats and those intended for recreational water sports feature a completely disparate construction. After you’ve narrowed down your selection to the type of boat, take a gander at the hull to check for structural damage. Then study the inner workings such as the outboard motor. Does it look like it’s been given plenty of mercury oil over the years? Signs of corrosion and leakage might be enough to keep you away from making the investment.
As much as we might hate to admit it, most anglers are faced with an offseason that lasts at least several months. When spring comes around, we can start our love affair with the fishing boat all over again. Until then, it’s up to us to winterize and find other ways to pass the time – such as snowmobiling. But before you hop on that sled, let’s take some time to ensure that you’ve done all you can to winterize the boat effectively.
If possible, store your boat on land. This prevents the possibility of water seeping through the hull fittings or gate valves, freezing and expanding. Over the course of an entire winter, this can cause severe harm to the structure and cost you lots of money. Add anti-freeze to parts of the boat that are intended to contain water such as water tanks, septic holding tanks and toilets.
Drain the boat’s cooling system and add anti-freeze. Do so dipping the water intake into a bucket of anti-freeze and running the engine for a few minutes. The battery should be disconnected and stored on land. Drain the existing motor oil and replace it with Mercury engine oil. Drain and replace the transmission and outdrive oils and top off the tanks with a fuel stabilizer.
Although not every outboard motor allows boaters the option of power trimming – also known as raising and lowering the drive unit – it’s a feature that’s widely available in most new outboards. “Trim” is maritime jargon used to refer to the running position of the engine drive unit. Think about the way your own outboard descends from the transom and into the water.
If a motor is neutrally trimmed, it will be positioned in an almost perfectly vertical manner; the bow will be lowered and the propeller shaft stays parallel to the water’s surface. As one might expect, operating a boat with neutral trimming is probably the most fuel-efficient technique as it streamlines the machinery’s progress through the water. “Trimming in” occurs when the top of the outboard is pointed slightly back and way from the stern. Again, this method lowers the bow but improves the ability to plane and ride through choppy seas.
The final option, “trimming out” actually lifts the bow and boosts the craft’s top speed considerably. When a motor is trimmed out excessively, the boat will begin to bounce. This technique is often employed in racing and for achieving quick bursts of speed during short-term trips. However, be prepared to replenish the engine with a supply of Mercury oil. Trimmed out boats are never as efficient as they could be.
September is a bittersweet month for many boaters; when the cool winds begin to blow, we know it won’t be long before it’s time to take those small vessels out of the water and into storage for winterization. Unless you’re lucky enough to live in an area where there’s open water all year long, these same thoughts are probably running through your head. Mercury Marine, manufacturers of the two-cycle OptiMax engines, has timed its latest promotion with the end of the boating season in mind.
With its “Trade Up America” event, Mercury is offering sizable rebates – ranging from $300 to $1,000 – when boat owners upgrade to a fuel-efficient OptiMax outboard. According to one Mercury representative, the event has been timed to coincide with the start of the winterizing process, when boat owners are starting to think ahead about next year. The offer is valid through Halloween.
It wasn’t long ago that outboard motor manufacturers came under fire from the Environmental Protection Agency, inspiring them to up their fuel-efficiency standards. These days, Mercury engine oil is specially formulated to meet rigorous lubricity and viscosity guidelines. The net effect is that engines like the OptiMax can run with tremendous power and efficiency, all without taking a serious toll on the environment.
My father’s motorcycle club is called the Black Bandits. A group of burly old men in their fifties, they wear – or should I say squeeze into – leather pants, jean jackets and colorful bandanas. They ride around our small town every Sunday, revving their engines, racing through the streets and howling like coyotes. All of this is actually embarrassing to admit, but it’s also something I need to vent about.
During the workweek they tune their bikes at Dale’s Greasy Garage down on Oleander Street. And as they work they are notorious for pulling pranks on each other. One day Curly Sue replaced Dad’s Mercury engine oil with olive oil, and that’s when all the drama unfolded. In retaliation, he filled Sue’s tailpipe with Cheetos and maple syrup. The chaos of it all went back and forth for weeks until one day Dad said, “Let’s make call it truce, only if you agree never to mess with my oil again, it’s just plain wrong!” And the rest is history.
Today we conclude our two-part series on the TC-W3 oil certification program, which is headed up by the National Marine Manufacturers Association. As discussed previously, the goals of creating a new two-cycle marine oil standard were two-fold: to reduce the number of pollutants released into the environment and to make engines more sustainable by reducing the mixture ratio to fuel.
Any two-stroke oil on the market today that bears the TC-W3 stamp of approval either meets or exceeds rigorous lubrication requirements that are set by the NMMA. The NMMA performs a series of tests such as fluidity, viscosity and lubricity. In addition, the association looks for carbon buildup on the pistons, which can be a sign that the oil isn’t doing its job.
If you’re in the market for a fresh bottle of outboard motor oil, you could do worse than making your ultimate decision based on TC-W3 certification. The leading two-cycle motor oil brands such as Mercury, Evinrude and Yamaha, all feature specific offerings that make the grade. The blend of additives present in Mercury oil is especially highly touted boat enthusiasts across the country.
As summer begins to wind down, many boat owners begin taking stock of their vessel – seeing to any late-season repairs and making plans for the offseason. In the wake of a recent rash of outboard motor thefts in the Florida Keys, boat owners are taking extra care to ensure that their investments remain protected for the years to come. In many cases, this requires exploring the ins and outs of boat insurance.
It’s a common misconception that boat insurance covers the craft exclusively. Depending on the plan, boat owners can cover practically any unfortunate eventuality. The most basic plans cover collision damages, fire and lightning. Beyond that, most plans also protect against the threat of vandalism and theft. But that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Many policies extend far beyond the boat itself to cover machinery, outboard motors, boat trailers and personal property that may be attached.
Now that August has arrived and many seasonal boat operations will be ceasing within a few months, it’s as good a time as any to assess the state of your small boat. Whether or not you invest in an insurance plan, it’s always a good idea to keep your boat and its components well maintained. Providing the motor with satisfactory lubrication – as provided by Mercury engine oil – can effectively extend its life. That means more time to have fun in the sun.
It should come as no surprise to outboard engine owners that Mercury Marine grew out of the seeds of hard work and innovation. After all, the company continues to display those traits to this day. It all started in the late 1930s, in a sleepy Wisconsin burg. Company founder Carl Kiekhaefer saw potential in a failing outboard motor manufacturer and rescued its supply of originally “rejected” motors.
In those days, Kiekhaefer still had modest dreams: naming the company after himself, he hired a small crew of workers to repair the 300 or so motors and sell them to the original buyer. This retailer was so pleased with the crew’s work that they turned around and ordered another batch. Around this time, Kiekhaefer began to envision designs for a refurbished outboard engine that would put power and reliability before all other considerations.
By 1940, the company had been renamed Mercury and was creating a whole new line of engines featuring an innovative fuel system and a housing to protect the drive shaft and exhaust from water damage. As America entered World War II, public attention turned away from the outboard industry. Mercury sought and won a government contract to make 2-stroke chainsaw motors.
In the post-war years, the recreation industry boomed and people returned to lakes and rivers with one thing on their mind: relaxation. Mercury resumed outboard production and would later introduce its own line of 2 cycle oil. Today the company has expanded to put its stamp on a wide variety of products for boat enthusiasts, including propellers, electric controls and inboard engines.