Marine Engine oil | Outboard Motor Oil - Part 2

What Is The Best Outboard Motor Oil?

outboard-engine-electric-torqeedoI’ve got a lot of experience when it comes to using different outboard motor oils with boats; I worked in a boat repair shop for quite a while and I’ve had my own boats for a number of decades at this point. Frequently, I get asked a question that, even with all of my experience, I’m not entirely sure how to accurately answer: what is the best outboard motor oil?

I’m not really sure what the best outboard motor oil is. I have experience with Yamaha and Mercury and Evinrude and I definitely believe that those three are among the top brands in the industry, but I’m not certain if I could say that one of those brands is particularly better than the other. It’s a really tough call, as certain brands are better for certain uses than others.

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Search and Rescue with Mercury Optimax Oil

VAKTA-SAR-123My brother is on a search and rescue team that’s particularly focused on people who get stranded at sea, on islands, or anywhere off-shore. When someone goes missing at sea, it’s his duty to look for them by searching a certain perimeter based on the evidence at hand.

Of course he and his team have a very nice boat, which allows them to move quickly and cover as much of the area as possible. Because of the importance of this mission, he makes certain that his boat is well-maintained with Mercury Optimax oil at all times, because time is of the essence.

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Properly Sealed Evinrude Johnson 2 Stroke Outboard Oil

$(KGrHqN,!lsE+G!hufSUBP5B!h6K3Q~~60_35My neighbor is getting older and he sold me his boat recently, along with a few additional items to go along with the boat. He gave it to me at a heavily discounted price, because he feels he’s getting a little too old to keep up with maintaining a boat and taking it out on the water. I made sure to check if the oil he gave me was properly sealed.

With proper storage, Evinrude Johnson 2 stroke outboard oil has a very long shelf life.  It is important that the bottles of oil remain  unopened. When the oil is opened, however, the additives in oil can cause it to turn acidic, which can cause problems. Ultimately, if it is properly sealed, oil can last years and years.

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Holiday Shopping

My wife and I like to make time each year during the holiday season to go shopping together at the local town centre. We have opposing work schedules during the week so we often don’t get to spend much time together apart from the weekends, but we always do the holiday shopping together.

We went in and out of all the different stores in the town centre, trying to find the right gifts for our friends and family members. We were able to find a great variety of gifts that we would be able to give them. While we were out, I had wanted to pick up some Mercury oil for my boat, but for some reason, I couldn’t find any stores that sold it.

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Rewarding Yourself

I don’t like going to the dentist; I’m pretty sure that nobody really does, but I’ve always especially disliked going to my dentist and I feel like whenever I do it, it’s in a completely begrudging manner. Over the years, however, I’ve learned to find ways to trick myself into not hating my visits to the dentist as much.

For instance, I like to implement a rewards program with myself when I have to do things that I really hate. I get through going to the dentist and then I indulge by purchasing something for myself that makes me happy. After my most recent visit to the dentist, I swung by a boating store and got some Mercury oil and some other nifty accessories for my boat.

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Saving Money by Buying Bulk

I went a little bit over budget when it came to purchasing my new boat. What with buying the boat and everything that you have to get that goes along with it, as well as renting out a storage unit, I was getting a bit strapped for cash. I had to figure out some ways to purchase certain things for my boat at cheaper prices.

I purchased some bulk motor oil because it saved me a bundle to buy a lot of it at once and I’ve got a decent storage unit to keep it in with my boat so that outside factors don’t affect its performance. If you leave motor oil out in the open, it can become contaminated by dirt or sludge or it can be affected by temperature changes.

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Mosquito Lagoon

I was visiting some friends in Florida and one of my friends recently purchased a boat and decided to take us all out fishing while we were there for the week. He took us to this place he had gone before called Mosquito Lagoon. It was pretty cool; he was telling us facts like how there were some fish that only bred in that lagoon system.

There were a lot of interesting wild birds in the area too, which was interesting to look at. A lot of people were out clamming in the area as well. We put some Mercury outboard oil into the boat and we were able to have a great time.

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Wives and Boats

My wife and I went through a little bit of a rough patch when I bought my boat. She thought that it was a waste of money and when the boat started to have problems, she seemed convinced that she was right. The problem was that I had bought a used boat and it hadn’t been inspected or maintained as well as advertised. This was something that could be fixed.

Eventually, I got the boat running. I think one of the issues my wife had was that I was taking my buddies out on the boat to drink and fish, rather than spending a day on the boat with her. So for the holidays, I took her out on the boat for the first time and she had a great time. She got me a bottle of Yamalube 2M, just to remind me she loves me.

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The Most Beautiful Water

Having lived in New York City my whole life, I had no idea what I was missing by never venturing to Adirondack Park, where Lake George is located. It’s not too far away from the bustle of the city that I’ve grown so accustomed to, but it’s enough of a distance that there were no urban distractions to be found while I was lounging on the boat that we rented out on the lake. Once I heard that Thomas Jefferson once referred to Lake George as “the most beautiful water he had ever seen,” I knew there was no way I could pass up something that was so close to the place I call home.

In my humble opinion, Thomas Jefferson was completely right. I couldn’t have had a better time than I did out on Lake George; I’ve decreed it to be impossible. Hanging out in the marina and taking the boat we rented out on the lake was more exciting than I could have ever imagined. So everything would run perfectly, I made sure to pick up some Mercury 2 Stroke Premium Outboard Motor Oil for the boat we rented.

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Sandbagger Sloop

This past week I’ve been writing extensively about some of the vessels found at the Mystic Seaport Museum. Until now, I had failed to mention the first Mystic Seaport acquisition: Annie. No, not the musical, Annie is the name of a sandbagger sloop donated to Mystic Seaport in 1931. Annie became the first vessel in the now extensive watercraft collection.

Annie was built in 1880 in Mystic by David O. Richmond. The ship was commissioned by Henry H. Tift to use for competitive racing. In 2004 the ship underwent restoration to return it to its former glory. Annie is definitely a sight to be seen. Perhaps this summer I’ll take my own family to Mystic. It might be nice for my kids to see what boats looked like before the advent of marine engine oil.

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Soft Bottom Roll-Up Inflatable Boat

I’ve recently been researching inflatable boats to use as ship-to-shore tenders. A top priority for me is ease of transport rather than speed. For that reason, a soft bottom roll-up inflatable boat was recommended to me.

It is supposedly compact and lightweight. No special equipment or trailers are needed; in fact, the whole boat rolls up into a bag that holds everything needed. The particular boat I’m looking at, by Mercury Marine, seats three people, has slat floorboards for stability, and an ABS-coated transom. A two stroke engine that takes Marine engine oil can be attached to the rear of the boat to easily take me out to where my larger boat is docked.

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The Anatomy of the Two-Stroke Engine: Part Four

When we left off yesterday, the piston had just bottomed out in the crankcase. Once this occurs, the momentum in the crankshaft will begin to drive the piston back towards the spark plug. As the process continues and more of the gas/air/outboard motor oil mixture is compressed, a vacuum is formed in the crankcase, which in turn opens the reed valve and sucks in more of the mixture from the carburetor.

At the end of the compression stroke, the spark plug fires again and the cycle is repeated. The two-stroke engine derives its name from the fact that only two strokes—the combustion and compression—are required to complete a full cycle. As you’ve probably ascertained, the four-stroke engine has four strokes: intake, compression, combustion and exhaust.

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