Two-stroke requiem

[Arminius]

Somehow I thought I might have a new 2-stroke again. Not in the USA at least. Two barely smokers survived with drilled cranks and stuff like the Mercury Optimax's trick alloy but Mercury has a full line of these Chinese Verado 4-strokes so Optimax is gone and Carl Kiekhaefer is turning over in his grave. Evinrude's E-Tech was more sophisticated but now I read that the family owning parent Bombardier abruptly quit making motors citing Covid-19. I grew up thinking ring-dings were torqueless wonders but then I climbed on a blue 490 and found out where torque comes from. RIP and save us from Elon Musk!

 

[Chip S]

Mercury Verado outboard engines are made in Wisconsin, USA. The 40, 50, and 60 hp Mercury outboard engines are made in China, but they are not Verados. Basically, the large Mercury outboards are made in the USA, the mid range Mercury outboards are made in China, and the small Mercury outboards are made in Japan. All of the Mercury outboards now are four stroke. With the death of the Evinrude E-Tech it's no longer possible to buy a 2 stroke.

 

[Arminius]

Thank you for that clarification. Domestic factory support is even better than Japanese (China scares me). While investigating Verados, I came across this retailer which lists them in the $25,000 to $40,000 range. It may be shocking to the newcomer just how expensive outboards are. These stand alone prices explain the prices of outboard equipped Searays.
https://www.rpmgroup.ca/inventory.php?category=Mercury Verado 175 - 400HP Outboards&new=1