Scott Smith, the marketing manager at Formula Boats, was among the first to get a taste of the on-water action. Back in February, as Mercury Marine was preparing to unveil its new 600 hp Verado outboard engine, Smith had a chance to get aboard the prototype Formula 500 Super Sport Crossover shown here with four of the outboards installed.
“This is a wild package, with a steerable lower gear case and a two-speed transmission, a product that is the result of a clean-slate, ground-up design,” he said at the time. “Let me tell you, this power package is strong and smooth and quiet and unique.”
Since then, accolades have only grown louder for the new outboards, which other builders are embracing as well. Tiara Yachts, for instance, chose the 600 hp Mercury Verados as the power package for its new 48 Luxury Sport—the largest outboard-powered model the company has ever built. As you can see in the photo below, the 48 rides with triple Verados. They are integrated into Tiara’s electronics package, which includes Garmin marine navigation.
“Product launches are always an exciting time for our company, but this one is further elevated with the announcement of the Verado V-12s,” Tiara CEO and president Tom Slikkers said in a press release. “We’re proud to have partnered closely with Mercury and be one of the first manufacturers debuting this new propulsion package, fully integrating these engines into the 48 LS.”
The team at Tiara says the triple Verados get their 48 LS up to 50.3 knots while burning a little more than 157 gallons of fuel per hour. The performance sweet spot in the builder’s test was between 33.2 and 37.4 knots, where fuel burn was 61.8 to 79.2 gph. At those cruising speeds, decibel readings were reportedly between 77 and 86—which is about as loud as a vacuum cleaner or everyday street traffic.
The engines’ ability to provide those kinds of performance numbers also led Viking Yachts to offer the 600 hp Verados on the flagship of its Valhalla line, the V-46. Triple and quad configurations are available. The center-console was repeatedly able to hit 65 knots with the engines, according to Viking, and accelerated from zero to 17 knots in less than five seconds.
“We’re extremely excited,” Viking president and CEO Pat Healey said in a press release. “This is truly an incredible engine, with groundbreaking performance and the kind of innovation we’ve come to expect from Mercury.”
Sea Ray has also added the 600 hp Verados as an option on the SLX 400 Outboard starting with model year 2022, citing the engine’s power, handling and “whisper-quiet operation.” And, as this issue of Yachting went to press, Technohull in Greece was reportedly offering the Verados as an option on its flagship Omega 47 superyacht tender.
The president of Mercury Marine says the powerplants were designed for increasingly large dayboats, which continue to be introduced in increasing numbers. If this initial industrywide embrace of the 600 hp Verados is any indication, the engine-maker is giving a lot of builders and buyers exactly what they want.
