First Verado 300

qcamel · 16 October 2007, 20:51

Today I took delivery of the new 2nd generation Verado 300 and replaced the 1st generation 275 Verado. Although I only have managed to put 4.5 hours onto the engine today I already have some views on this new product.

This is the first 300 in the UK however my understanding is that they should start coming thick and fast now.

Barrus and Mercury have now increased their warranty from 3 years to 5 years on all engines, which shows great faith in their products and gives the customer real, long term peace of mind.

The engine has a slightly deeper tone when running at speed and although its noticeable against the old engine it is certainly not intrusive and in my opinion rather nice actually. Also visually the engine is now a little shinier with silver graphics, it looks great, again in my opinion.

Due to the change in gearing the more powerful engine actually runs the same prop as the 275 so these stats are impressive when you consider its the same boat, prop, and weight although the new engine is not run in properly yet, my last one 'loosened up' around 15 hours.

My old top speed was 47 knots and today in far from ideal conditions I achived 52 knots. My old average fuel consumption was 1.7 litres per nm, I tend to run around 38 knots when cruising, my new figures at the same speeds was 1.4 litres per nm, although I expect these to continue to improve with better weather and a few more hours on the engine.

Another improvement is the Smart Craft Gauges. These have always been great however one issue was whenever an alarm activated it was not simple to fault find from it. The new system tells you the fault in plain english and then tells you if its a return to dock critical problem or a non critical problem.

Finaly my understanding is that its not a straight swap. Differant loom, and differant size controls to name but two problems encountered.

I will post more figures when I have them, until then here are a couple of pics.

Ollie

Tony · 16 October 2007, 21:09

Looks great. It must nice to have the "First" one...
I will look forward to a closer inspection next time you are over..
Tony

Andy Moore · 16 October 2007, 21:56

That outboard is sexual and has made me come over all unnecessary. Off for a cold bath.

Ezgoing · 16 October 2007, 22:04

Ollie,

Congrats.

Welcome to the 300 club!

rgds

Peter

Bigmuz7 · 16 October 2007, 22:38

Nice one Ollie .... well someone had to do it first

... mind that transom now... thats a lot of grunt..and weight

codprawn · 17 October 2007, 01:28

The 300hp Verado makes far more sense than the others - at last it has a respectable power to weight ratio.

Will be interesting to see what the proper fuel economy will be - please keep us posted!!!