Workboat, August 2004 v61 i8 p46(3)Smooth stroke: new...

Workboat, August 2004 v61 i8 p46(3)
Smooth stroke: new developments prolong life for two-stroke
outboards. (Outboard Engines) Michael Crowley.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2004 Diversified Publications


Two-stroke outboards are dead. Blame California's strict air-
emission standards, but no matter how you cut it, the two-stroke
outboard is history.


If that's what you've been hearing, you're not alone. Plenty of
people have been lead to believe that before long the only two-
stroke outboard you'll see will be in a museum with the steam
engine.


Well, the two-stroke isn't dead, and some alternative-fuel two-
strokes might hit the commercial market in a few years.


What will be a thing of the past after January 2006 is the two-
stroke carbureted outboard, and, yes, blame California for its
demise. The phase-out of the traditional two-stroke outboard started
back in 2001 when the California Environmental Protection Agency's
Air Resources Board (CARB) laid out a timetable for reductions of
oxides of nitrogen and hydrocarbons that, in the long run, old two-
stroke technology can't keep up with. CARB's standards are the
toughest in North America.


California's air-emission standard in 2001 for oxides of nitrogen
and hydrocarbons was 47 grams per kilowatt-hour. At the same time,
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's level was 173 grams per
kilowatt-hour. California's level will be 38 grams by 2006, and drop
to 16 grams in 2008. The EPA's level drops to 47 grams from 2006
through 2008.


The regulations apply only to new outboard engines. Still, it's
estimated that the regulations will reduce smog-forming emissions in
California by 110 tons per day by 2010 and 161 tons per day by 2020.


Outboard engines built after 2005 have to show that they meet the
2006 and 2008 emissions standards, which eliminates the carbureted
two-stroke outboard.




For some people who grew up with the dependability of the
traditional two-stroke, the loss will be mourned. "They were a great
motor for most people. When you were done with it, you could throw
it in the back of the shed, and months later when you went to start
it, it started," said Lincoln Davis owner of Stetson & Pinkham, a
Mercury Marine service center in Waldoboro, Maine.


Those carbureted two-stroke outboards have been replaced with direct-
fuel-injection gasoline engines such as the OptiMax for Mercury
Marine, and Ficht and E-TEC for Bombardier outboards (Johnson and
Evinrude).


The OptiMax has two-stage, direct fuel injection that uses a burst
of air to break up the fuel and create a fine mist, which is
designed to burn as cleanly and completely as possible.


The E-TEC is the newest generation of direct-injection engines and
cleaner than any four-stroke on the market, said Dave Thompson,
communications director at Bombardier USA, Sturtevant, Wis. "And
they are incredibly quiet. Six feet from the boat, you can't tell
they are running," he said.


The injectors used with E-TEC direct injection are completely
different from Ficht injectors. "Instead of an electrically powered
spring opening and closing a valve that allows fuel into the
cylinder, this uses electromagnets to snap open and shut extremely
quickly and very precisely," Thompson said.


E-TEC technology was initially available in 40- to 90-hp models. It
will be expanded to the entire Evinrude line (up to 250 hp) for the
2005 model year. OptiMax engines range from 75 hp to 250 hp.


STANDARD BEARER


Many were under the impression that even the direct-injection
outboards would be on the way out in 2006.


In fact, Davis thought he would see most of his customers switching
to four-stroke outboards. "But then people started to use some
common sense. The direct-injected, two-stroke outboard is more
efficient than four-strokes, but you have the Honda [builder of four-
stroke outboards] marketing department that has thrown everybody for
a loop."


And, too, go to the CARB Web site and you will find a paper on
marine engine pollution touting the virtues of a "more efficient
four-stroke," as opposed to a two-stroke outboard.


"But both two-stroke and four-stroke outboards must be able to meet
the standard. That's what the goal is," said Scott Peterson, vice
president of Safe Boats International, Port Orchard, Wash. And as
long as they do, he noted, two-strokes will be used.


Peterson, whose company likes speedy boats (the company's motto
is "God, Country and Fast Boats"), said the two-stroke is always a
bit stronger in the horsepower-to-weight ratio, "especially in short
waterlines if you're really trying to make the boat balance.
Sometimes it's hard to deal with four-stroke weight, especially when
you're running twins and that weight becomes doubly apparent."


Peterson said Safe Boats has strapped four-stroke outboards on many
of their boats and "had incredibly long hours with them. But you can
also get long hours out of two-strokes. It's going to be interesting
[the struggle between two-stroke and four-stroke outboards], but
what's important is that they be compliant with air emission
standards and durable."


"CARB did stop the sale of traditional two-strokes in California but
CARB and the EPA aren't anti-two-stroke. They are anti-emissions,"
said Steve Fleming, communications manager at Mercury Marine, Fond
du Lac, Wis.


Mercury Marine, said Fleming, will be selling its two-stroke OptiMax
technology for the next 10 years or longer.


Another air pollutant besides oxides of nitrogen and hydrocarbons
that will be reduced with new two-stroke technology is carbon
monoxide. "What's coming down the pike is the reduction of the
carbon monoxide that 'pools' in the back of the boat and creates
hazards," said Thompson. "E-TEC is the only outboard engine that
emits carbon monoxide at a level lower than what OSHA considers a
lethal level." That's 600 parts per million for E-TEC compared to
11,000 to 25,000 ppm for a four-stroke outboard, according to
Thompson.




ALTERNATIVE FUELS


The direct-injection, two-stroke outboards common to the
recreational and commercial markets run on gasoline. However, two-
stroke outboards that run on jet fuel and diesel may soon be
available.


Working with the government, both Bombardier and Mercury Marine have
developed alternative engines that run on jet fuel. The impetus
behind the move was the military's desire for its vessels to use a
fuel that is less volatile than gasoline.


Bombardier calls their engines non-gasoline burning outboard engines
(NGBEs), and they use a proprietary Evinrude injection system (not E-
TEC). Thompson said that about the only thing that had to be changed
to accommodate the burning of JP4 jet fuel was the programming of
the engine's computer. He said that a 30-hp NGBE "will be brought to
market and others will follow shortly after."




Mercury Marine calls its alternative-fuel outboards "multiple fuel
engines" and the focus is on a 3-liter OptiMax that runs on JP5, JP8
and JetA fuels. (The difference in the fuels are the additives.)


Jet fuel presents more of a carboning problem than gasoline, and
Mercury Marine made "some changes to heads and other components to
deal with the carboning, along with computer mapping changes," said
Jeff Krueger, the company's director of government sales.


Krueger isn't sure if Mercury Marine will release the jet-fuel
outboards to the general public. "Our primary concern is that it
doesn't get in the hands of the bad guys," he said. "But there may
be some opportunities, especially from the safety standpoint, to
make it available to the commercial market."


In fact, the major selling point for jet-fuel-powered outboards is
safety: You don't have to worry about gasoline's combustibility. On
the other hand, jet fuel isn't as volatile as gasoline, so engines
using jet fuel don't have as much power out of the hole as gasoline
two-strokes. But the "overall performance is very similar to the gas
version," said Krueger.


Both companies may also develop a diesel two-stroke as an
alternative to gasoline. "We are looking at diesel capability," said
Krueger. "We know the outboards will run on it. The problem with
marine diesel is it has very high sulfur content, and that causes a
lot of buildup and coking internally. But diesel is an opportunity,
assuming there's a market for it."


BY MICHAEL CROWLEY, CORRESPONDENT