New 2-Stroke Outboard from BRP

From the geniuses at Bombardier who shut down the immensely popular Evinrude G2 E-Tec line, comes a new 2-Stroke 150 hp outboard. Rotax- also owned by Bombardier makes:

BRP Unveils Rotax Outboard Engine https://www.boatingmag.com/boats/brp-unveils-rotax-outboard-engine/

WTF?

 

It's different and time will tell if the configuration's advantages outweigh its disadvantages.
Hopefully they have worked out the issues the Evinrudes had.
The powerplant itself has good power and fuel economy. Public perception of two cycle engines will be a tough nut to crack.

 

I'm not sure what issues you mean with the Evinrudes, but otherwise I must agree. The configuration would really load a transom. And the engine cover is meant to be submersible. A gasket failure there would be expensive... Although any gasket failure can be expensive.

 

15 bolts to hold the water tight, semi submerged cowling on!
I can only imagine what the price point is going to be!!
A marketing challenge indeed.

 

And bizarre decisions all around. There's nothing about this engine that would compete with the G2 E-Tecs. The G2s would have sold like ACs in the summer up to now. The cash flow could have financed this engine as a sideline. Just stupid. At least I can understand why they didn't call it an Evinrude after the sour taste they left behind. That would have been an uphill battle. But most folks haven't heard of Rotax, so that's tough marketing as well.

 

I can't really get into the 'snorkel' idea, either. I mean, part of my risk evaluation for my boat was engines drowning. A snorkel on the high seas? Okay, so it ain't for the high seas. Still. A snorkel?

 

Evinrude had a tough time selling them, and even harder time servicing them. I'm not sure the Evinrude brand name carries much weight anymore.

 

BRP cocked up with selling them saying buy one as they are 2 strokes when the Japs had already done a massive lobby to convince everyone 4 strokes are better as they didnt have any modern 2 stroke technology.
They should of said lighter and pollute less and close to zero servicing.
The new engine is the 150 3cyl, that was clearly the best 150 the world has ever seen but the still bailed out of production.

 

True comment.
Some Rotax are certified for airplanes, and used in BRPs snowmobiles, atv's, and Seadoos. Hundreds of thousands if not millions in service so it should not be quite as tough of sell as compared to a new comer on the block
with no long term usage history

Their pedigree includes the Challenger and Global jets as well as the DeHaviland Dash series, so quality engineering will be intact. They also used to build ( I believe that they sold this division) subway, rapid transit trains. Any time you
expose the public to safety risks, the attention to engineering practices and factors of safety increase. Along with this comes a focus on Reliability a definition ( if somewhat parallel to the automotive definition) might be so many failures per 100,000 units over (some choices) a) the warranty period, automotive, depending on the component) b) the service life of the equipment or c) the interval between major overhauls.

For those who might be interested
Reliability and Factor of Safety are two very distinct engineering design factors

For an Airplane,
The FOS is quite small as additional weight to increase this comes with a penalty of a reduction of carrying capacity which dictates if a design is financial viable to its customers
A high Reliability factor is achieved by intensive manufacturing processes including material selection.

 

Fascinating stuff. I should have finished my degree. But I was verging on homeless and starving, and the army would feed me.

 

@powerabout , I think it's very regional. Where i am, it's about ⅓ Evinrude, ⅓ mercury, and the rest is everything else.

 

I've owned two Rotax powered atvs. A ds 650 and a can am renegade 800. Still own the 650 as it's just unparalleled in performance even now. Politicians promisises are more reliable than my Rotax experience. The renegade was a neat machine, wish honda/yamaha/suzuki would make an equivalent as I tend to put a lot of hrs on stuff and the Rotax suffered. Would be a tough sell for me. Brp isn't evinced of the 80s...

 

My main concern would be the partially submerged engine block and if the cowling can really hold back the water over the long term. Not sure I'd want to be one of the early owners of such. 150 HP is on the lower end of the power spectrum these days. What's the 350 HP version look like

Evinrude's market share had shrunk to about 5%, at which point they gave it up and indicated there were plans to re-introduce something in the future . . . this must be it!