Mercury's Sea Core Outdrives

[Dave S]

Take a look at the video on Mercury"s web site of the new Sea Core outdrives.http://www.mercruiserseacore.com/

It's definitely an improvment over the "standard" outdrive. There are references in the video to Volvo's composite drive and I guess each one of you will have to draw your own conclusions on which drive is better.

A couple of concerns I would have is what happens to the anodizing the first time you drag your skeg through a sand bar? Will the anodizing get scraped off too? And what kind of paint has to be used for repaints? I guess in time these questions will get answered.

 

[SeaRide]

I'd agree, a great improvement. The anodizing process should be applied to all of Merc's drives as "standard equipment".

If you are to believe their promotion, the answer would be the anodizing would remain intact.

 

[Sadler]

I'm not sure anodising can survive dragging a drive through sand, and once it gets scratched off, I wonder if the dealer could ever replace it. In addition corrosion is not the only problem: with a sterndrive left in sea water, barnacles have a hey day. Even if properly applied, antifouling paint is never 100 percent effective, and marine growth getting into all the nooks and crannies of a sterndrive would worry me. The Volvo Ocean Series did try to address this by streamlining the drive.