At a top-secret event in Charleston Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean last month, Evinrude presented three new mid-sized engines to complement their line of revolutionary two-stoke outboards—115-hp high output, 140-hp, and 150-hp. We were there to test them and the larger engines in single, twin and triple configurations on several boats including big-water RIBS, a deluxe pontoon boat with twin 300s, a 27-foot Scout with twin 200s, and a 36-foot Yellowfin with triple 300s, and we are impressed.
With these engines, Evinrude pretty much covers all the bases with engines from 3.5- to 300-hp. All of the 150- to 300-hp G2 engines exceed worldwide emissions requirements and arrive with no break-in requirements, five-year factory-backed service coverage, no engine oil changes ever (it’s a two stroke) and no scheduled dealer-maintenance for five years or 500 hours. The engines also feature a turn-key, auto-winterization system. Essentially, the engine has an auto-fog system, which can be activated in or out of the water for times when you are laying the boat up for a while. It takes about three minutes.
Aside from testing the performance of these engines, we were able to explore the highly adjustable digital controls and the iTrim system, which comes standard. Other manufacturers’ auto-trim systems come as optional add-on packages that include various other bells, whistles, and functions that you may or may not want. You’ll want iTrim, and you’ll have it, and you’ll like it.
We come from the old school of skiff handling where in time you learn to drive like an F-16 pilot with one hand on the throttle, your thumb on the trim switch, your other hand operating the trim tabs…and your other (third) hand on the helm. Evinrude’s iTrim simplifies the program, frees up your thumb, and does a better job of it than you can right out of the box. We can’t imagine how it knows what to do, but it does it constantly as you cruise up and down. A simple bump of the trim switch turns it off whenever you want to go back to old-school.
We have our hands on a new G2-150 to run and gun, and we’ll report on that as the season progresses. The prospects for performance and fuel savings are auspicious.
