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Mercury Marine has recently made technical changes to Verado outboards shipped to US dealers by increasing its fuel efficiency in order to counter the rising price of fuel in the US. It began to ship the more fuel-efficient engines last month. But the increased efficiency, according to Mercury officials, has also meant an increase in hydrocarbon/NOX emissions levels. The higher emission levels has also prompted Mercury to downgrade Verado from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Three Star designation to the "very low emissions" Two Star.
"With fuel prices being what they are, we decided to increase the fuel economy on the Verado line," said Dave Oughton, Mercury's manager of regulations, standards and compliance. Oughton says that the reconfigured engines meet emissions guidelines set by the US Environmental Protection Agency, but fall slightly short of the more stringent CARB Three Star regulations, which are enforced only in California. The company will be allowed to sell the Two Star Verado in volume until January 1, 2008.
But after that, the Two Star designation could dramatically impact 2008 sales of the Verado line in California, when the Three Star designation goes into effect. According to NMMA statistics, California had 894,884 registered boats in 2004, and 325,172 were outboard-powered boats. It is the second-largest state in terms of boating registrations in the US, and is considered the major western market by all outboard manufacturers.
Oughton says that Mercury is currently considering how it intends to meet the stricter CARB regulations in 2008. "You can still sell Two Star motors in California as long as your corporate average emissions is below the three-star designation," he said, adding that many of Mercury's OptiMax outboard classes meet the three-star designation.
But the number of two-star engines available for sale in California will be reduced in 2008 under the new regulations. It is unclear how it will impact sales or availability of the Verado line, which Mercury has been marketing aggressively as the most technologically advanced four-stroke on the water since its introduction two years ago. Many of the Brunswick outboard-powered boat brands, such as Boston Whaler, Triton and Sea Pro, have been pre-rigging their boats with Verado motors for their US dealer bases.
Oughton said that Mercury is now considering how it will deal with the 2008 CARB regulations. "We will have to make some changes to product offerings," he said. "In the past, we have sold the engines with a 50-state policy. We may have to make some decisions around that. But we haven't made those decisions yet." He said that the company would come to a decision shortly.
(14 August 2006)
This may not be good for sales of Boston Whaler boats or Mercury Verado engines in California.
you are aware that this info is 2 years old? the 2008's with gen II technology get substantailly better gas mpg and with averaging, it won't be a problem for some time. My opin is by then they will be direct injected to meet carb III standards....
A member has informed me that Lake Tahoe, which is one of our most restricted lakes, does not restrict engines according to the CARB rating.
Here are some facts on Lake Tahoe. http://www.trpa.org/default.aspx?tabi...161#water1
Here is what the article states:
Which boat engines are still allowed on Tahoe Region Lakes?
Direct Fuel Injected (DFI) two-stroke engines, diesel engines, any two -
stroke engine that meets or exceeds the 2006 EPA emissions standard, and
four - stroke engines.
The above is for 2006 EPA emissions standards. I will do some more research tomorrow on CARB3 emissions standards for 2008. Or, if any of you already know, please post information here.
For those that aren't in California, the 'CARB' stands for California Air Resources Board.
I think it is important that someone authoritatively clarify exactly what is going on in California.
We know for a fact that CARB standards are mandated on NEW OUTBOARDS sold in the state – but can non-compliant outboards be re-sold by non-retailers? Can folks who visit from another state bring their non-compliant motor? Can a resident buy a non-compliant motor out of state and register it in California? Can a resident buy a boat with a non-compliant motor and bring it in state?
Additionally, it appears that the bare minimum regulations (CARB Standards) are applied to all state waters, with some ADDITIONAL regulations on certain public bodies of water. Is this true?
If so, it is illustrative of the quagmire wrought on the public by complex regulations, and is a good argument for selecting one regulation and applying it equally across all residents and all bodies of water to avoid confusion.
Interestingly, this is the exact argument that is going on in court between California and the EPA. Unfortunately for EPA, California has the high ground, and I believe will be victorious in the defending against the lawsuit which seeks to eliminate CARB and subjugate Californians to the less-stringent EPA regulations which the remainder of the country lives.
While the news of the VERADO motors is about a year and a half old, it is still noteworthy and relevant to folks who live with the more stringent CARB regulations, and perhaps more importantly, will have to deal with various law enforcement agencies who may misinterpret the letter of the law. Being technically correct won’t un-ruin your day on the water when a local authority mistakenly denies you access.
Of course, the individual boater’s experience when faced with these circumstances didn’t factor into the decision to de-rate these motors.
In environmentally-sensitive California and other areas, this is news and is a big deal. It doesn’t denigrate the quality of the Mercury motors, but it does take away from the quality of a customer’s experience WITH the motor; and it certainly should be weighed against the local lake regulations and rules, as well as local knowledge about the activity of law enforcement on certain lakes when making a purchase decision to spend several thousand dollars on a piece of equipment.
In the meantime, I suspect Glen e is right that Mercury will likely make the change to DFI to meet and surpass the stringent CARB certifications in the future.
This is the info and links that I have been able to gather without spending days on the reams of information on these websites.
Most of the restrictions in CA are on PWC's or number of boats allowed on a particular lake per day then a few lakes with restrictions on outboards. You can see which lakes have restrictions on the CA Dept of Waterways web site here... http://www.dbw.ca.gov/Environmental/T...SList.aspx
Right in the Clean and Green section of the website is this statement...
Two stroke engines are not "banned" for use on all waterways in California, nor is there any plan to do so. A small number of reservoirs restrict or ban the use of specific two-stroke marine engines. There are no salt-water or river restrictions based solely on engine emissions.
By the way CARB1 is the equivalent of EPA 2006 standards according to CARB
One Star – Low Emission
The one-star label identifies Personal Watercraft, Outboard, Sterndrive and Inboard engines that meet the Air Resources Board’s Personal Watercraft and Outboard marine engine 2001 exhaust emission standards. Engines meeting these standards have 75% lower emissions than conventional carbureted two-stroke engines. These engines are equivalent to the U.S. EPA's 2006 standards for marine engines.
There is lots more info on these websites on everything from cleaning supplies to how long a school bus should sit at idle in a schoolyard. SO if you have some time.
To answer the questions from the previous post above
We know for a fact that CARB standards are mandated on NEW OUTBOARDS sold in the state – but can non-compliant outboards be re-sold by non-retailers?
Yes
Can folks who visit from another state bring their non-compliant motor?
Yes but, see restriction on Tahoe Basin lakes and a couple of other lakes.
Can a resident buy a non-compliant motor out of state and register it in California?
Yes if it is a used motor. No if it is a brand new motor.
Can a resident buy a boat with a non-compliant motor and bring it in state?
Yes, if it is a used boat/motor. No if it is a brand new boat/motor.
Additionally, it appears that the bare minimum regulations (CARB Standards) are applied to all state waters, with some ADDITIONAL regulations on certain public bodies of water. Is this true?
No, CARB regulations do not restrict access to all state waters. Certain lakes in certain areas (see links above) have restrictions on motors that do not meet the EPA 2006/CARB 1 (one star) standards. The CARB ratings have a greater effect on manufacturers as it limits how many Outboards of a certain motor family can be sold in CA in any given year. See the description of CARB ratings in the link above. Be sure to read the whole document it is several pages long.
Can a resident buy a non-compliant motor out of state and register it in California?
I know for a fact that a couple of years ago I tried to buy a 2 stroke engine out of state. I was advised they could not sell 2 strokes to Californians... California had some deal with other states to NOT allow people from California to buy the 2 stroke engines. I don't think these were the DFI's but still, I could not buy a new 2 stroke engine out of state or in California at that time.
I think some things have changed since then but California keeps changing their mind too many times for me.
We know CARB3 is here for California as this is 2008.
What will this eventually due to lake restrictions in the future?
I understand your point and I was not thinking "new" at the time I wrote this. I believe that you are correct in that the dealers will not sell you a new motor if they are out of state but you can buy a used motor from out of state. I believe that the problem with a new motor is that it would count against the manufacturers CARB ratings if they were caught shipping the new motors to CA so the manufacturers put the pressure on the out-of-state dealers not to sell to Californians.
Your guess is as good as mine as to what will happen in the future. I can only assume that restrictions will get tighter at some point. The only protection we have now is that the politicians want your vote so they will probably do everything they can to not force the working man/woman in to buying a new motor. I believe that they are assuming that the old motors will eventually die and go away. Higher gas prices certainly help them towards that goal.
Thinking back on other related issues here, I believe for a short time, Lake Tahoe was basically all 4 strokes. This was the time of the all the major engine companies going to 4 stroke technology and DFI was still new. They really did not want any 2 strokes on the lake at that time.
Shortly after OMC had a "clean" DFI, from what I understand, they talked to Lake Tahoe and proved to them that DFI was clean and to allow 2 stroke DFI's on the lake. From what I understand, OMC gave Lake Tahoe Sherrifs or Partrol, some Evinrude DFI 2 stokes.
Then, Lake Tahoe said it was OK for DFI engines.
We definitely know that Lake Tahoe will not allow older 2 stroke motors on that lake. Non DFI.
Only time will tell what the EPA, California, and Lake Tahoe will eventually do. (some other lakes included).
It seems ridiculous to me for California to tell an engine manufacturer they can sell some CARB2 rated engines and some CARB3 rated engines up to a certain quota in each respective category.
Why not just make a regulation, a regulation?
This is 2008.... How do we, the consumer, know how many engines a particular engine company can sell in California and with which CARB rating?
To me this is very confusing...
If I walk into a dealer and want to buy and engine, are they going to tell me, Sorry, the quota has been met..........???
Joe, I think you are correct on that Tahoe Sheriff patrol. I remember it like that too. When Tahoe lifted the restriction so did the lakes in Contra Costa County.
I think if you want to buy that engine and they are near quota they will tell you it's back ordered at least until they sell 5 more CARB3 motors maybe?
None of the Verado's are CARB3 compliant and only about half of the OptiMax's are CARB3 compliant.
I have no idea how many CARB2 or CARB3 engines they can sell in California but the total number of engines would also need to include the ones on the back of Boston Whaler boats.
Verado and OptiMax are apparently their 2 most popular series of engines.
Again, this could possibly affect the number of sales of new Boston Whaler boats in California.
this is interesting.....a tech at THT is reporting that only if you use XD-100 oil, the etec is 3 star..drop to the xd-50 and it's 2 star - can anyone verify?
My purpose for starting this thread was my concern for Boston Whaler and Mercury engine sales in California. I am also concerned about use of Mercury engines on some of our most restricted bodies of water due to emissions. I live in California so this is important to me personally.
This thread may be moot to the rest of you that do not live in California. However, your state may adopt more stringent use of "dirty" outboards in the future.
As mentioned above, Lake Tahoe and a few other California lakes seem to be only regulated by the type of engine. Any 4 stroke and any D.F.I. can be used at this time. They are not restricting engines by the CARB rating so far.
This thread has nothing to do with other engine manufacturers as the only engine you can buy on a Boston Whaler is the Mercury line.
When the Verado line came out, they were CARB 3 rated which would have no affect on sales of Boston Whaler boats here in California. We all know that Mercury has de-rated the Verado to CARB 2 rating which obviously may have some affect on the sales here in California.
As you can see from the Quick Reference Guides, there are only a few engines that are not CARB 3 rated.
1. Yamaha 2 strokes
2. Verado and some Optimax.
The Johnson series is no longer available so Evinrude will not have any restrictions on the amount of engines they can sell in California. The Yamaha and Mercury engines seem to be the ones that are going to be regulated in the amount of sales here in California.
I am only trying to report the facts here and not bashing any particular engine manufacturer.
As far as Evinrude! It is my understanding Evinrude engines come pre-programmed for XD-50 oil and they state they are CARB3 rated. Until their website changes to reflect something different, then we must go with the facts.
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