Mar 15

Mar 15 Mercury Racing Specializes: Is the 60R a New Direction?

Before I went to the 2020 Miami Boat Show I had heard from someone at Mercury Racing that they had a really cool “little” project they were bringing. Immediately I wondered what did they mean by “little”? Was it the 150R or 4 cyl 200R I’ve been wishing for? Or, was it the V6 225R that seems like the most likely “little” engine Racing might make. When I arrived at the show, I think I walked right by the 60R initially, not because it isn’t cool or great, it’s just that “little.” When I was shown the engine, I really was excited, this is very cool. The 60R is cool because it is diminutive, it’s a genuine Mercury Racing engine, but it also might represent a new direction for Mercury Racing, specialty engines for all horsepower.

The Mercury Racing 60R isn’t so much a performance engine as it is a specialty engine aimed at the technical skiff market. The shallow water fishing market is significant and there are some amazing hulls dedicated to the special needs of the shallow water market. I’m not a fishing expert, I like fishing, but I’m not a hardcore fisherman. When I was young I definitely was really into fishing though and it probably shaped my love of boating in a way. As we all know, most great fishing boat hulls owe a lot to the performance boat world, some of the best performance fishing boats are direct descendants of high performance boats. This includes bass boats, flats boats, offshore center consoles and everything in between. From lightweight pad hulls and stepped V hulls on larger boats to center pod tunnel designs, many fishing boats are high performance boats in disguise.

From the tapered transom, to the pad bottom, this Yellowfin 24 Bay is a high performance hull in every way. Yellowfin makes a 17 skiff and a beautiful 21’ as well with an even lower profile design for the specialty inshore fishing market.

This takes us back to the 60R. For one, it’s not really new. The little 4 cyl 60 HP is based on the popular Mercury 60 four stroke, and Mercury Racing has had a competition version called the Formula Race 60 aimed at the F4 tunnel boat race series overseas for a long time. What makes the compact 60 HP attractive there is the little four stroke is affordable and reliable, not typical qualities for racing. Using the production 60 Merc, adding a 15” midsection, 1.83 gears and solid mounts turns the workhorse into a Formula Race version just like that. The 60R is different than the Formula Race in a few ways.

These F4 tunnels are ultralight and can run upwards of 70 MPH with the little 60 Formula Race.

For the 60R, the 15” midsection remains, smaller boats really need that lower center of gravity, often they run higher on the transom, where handling is improved and another benefit is the shorter engine can tuck under the polling platform. On a small boat, that lower cg makes a huge difference, having weight up high acts as a pendulum. Most small skiffs or technical skiffs aren’t particularly fast, so Mercury Racing went with much lower gearing, 2.33:1, and then compensated a little by letting the four stroke rev up to 6,300 RPM, 300 higher than the Formula Race.

Another change is the larger 4.25” gearcase found on the 90 to 115 HP engines is utilized to offer a broader range of propellers, including a new line of 4 blade Spitfire props for this engine. I wish they kept the gears a little taller, like the 2.07 found in the stock 4.25 I believe, but they are really targeting the shallow water fisherman who isn’t as concerned about top speed, and more about low end torque.

This Hell’s Bay Professional is small 625 Lbs technical skiff, perfect boat for a 60R. See how high the traditional 20” engine sits on the transom. Small skiffs are gaining in popularity but have specific needs.

Coming back to the original point of the article, who is going to buy the 60R? Any new small skiff or repower is the market. Could a mini high performance boat like the Tuff 16, Sutphen 16 or a mini from Persuader Boats in Ohio run one? Sure, the gear ratio isn’t ideal, but the cool factor is high. You could make the case for a little Jon boat or mini bass boat as well, never mind some old Hydro Streams like the VooDoo and other old mini boats.

The 60R caught a lot of buzz at the show and on my social media. The reason is because I think the 60R is really cool and a little old school in a way. It shows Mercury Racing hasn’t forgotten about the little guys.

Mercury Racing is a premier brand is basically peerless in marine when it comes to performance products.

If you use Mercury Racing's business logic, there is a huge skiff market for the 60R, then you could apply that to other engines as well. There is a huge performance bass, flats and bay boat market that could use true performance 150 HP to 225 HP outboards, where the V8 is too big, a 15” mid 4 cylinder and V6 with optional gear ratios makes sense. The number of cool flats boats and bass boats I’ve seen that could use a 150R is significant. Same goes for bass boats, small bay boats and performance repower that could run a V6 225R, that market is larger than the popular 300R market. The 60R is basically a parts bin motor, and Mercury has a great parts bin, so making these engines is easy and a big profit center. Mercury Racing’s future is specialized engines, not just racing engines and the future is bright.