Motors in tune with boaties' needs

The cylinder walls in Yamaha's V6s are 60 per cent harder than steel. Photo / Supplied.

In 50 years, Yamaha outboards have gone from zero to hero, to be New Zealand's favourite.

Today, Yamaha outboards are undoubtedly this country's most popular form of marine propulsion. Around half of the outboards sold in New Zealand are made by Yamaha and one only needs to check out mass storage areas (like the Orams Marine Boat Park, the Pier 21 drystack, both in Westhaven, or the Outboard Boating Club in Tamaki Drive) to see just how popular they have become.

It's been a quite remarkable success story, especially when one considers that the Japanese company has only been in the game for half a century, a far shorter time than some of their competitors.

Yamaha began their foray into the world of outboard motors in 1958. At that time, the company was mainly a maker of musical instruments and one wonders how seriously they took this new development: they assigned a staff of just two engineers to the project.

They also, perhaps not surprisingly, struggled with a lack of information. There were no set standards for testing the various components of the outboard and so the development process involved running the prototypes 24 hours a day. The engineers would wait for a part to fail and then work out how to improve it.

It was a far cry from the intensive research and computer modelling that occurs in today's technology companies.

After overcoming what one imagines were numerous obstacles and set-backs, the company's first outboard motor, the P-7, was released on to the Japanese market in 1960.

It was, apparently, far from perfect: a fairly noisy beast and one with a rather high level of vibration.

It was targeted mainly at fishermen who apparently quipped at the time: "You can tell it's an outboard built by a musical instrument maker because of the sound it makes."

Undeterred by this negative press, the company soon began planning their second commercial model, the P3; a more compact, lighter and quieter outboard. They also began a process still in place today: surveying those selling and using the outboards in order to improve them.

"It is one of the reasons for the company's success," says Yamaha Motor New Zealand's Greg Fenwick.

"Right from the P3, the company created a tradition of Yamaha engineers making frequent visits to the marketplace to listen to dealers and users."

Fenwick says that tradition continues today in Yamaha's market-oriented approach.

"It is reflected in our latest offerings: the new range of offshore V6 engines and the F70A.

"The new F70A is a remarkable engine and the result of many years of product development. It has one of the most impressive power-to-weight ratios ever seen in a four-stroke outboard and weighs substantially less than all competitive models in its class, both four-stroke and DI two-stroke.

"The new Offshore engines have a larger capacity than the V6 engines they will replace, as well as significantly reduced weight.

Fenwick says Yamaha engineers are now focusing mainly on the development of four-stroke technology.

He recently told Propeller magazine's Barry Thompson that he believes two-stroke engines will "naturally disappear" and that even direct injection two-strokes are nearing the end of their development. "When you look at four-stroke engine technology today, while it is so sophisticated, it has much more room for development.

"We haven't even seen direct injection four-strokes yet."

- NZ HERALD