www.ntnews.com.au CARSguide NT NEWS. 17

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www.boatlandwinnellie.com.au

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Yamaha engines are the perfect fit for the great Stabicraft range of boats Pictures: MICHAEL FRANCHI

Yamaha’smotoring onBy JON HUIE

YAMAHA has released astate-of-the-art trio of four-stroke outboards made spec-ifically for the top-end, high-performance offshore fish-ing boat market.

The new VMAX SHOseries engines come in 250,225 and 200hp models and allshare a common, lusty4.2-litre V6 powerhead.

Despite the large capacityblock, the motors weigh anamazing 229kg.

The 250hp model is up to awhopping 39kg-59kg lighterthan its major four-stroke

competitors. The trio alsoweighs the same as compar-able brand two-stroke directfuel-injected (DFI) out-boards and yet have a 0.76 to

1.17 litre larger capacityblock. This easily gives theYamahas the best power-to-weight ratio in the 200-250hpfour-stroke and DFI two-

stroke market classes. Thishas been achieved by usingplasma-fused sleeveless cyl-inders instead of conven-tional steel, resulting inmaximum powerhead dis-placement from minimumengine block mass.

Yamaha says the sleeve-less surfaces are 60 per centstronger and result in amore efficient heat transfer-cooling process fromthe cylinder walls forgreater durability.

Weight savings have alsobeen achieved by usingcomposite materials for thecowling and engine pan,

along with a lighter alter-nator and exhaust system.

Engineers have tested anew SHO four-stroke again-st the company’s own 3.3litre DFI model and, on av-erage, say it burns about 12per cent less fuel.

The new outboards arecovered by a two-plus-one-year manufacturer’s war-ranty, providing that use issolely recreational.

The motors only come inlong shaft (20-inch) models.

The outboards are avail-able through all authorisedYamaha outboard dealersand are well worth a look.

Buyers cruise back intomarket

Maritimo boats will be on show at the Sanctuary CoveInternational Boat Show on Queensland’s Gold Coast

HOT on the heels of a strongsales start to 2012, with boatsworth more than $10 millionunder contract, MaritimoGold Coast dealer OrmondeBritton says there has been adistinct shift in thinking byprospective boat buyers.

‘‘For the first time in yearswe are seeing a situationwhere a prospective buyer issitting down with us and go-ing through a checklist virtu-ally customising a vessel andthen getting a bottom-lineprice,’’ he said.

‘‘This makes for a changefrom the past few yearswhere it has been all aboutprice and getting a boat at acertain figure rather thanlooking at exactly what theboat comprises.’’

Mr Britton is based at the

Maritimo headquarters atHope Island in Queensland.

He and his team have beenresponsible for about half thecompany’s recent sales surge

and delivered new vesselsvalued at more than $4 mill-ion to owners in March.

‘‘We are seeing peoplecome in and want to look at

the build list and spec uptheir boat for the first timesince about 2010,’’ he said.

Maritimo is cautiously op-timistic about the year aheadafter starting 2012 so well.

The company sold eightboats for up to $2 millioneach from late in Decemberthrough to mid-January.

The buyers have been lo-cals and from interstate andoverseas, and the sales are amix of stock and new builds.

The vessels sold by Mariti-mo included two Maritimo 60Motoryachts, which areabout $2 million each, twoM440s, an A55 SportsFlybridge and several othervessels. Maritimo is gearingup for the Sanctuary Cove In-ternational Boat Show on theGold Coast from May 24-27.