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Legend has it that during his meandering epic journey, the Greek hero Odysseus visited Aeolos, the God of Wind, who gave him all the violent and threatening winds in a leather bag, and blew only good strong winds, so that Odysseus might finally make his way back home. Odysseus did as he was bid and gratefully took the sack. With their homeland in sight, Odysseus finally lay down to rest. While his men grew anxious and boisterous with excitement, they unwittingly opened the bag and let loose the fierce winds of storm, blowing the ship completely off course and prolonging their long, lost odyssey.

Today’s sailor is no longer at the mercy of Aeolos and his winds. If Odysseus had a Verado 275 horsepower, FourStroke outboard motor, he wouldn’t have needed that fabled wind bag. The new Verado family of engines from Mercury Marine is a world-class leader in cutting-edge design, performance and style. Verado can achieve unprecedented speeds, acceleration and durability, while emitting virtually no noise. In fact, even at the highest speeds, the only thing you’ll hear is the ambient winds of Aeolos.

Heralded as the most sophisticated marine propulsion system in history, Verado is poised to elevate industry standards and performance expectations. It’s the first FourStroke outboard to deliver 275 horsepower. FourStrokes are emerging as the industry standard, based on a combination of EPA regulations and consumer demand. A FourStroke motor has entirely separate systems for exhaust and intake valves, making it emissions safe and environmentally friendly.

Verado has complete steering and control systems and it’s the first production outboard motor to feature a supercharger, providing the highest-quality combination of packaging, throttle response and thermodynamics management. The supercharger system also enables Mercury Marine to use a smaller-displacement block and it can outperform most two-stroke engines of equal horsepower.

Verado is truly the first FourStroke that can stand behind the aforementioned claim. Much of its four years of development was spent ensuring the validity of its position as a superior performer to a two-stroke of the same horsepower. Other manufacturers were pushing to deliver a FourStroke due to the tightening emissions restrictions, but the performance of the motors was not up to par. In particular, they did not deliver adequate “out of the hole” power (initial acceleration). This is a critical performance disadvantage across the industry, but in particular when used for water skiing, as skiers rely on that initial power to pull them out of the water. And overall, many fisherman just didn’t like the “feel” of the engines.

In designing the new motor, engineers kept three things in mind: power, reliability and state-of-the-art technology. Historically, the boat motor industry employed metal bearings with a nylon liner or simply mated aluminum on stainless steel with no bearing at all. Other times, engineers used aluminum-backed, fiber-reinforced bearings which were press fit into other pivot points.

These solutions required grease lubrication, which was quickly washed away by the water. The resulting problem was two fold: First, the grease would end up contaminating the water body and possibly harming local wildlife and second, maintenance had to be performed. If not done correctly by the customer, it could cause warranty and service complications.

As a result, Mercury Marine engineers also were charged with the task of making the motor as maintenance free as possible, requiring little to no additional labor from the end user. This was a critical consideration when designing in the bearings.

The engineers decided to seek alternatives. They soon discovered iglide® plastic bearings from igus® Inc. At first glance, a designer would say plastic could not support the load and high-performance requirements of an outboard motor. But on closer inspection, Mercury Marine realized that iglide bearings aren’t your average injected-molded plastic bushing bought at the corner shop for a nickel a piece. Iglide is a complete line of high-performance engineered polymers, with 40 years of research and customer satisfaction to ensure its performance, reliability and unmatched predictability. And all iglide bearings are completely maintenance-free.

The entire design team at Mercury Marine spent countless hours during the last four years devoted to developing the best FourStroke outboard motor on the market. Design engineer Jeremy Alby worked closely with igus to create a solution that would maximize the possibilities of Verado.

“Igus offers such a huge variety of engineered materials, it was just a matter of determining which one was appropriate for each aspect of the application. Igus worked with us using its in-depth test data and predictability methods to find the exact bearing solutions we needed. We found a number of materials that work in different parts of the motor. With igus, it was one-stop shopping, which was a significant selling point for us.”

Verado uses more than 10 iglide bearings, primarily in the steering component and transom assembly, which enables tilt and trim of the motor. Tilting is the lifting and lowering of the motor out of the water and trim is the range referred to when operating a boat (if it’s trimmed out the boat will go faster, if trimmed in it will slow down). The iglide G300 is used in these oscillating pivot joints because of its all-purpose qualities, low-cost and ability to withstand the harsh conditions.

Verado and all its components need to withstand the rigors of the sea. The typical installation of a FourStroke engine is on tournament fishing boats with travel speeds up to 75 miles per hour in 4-6 foot waves. The bearings are submerged in salt water which is highly corrosive and the salt can build up on the bearing and rod over time. Even if the engine sits for an extended period of time, the plastic bearings will not corrode and seize. The bearings also need to withstand high loads, up to 10,000 psi, and be strong enough to sustain the high-force impacts often experienced during log strike incidents.

Mercury Marine chose the iglide D bearing for the steering component of Verado. Iglide D ensures smooth motion with its low coefficient of friction, both static and dynamic. It was chosen specifically for its exceptionally low water-absorption rate. It’s imperative that the bearings don’t swell, otherwise the engine feel will be greatly affected, which is crucial for boat control, especially at high speeds.

Another clincher for Mercury Marine to go with iglide for Verado was the fact that the parts could be custom-tooled.

“More than half of the bearings on this motor require custom tooling,” continued Alby. “The ability for these bearings to be slightly press fit or slip fit aided manufacturing and also provided greater overall surface area. The iglide plastic bearings proved to be a better choice when looking at every aspect of this application. It was obvious what the solution should be.”

Verado is a highly reliable engine, with more than 25,000 hours of testing—both in the lab and on the water—in every possible situation. Remarkably, the iglide bearings withstood every test and condition, with parameters stretched beyond what it could conceivably encounter in reality.

“Igus has been testing its bearings since day one and continually compiling that information into a comprehensive database,” said Tom Miller, national bearings business unit manager for igus. “With that test data, we are able to accurately predict the lifespan and degree of wear of an iglide bearing under any circumstances. You tell us what your specifications are and we’ll find the right plastic bearing solution to match. It’s no surprise that the bearings would sustain any testing done by a customer, since we’ve already done it too.”

Mercury Marine is set to produce 20,000 mature volumes of Verado beginning this year, which sells for about $18,000 retail. It’s expected to revolutionize the boat motor industry, and is already winning design awards, including those from the Industrial Designers Society of America and the Structural Plastics Conference. Odysseus should have sought the advice of the God Mercury, the messenger of the Gods known for his swiftness and speed. If Odysseus had the speed and power of Verado behind him, perhaps he could have avoided those pesky sirens.