Australia: Port Phillip Bay in the Australian state of Victoria can be a nasty piece of water. Passing through the Rip at Queenscliff and into Bass Strait takes a boater to some of the most menacing water conditions on our planet.
For people such as Mike Philip, Fisheries Officer for Fisheries Victoria, within the Department Of Primary Industries, these waterways are his daily workplace.
Naturally, when operating in an environment that can transform so quickly from placid to lethal, only the very best of commercial marine equipment is acceptable. That's why the Kevlacat patrol boat was recently repowered with a pair of Yamaha F250 outboard engines.
In spite of having only 800 hours up on the original four stroke (non Yamaha) 167kW outboards supplied with the boat seven years ago, the decision was made to re-power with Yamaha.
Fisheries Victoria decided to go with a pair of F250Ds from Yamaha's brand new range of offshore V6 outboards. The F225F, F250D and F300B feature the very latest technology available in the outboard industry.
These engines not only have the biggest capacity in their class at 4.2 litres, they are also the lightest. This amazing achievement has been made possible by a unique plasma fusion process used on the cylinder walls – a feature that is more commonly found in high performance sports cars.
At wide open throttle the Yamaha F250's rev to 5,900rpm for a top speed of 46 knots, or 85km/h. The optimum cruise speed is achieved at 4000rpm for a speed of 30 knots or 56km/h.
Fuel consumption at this speed is 35 litres per engine per hour, or a saving of about 12 percent on the previous outboards removed.
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