Mercury Introduces Bravo Four S Surf Drive
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Mercury Marine yesterday unveiled its Bravo Four S forward-facing drive with Smart Tow, a new drive system for MerCruiser engines designed to facilitate wake surfing and other tow sports. The new drive includes a complete system with digital controls to coordinate the ballast, surf tabs and propulsion settings via a user interface.
Complete System
“The popularity of water tow sports — and particularly wakesurfing and wakeboarding — has surged,” Tim Reid, Mercury’s vice president of product development and engineering, said in a statement. “We carefully studied all the refinements that go into optimizing a boat’s wake for each of the various tow sports and devised a system to make those settings easy for the boater.”
The new drive has contra-rotating stainless propellers with a four-blade wheel spinning ahead of a three blade on the front of the drive. The company has developed five new props for the application and the drive is compatible with the 250-hp MerCruiser 4.5-liter V6 and the 350-hp 6.2-liter and 430-hp 8.2-liter V8s.
Mercury Smart Craft digital controls and the upgraded Smart Tow system come standard with the Bravo Four S drive. The controls allow customization with a few taps on the VesselView touch screen. The driver can select the desired tow sports activity and the system will display the appropriate controls to set the launch acceleration, towing speed and wake size and shape.
Total Control
Taking a closer look at Smart Tow, the system works with speed and tab controls that handle the ballast and slow speeds. It has five pre-set launch intensities to vary from aggressive acceleration for veteran riders and a more subdued start for beginners. When the setting is chosen, the driver doesn’t have to worry about accidentally over-powering a rider on take-off.
SmartCraft digital technology includes the ability to tether the surf tabs and propulsion with CZone ballast control. Pick the sport and determine the wake and speed and changes can be made on the fly.
