Mercury Marine has launched its Bravo Four S forward-facing stern drive aimed squarely at water sports enthusiasts.
The drives will be matched to MerCruiser V6 and V8 petrol engines ranging from 250 to 430 hp. Also, Mercury has unveiled an updated version of its proprietary Smart Tow system that combines ballast control, wake tabs and all propulsion settings into a single user interface.
“The popularity of water tow sports — and, particularly, wakesurfing and wakeboarding — has surged,” said Mercury product development and engineering vice president Tim Reid in a statement. “We carefully studied all the refinements that go into optimising a boat’s wake for each of the various tow sports and devised a system to make those settings easy for the boater.”,Â
Mercury said that the forward-facing drives when matched to several new props explicitly made for the Bravo Four S, offer enhanced manoeuverability, especially at slow speeds, which should help close-quarters piloting.
SmartCraft Digital Throttle & Shift will come standard as part of the Bravo Four S drive package.
