I’ve just got home from the Melbourne Boat Show and, yes, it was busy with the usual amount of displays and wide ranges of boats for buyers to contemplate.

Of those engines on display, the four-stroke models seem to be dominating the horsepower range over 50 while two-stroke outboards make up the majority of the low end power plants with the exception of Evinrude’s E-TEC range which is totally two-stroke up to 250hp.

What was noticeable on nearly all of these engines is the inclusion of labelling in the form of OEDA’s star rating
system. OEDA is the acronym for Outboard Engine Distributors Association - a group of representatives of the companies importing Evinrude, Johnson, Mercury, Mariner, Honda, Yamaha, Tohatsu and Suzuki outboards.

VELS

The labelling referred to as VELS (Volunteer Emission Labelling System) is a rating from zero to three stars, depending on the emission volume from that engine.
So why have these distributors (who in the business world are in staunch competition with each other) gone to the trouble of joining forces to produce VELS? Well, this is a little long-winded but a rough outline as to why.
Australia has no emission controls on engines other than those imposed by the federal government directed at locally made and imported motor vehicles.
Lawn mowers, farm machinery, aircraft, outboard motors and all other combustion engines are not regulated in relation to their emissions pumped into the environment. And this is detrimental to our air and water quality.
Take lawnmowers for example; if six adjoining home owners decided to mow their
lawns at the same time, the emissions would be the equivalent to that from 240 motor vehicles driving around their yards for almost an hour! (DEH 1997a cited Young 1997).

OUTBOARDS

So, let’s look at outboards.
There is a study that says one overseas emission compliant outboard creates the same volume of emissions as 50 cars travelling at the same speed. That study also states that an old technology two-stroke motor creates another 10 times the volume than that again!
I recently saw figures that as early as 1993 there were more than 750,000 two-stroke engines in operation in Australia and these engines are the worst offenders for high levels of hydrocarbons (HC) and Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) as well as Carbon Monoxide (CO) and other greenhouse gasses. While CO is not soluble in water, it is a toxic gas to humans in the atmosphere while HC’s find their way into marine soils and much of it via stormwater drains, while outboard emissions would count for some of the damage.
So why VELS? It is simple. With such untoward pressure on the marine environment the government would be quite
within its right to impose restrictions on those using it.
With OEDA’s VELS, the public are easily informed of the level of environmental friendliness of a product and hopefully will lean toward a more ‘green’ outboard motor.

THE STARS

Following is a rundown of the labels and the technology they apply to.

• Zero Star – all old technology two-strokes and mostly small ones. Old technology is where fuel is pre-mixed. These engines emit 250 plus grams per kilowatt hour (g/kW/hr).
• One Star – All two-strokes including Electronic Fuel Injection. 64.8 to 250 g/kW/hr.
• Two Stars – Mostly two-stroke direct injection. 30 to 63.8 g/kW/hr.
• Three Stars – Four-strokes including some direct injection and all Evinrude E-TEC two-strokes. Less than 30 g/kW/hr.

The VELS label should not be confused with a Three-Star CARB label - a Californian Air Board certification found on many imported outboards.
In an ideal world, Three-Star engines are the best choice but budgetary constraints and the prohibitive cost of using expensive technology in low priced, low horsepower engines comes into play here.
I doubt any government would ban all old technology immediately, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a phasing in of
bans on what engines can be used on various waterways; and rightly so. They will get my vote on that one.
The bottom line is your next outboard should be one that leaves the environment in a suitable state for those that come behind us. Three stars are the go!

By Rick Huckstepp, as featured in Trailerboat issue 221.