Mike Pullen, boater, journo and lover of engines, urges all outboard boaters to get involved with the UK Engine Quest . . .

Having just got back from the Sports Boat and RIB Show, I have to say that the sheer variety of outboards available to the modern boater is staggering. At the top end, Yamaha’s new 300hp unit certainly had people scratching their heads. It uses the same block as the 225 and yet it shaves 22kg off the weight of the lower powered engine by replacing the cast iron cylinder linings with the same plasma coating used on the company’s high-revving motorbikes. Meanwhile, Yamaha’s flagship motor, the heavyweight but still spectacularly desirable 350hp V8, remains the one to stoke the dreams of really committed petrol heads.

Just a couple of aisles away from Yamaha’s mountain of automotive hardware, the Reader’s Forum stand offered up a waspish little Fletcher with a far older but equally well loved 85hp Yam - while on the Thundercat stand, a lightweight 15hp Suzuki four-stroke graced the transom of a little inflatable cat destined for an inaugural season of racing at the hands of a new breed of boat-crazy children.